A new initiative called Pou Pasifika was launched in Auckland recently to champion Pasifika youth workers in New Zealand.
There are currently 5,000 Pasifika youth workers across Aotearoa and this is the first time a national initiative has been created to support them.
The initiative aims to strengthen connections, provide professional and personal development, and advance professional practice through a Pasifika lens.
National manager, Chillion Sanerivi, says Pou Pasifika has been a long time coming and will provide conditions for youth workers to thrive.
“They don’t get paid a lot,” he says.
“The work that they do is hearty work, and it saves lives, and part of that challenge that we have is that youth work isn’t taken seriously.
“And there is also the professionalisation of youth work from a Pasifika lens that is really, really needed in the youth development sector in Aotearoa.”
The initiative also extends to Wellington and Christchurch, integrating unique experiences outside the Auckland region.
Christchurch lead, Ielua Taula, says it is a much-needed service for youth workers in the South Island, which has a much smaller Pacific population.
“We know that our people tend to migrate or they’re transient, and it’s being able to know that we have got a network that is not just regional, it’s a national network,” he says.
“So that’s the exciting part and that’s the element we haven’t had in a long time.”
Wellington Lead, Isabel Lemanutau, says Pou Pasifika will unite the many different pockets of communities in the Wellington region and provide an outlet for Pacific women to voice their experiences.
“It can be quite lonely at times, especially for Pasifika women in this space,” she says.
“There’s not a lot of us, and I think it’s important that if we can see another sister, that we’re getting along… because I know that if I am here, then she’s been through what I’ve been through too.”
The Ola le Ola Aotearoa Trust, which provides services for youth in South Auckland, supported the initiative.
Co-founder, Taitosaua William Peace, has been working with youth for over four decades and says Pou Pasifika will provide support that was not readily available when he started out in the profession.
“We were almost everything to our young people [back] then where [as] 40 years on, it’s no longer sustainable to be everything to a young person,” he says
“And [now] we talk more around collaboration, we talk more around our skills and giftings and we looked at education being that vehicle to more opportunities as a youth worker.”
Taitosaua also hopes Pou Pasifika will lure more people into the profession. Although the number of Pasifika youth workers has increased in recent years, there is still a shortage.
“It comes back to ‘we know our own best’, we know the cultural dynamics of family, of the village, and through that, we connect quite quickly with our young people.”
Otara community legend Sully Paea has also been working with youth for four decades and says the initiative will help youth workers avoid burnout.
“The youth we work with – you can’t help but carry the load with them. You can’t help but take it home with you. It’s not easy to just leave them there and go home and forget about it. No, it goes with you.
“So that is really important – that platform – that space where we can train our workers, support, encourage and equip our workers,” he says.
Peter Leilua, who co-founded Global Hope Missions with his wife Ausiaalemanaia Tililiilagi Leilua in 2009, says they have had to contend with a few misconceptions about their work, but seeing the youth turn their lives around is what keeps them going.
“When you see kids who used to be running around, causing trouble here – own their own businesses – some of them become lawyers, accountants and doctors, and pilots, seeing that is just rewarding,” he says.
“There’s a lot of youth workers that gone before us that fight for this space and make sure that youth work is not a babysitting club but it’s an actual calling that helps society change the future, and that’s what we love about Pou Pasifika, it’s looking after those who are looking after the youth.”
