BRUTAL LIVES - MO'UI FAINGATA'A 

ACTOR PROFILE 

SESILIA PUSIAKI 

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Malo e lelei my name is Sesilia Pusiaki Tatuila daughter of Ahosivi and Asipesio Tatuila. My dad is from Lapaha and mum is from Atata. I’m the third eldest of five and was raised on the Northshore, Northcote. My mother and father were one of the founding members of the Tongan Catholic Community on the shore so being part of this wider Tongan community played a big role in my life growing up and even though we’ve moved to Onehunga my Northshore community and families will always be a part of me. My father taught Tongan faiva within the church there so singing, dancing and performing was a way of life for me so graduating from P.I.P.A empowered me to realise that being a Tongan performing artist is who I am. Did I also mention I’m a mother of five. Their numbers are eight/ six/ five/ two and nine months, as well as a partner that supports everything I do. I’m BLESSED.…more

BRUTAL LIVES - MO'UI FAINGATA'A 

ACTOR PROFILE 

SESILIA PUSIAKI 

.

Malo e lelei my name is Sesilia Pusiaki Tatuila daughter of Ahosivi and Asipesio Tatuila. My dad is from Lapaha and mum is from Atata. I’m the third eldest of five and was raised on the Northshore, Northcote. My mother and father were one of the founding members of the Tongan Catholic Community on the shore so being part of this wider Tongan community played a big role in my life growing up and even though we’ve moved to Onehunga my Northshore community and families will always be a part of me. My father taught Tongan faiva within the church there so singing, dancing and performing was a way of life for me so graduating from P.I.P.A empowered me to realise that being a Tongan performing artist is who I am. Did I also mention I’m a mother of five. Their numbers are eight/ six/ five/ two and nine months, as well as a partner that supports everything I do. I’m BLESSED.…more

BRUTAL LIVES - MO'UI FAINGATA'A 

ACTOR PROFILE 

JASON MANUMU'A 

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My parents arrived into New Zealand during the 70’s - fresh-faced and eager to find a living. They became part of a thriving Tongan church community in Onehunga in the 80’s, where I was born, before moving to Mangere Bridge where our family house stands til today.  I count myself so blessed to have learned how to read, write and speak my Tongan language through Sunday school growing up - despite surviving  the ‘passionate’ smacks & whacks, and the ‘loving’ stares & glares of numerous White Sundays - every Polynesian kids’ introduction to the performing arts lol!  
The 90’s was a great time to be a teenager - great music, movies and no internet, no social media and you walked everywhere lol. However for me, I was shipped off back to Tonga almost every summer as a kid, while my parents worked.…more

BRUTAL LIVES - MO'UI FAINGATA'A 

ACTOR PROFILE 

HAANZ FA'AVAE JACKSON 

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My name is Haanz Fa’avae Jackson. Born in South Auckland, where I still reside with my big Otahuhu family. My bloodline runs through Niue, Tonga & Samoa. When I'm not working on my career or spending time with family, I help manage "Konfident Clothing", a clothing brand me and my brother launched mid lock down. When there's no work, make work. 

How long have you been in the entertainment industry and do you have a highlight or favourite experience in your career so far?

I graduated from PIPA in 2014, and I haven't stopped performing since.  Started strong on the theatre stage, where I really got to sharpen my craft and find my feet as a professional performer & actor, which then later on lead to the huge world of screen.

Highlights for me would have to be the travelling. I never really got to travel much as a kid, but I had always wanted to.…more

It has been 6 years since Floris Niu walked away from the stressful rat race in corporate New Zealand and returned a broken woman to her home in Tuanai, Samoa.

Floris had spent the previous decade overcoming an avalanche of unfortunate events. While she had beat cervical cancer and survived a near fatal car accident - losing custody of her only daughter after a messy divorce was perhaps the driving factor that led her to contemplate suicide when she returned home.

Instead she found her purpose in the land. Carrying on the work of her ancestors she started to revive her family plantation, returning to traditional and organic farming practices. Today she is an agri tourism operator, an advocate for organic living and sustainable farming, a voice for female farmers in Samoa and a creator of pure cacao chocolate or as most Samoans will know as - Koko Samoa.

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Shot & Edited by Denisa Maňásková.…more

Story collated and written by Haitelenisia Afemui ‘Uhila Angilau for her 'Ordinary Tongan Lives' facebook page

“I’m from Kāmeli, Vava’u. I’m the only child my parents have. My Dad works at Air Terminal Services while my Mom cooks at the hospital there. Everyday they leave at 5 or 6am and return at 6 or 8pm.  Both their health are declining. I finished Form 7 last year and I don’t know how I made it through to graduation and my external exams. Anytime one of them is sick, I‘m the caregiver. If my Mom’s sick for 3 days, I miss school for 3 days. The same goes for my Dad.

It’s hard having no brother or sister because there’s no one else to help me. Everyday, I wake up and study my scriptures, say a prayer, iron our clothes, then I feed the pigs. When I return from school, I cook our dinner, clean the house, wash the dishes, or take care of our little kava plantation outside and feed the pigs again. I always break coconuts to feed the pigs.…more