Hellen Puhipuhi celebrates her award with grandson Karlos Mow and children at Born and Raised Pasifika in Whanganui.
Photo / Bevan Conley
Hellen Puhipuhi celebrates her award with grandson Karlos Mow and children at Born and Raised Pasifika in Whanganui.
Photo / Bevan Conley
Whanganui educator Hellen Puhipuhi was at a conference in Fiji when she learned that she was to receive the 2019 Community Leadership Award from the Ministry for Pacific Peoples.
"My mokopuna Maurice Mow who is 12, accepted it on my behalf and he did me proud."
Maurice completed his primaryschool education at St Mary's School in Whanganui this year and his grandmother said she could not have had a better representative.
The SunPix Pacific Peoples Awards 2019 were live-streamed from ASB Showgrounds in Auckland and Puhipuhi said it was great to be able to watch it in Fiji.
"My family and friends in my home village in Fiji held a gala to celebrate the award. It was deeply humbling."
After attending a Pacific Vision Conference in Auckland in 1999, she saw the need for early childhood education that would meet the needs of Pasifika families in New Zealand.
It was the first early childhood learning centre of its kind in New Zealand, offering multilingual and multicultural education.
Born and Raised Pasifika teachers have fluency in Samoan, Rarotongan and Fijian as well as te reo Māori and English.
Puhipuhi says it is reflective of wider New Zealand communities and the model has been emulated around the country.
A second Whanganui centre opened at Tawhero in 2016 and Puhipuhi said Born and Raised Pasifika has become a hub for other community activities.
The Aramoho Centre was a drop-off point for donations shipped to Fiji after Cyclone Winston in 2016.
It is also a place for numerous celebrations like the Fijian rugby sevens team's historic 2016 gold medal win at the Rio Olympics and Vilimoni Koroi's All Black sevens selection in 2017.
"When a person from a Pacific community is celebrated, it is a party for the whole village. In local terms, Whanganui becomes the village and we all celebrate."
Puhipuhi first came to Whanganui from Fiji as a young Commonwealth scholarship teacher in 1972 and found her second home while on placement at Ranana.
As well as her leadership of Born and Raised Pasifika, she sits on a number of boards and committees including the Early Education Advisory Board and is involved in numerous Whanganui activities including the annual Festival of Cultures.
Hellen Puhipuhi is involved in numerous activities, including the Whanganui Festival of Cultures. Photo / Antonia Sims
Attendees at the Sunpix Awards watched a video in which Puhipuhi took the audience on a local tour during the Festival of Cultures held in Whanganui in October.
Maurice was not available to share a photo with his Nan this week but his younger brother Karlos Mow, 9, was happy to do the honours.
