Emeline Afeaki-Mafile'o (c.1976 - ) OM is a

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

activist for

Pasifika Pasifika may refer to: *Pacific Islander people, indigenous peoples of the Pacific Islands **Pasifika New Zealanders, Pacific peoples living in New Zealand *Pacific Islands, including Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia *The Pasifika Festival, an a ...

people in Auckland.

Early life and work

Afeaki-Mafile'o was born in

Tonga Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania. The country has 171 islands, of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in the southern Pacific Ocean. accordin ...

to Pat and Edith Afeaki. She said that she never read a book until she was nineteen however she later attended

Massey University Massey University () is a Public university, public research university in New Zealand that provides internal and distance education. The university has campuses in Auckland, Palmerston North, and Wellington. Data from Universities New Zealand ...

where she graduated and then took a master's degree in philosophy. In 2001 at the age of 25 she was running her own mentoring service. The service went on to employ 100 people to deliver support to 5,000 Pasifika young people in Auckland. She runs a community café in the Auckland suburb of

Ōtāhuhu Ōtāhuhu is a suburb of Auckland, New Zealand – to the southeast of the CBD, on a narrow isthmus between an arm of the Manukau Harbour to the west and the Tāmaki River estuary to the east. The Auckland isthmus is the narrowest connect ...

. She and her family own a coffee factory in Tonga and the coffee is sent to New Zealand to support her work.

Awards

In 2006 she was given a Sir Peter Blake Emerging Leader Award. In 2013 she won the Community Service and Social Enterprise category of the

New Zealand Women of Influence Award The New Zealand Women of Influence Awards are an annual set of awards which recognise women who make a difference to everyday New Zealanders' lives. The Awards were first made in 2013 and were initially sponsored by Westpac Bank. In 2016, Stuff N ...

s. In 2016 she was awarded an

Order of Merit The Order of Merit () is an order of merit for the Commonwealth realms, recognising distinguished service in the armed forces, science, art, literature, or the promotion of culture. Established in 1902 by Edward VII, admission into the order r ...

for her work with the Pacific communities as part of the New Year Honours.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Afeaki-Mafile, Emeline New Zealand women activists New Zealand activists Massey University alumni Living people Year of birth missing (living people) 20th-century New Zealand women 21st-century New Zealand women New Zealand Women of Influence Award recipients