Piki-hama - a place of belonging for Pasifika law students at Te Herenga Waka

A new Pasifika law students’ room—Piki-Hama—opened at Old Government Buildings (OGB) in July. Formalities included speeches from Assistant Vice-Chancellor (Pasifika), Fabiefara Filo Masoe, Dean of Law, Professor Geoff McLay and Senior Law Lecturer Dr Mele Tupou-Vaitohi, followed by the blessing of the space by Pasifika Chaplain, Tapu Vea.

Salient’s MPI News Writer Taipari Taua spoke to the Pasifika Law Students Society presidents Tarifa Laban and Marshall Setu on the significance of Piki-Hama to Pasifika law students.

What is PLSS?

The Pasifika Law Students’ Society was set up in the late 1990’s, inspired by Ngā Rangahautira, Te Herenga Waka’s Māori Law Students Association. It started off as a group of Pasifika law students working together to set up extra tutorials for Pasifika law students, which were supported by people like Dean Knight and Joanna Mossop.

This led to the establishment of a Pasifika law coordinator role, followed by the creation of the Pasifika Law Students’ Society (PLSS). After a period of inactivity in the early 2000’s, PLSS gained traction again in 2013 and has been growing stronger with each year. 

PLSS exists to provide a safe space and sense of community for our Pasifika law students here at Te Herenga Waka. This year’s PLSS executive currently forms a team of 11. Tarifa and Marshall spoke about the different roles that exist on the executive, highlighting new roles like Cultural Officer and Advocacy Officer, that enhance the way PLSS is able to advocate for and represent our law students both at the faculty and student level. The executive runs events that range from academic, social, and holistic and welfare focused, including the Loloma Mentoring Program and their recent Sentencing Competition which was held at the Luke Cunningham Clere offices. “It was the perfect atmosphere to host something that LCC are really well versed in, and to guide our students and build up their skills, which is another core aspect of what we do which is wanting to see our Pasifika law students showcase these skills and be able to kind of refine them on stages like that.”

“We have really good relationships with other law student societies, including the overarching VUWLSS one as well, who all work together to make the law school a safer space. So we have our own sort of part to play in that for Pasifika law students.”

About the Room

The room was named ‘Piki-hama’ which comes from a Tongan proverb: “pikipiki hama kae vaevae manava” a proverb that has its variations in many cultures across the Pacific. In Tongan, it refers to the act of bringing together or linking the hama, or the outriggers of a canoe, in order to share and distribute manava, or food. It talks about how the hama provides essential balance and stability to the canoe, especially when navigating rough seas. When Tongan navigators are out at sea for long periods and catch fish, they bring their canoes together, connecting hama to hama, forming lines or circles so they can draw close, share their food and support one another through the journey. 

The name Piki-hama was gifted by senior lecturer, Dr Mele Tupou-Vaitohi. She was inspired by the Tongan proverb, and when PLSS invited her to come and announce the given name, she shared some beautiful sentiments around the room’s identity, and what that means every time you step into the space. Tarifa and Marshall spoke of their admiration for Mele and what it means to have her at the senior level within the Faculty of Law. They believe Mele has paved the way for many budding Pasifika law students with her report  on “Contextualizing—Fofola na ibe—Improving Pasifika Legal Education in Aotearoa”. 

The room was blessed by Tapu Vea, VUW’s Pasifika Chaplain. “I think it's so special to not only have a Pasifika chaplain here at the University, but to have her involved in moments like these. Sometimes it can feel quite isolating for our Pasifika students at law school to be away from the majority of Pasifika students up at Kelburn, so it was so beautiful to have her come down to OGB and do that for us, and the message she shared was so meaningful as well, I will never forget the devotion she shared on that day.”

“Tapu really spoke to the intention that we all share for the room, which is that she hopes when people walk into Piki-hama, they can strengthen and gain those connections with their peers. She also talked about blessing the conversations that happen in that room. I think it's such a beautiful view of what we hope to happen, and being able to have those conversations, being able to open our minds and our hearts to the different views, perspectives and cultures of our Pasifika peoples. And so I thought it was the perfect way to bless the room. And we’re so grateful for her to take the time out of her day to prepare her devotion and prayer and come in and share that with us all.”

Despite this being a collective effort, this feat would not be possible without Acting Assistant Vice-Chancellor (Pasifika), Fabiefara Filo Masoe. “Every Pasifika student will know Fabie. One simple conversation with her can change the trajectory of your experience at University for the better. She goes to great lengths to support our Pasifika students and we are forever indebted to her for making this room a reality.”

Hopes for Future Generations of Pasifika Law Students in Piki-hama

Piki-hama represents the strengthening and nurturing of relationships between PLSS and the Faculty, the Office of the AVC Pasifika, and the Pasifika Student Success team. “I hope it inspires future Pasifika law students to continue to nurture those relationships for years to come. It's even reflected in the meaning of the name of the room—when we are able to come together, we're a lot stronger.”

“It's really important that Pasifika students have this community here with PLSS and with the AVC Pasifika alongside PSS. This room is a symbol of ‘teu le vā,’ meaning to nurture the space and relationships, all of which come together as a united front. It’s in this united front that we see so clearly how the wider university values our Pasifika law students, and really acknowledge that it takes a lot for them in their journey to get here."

They shared the struggle of being Pasifika in law school where the nature of it is very competitive, with only a small Pasifika cohort, and a lack of people to relate to. This makes having Pasifika spaces so important.

“If I had one thing that I could say to our students, it’s please just come to the room. We talk about how we want to nurture these relationships, and how we're stronger together as a collective. The more people we can see there, the more connections we foster and relationships we build, the more normal it feels for us to belong at law school. When we have spaces like Piki-hama to build those connections, it's like we have this collective team to support us on this journey.”

Another message that presidents Tarifa and Marshall shared was: “A lot has gone into this, and it's for you. We're just a small minority of the law school community as a whole. People have things to say, they have rhetoric they want to believe, but these places are here for you, and the Faculty acknowledge and see the importance of that, hence why they’re there. We get to go into the room, and we can be ourselves and relate to one another in a safe space that belongs to us.”

“You can be confident in yourself there. When you step out of that room, you have that security and confidence, because you know that Piki-hama is the foundation that will be there to support you, rather than kind of coming into OGB and it being this big colonial building where you feel no sense of belonging because we don’t see ourselves in any of the photos on the walls or in the history of the building at all. I’m hoping that more students can come into this room and their perspective changes.”

“This is the beginning of something—a reflection of our students' growth, and now Piki-hama has this identity, one that can really resonate with our students. It gives them that sense of belonging, and that is really important to who we are.”