It is with great sadness that I have to let you know, if you do not know already, that one of our Pacific leaders, Fa’anānā Efeso Collins, passed away today. I know that some of you knew Fa’anānā on a personal level as family, friends, colleagues, mentors, and mentees so this will be extremely hard.
My sincerest condolences to you all and his family. It is a huge loss for Pacific in Aotearoa and especially for Tamaki Makaurau; our Unitec community and others will undoubtedly be impacted. I pray for God’s comfort upon you all at this sad time.
Also, I am emailing to let you know that we will be coordinating an MIT-Unitec approach to pay our respect to Fa’anānā and his family. Hence, we will be collecting koha for this purpose. I will communicate again once I receive details about the funeral services once they are confirmed.
Please reach out to us (Pacific Centre) if/ when you need support, especially at this time.
Ma le fa’aaloalo lava,
Daisy Bentley-Gray, Interim Manager Pacific Success & Pacific Learning Advisor
From Martin Carroll:
Kia ora e te whānau
Fa’anānā Efeso Collins, was also a close support and friend of our MIT|Te Pūkenga whānau, and Executive Director Peseta Sam Lotu-liga has gone to support his aiga (family).
Fa’anānā gave voice to the hopes and aspirations of Ōtara first in local government and more recently as a list Member of Parliament.
Our thoughts, prayers and love are with Vasa Fia and his aiga, friends and colleagues. We have all lost a very special person.
We will be coordinating an MIT-Unitec approach to pay our respects to Fa’anānā and his family. We will release any further details as they come to hand.
Ngā mihi
Martin Carroll, DCE – Academic – MIT & Unitec