Susana Tetane Lemisio (née Perez, born 16 November 1945) is a community organiser and educator from Tokelau.

Background

Born Huhana Susana Tetane Perez, 16 November 1945, on the Tokelau atoll of Nukunonu, she is the youngest child of Ateliano and Malia Sei Perez. In 1964, Lemisio was part of a group from the Tokelau Islands who came to live in New Zealand as part of the 'Government Resettlement Scheme of Tokelau to New Zealand' and by 1975 she had settled in Petone, Lower Hutt. She married Teofilo Lemisio at Sacred Heart Church in Petone, Lower Hutt. She currently lives in

Lower Hutt Lower Hutt ( mi, Te Awa Kairangi ki Tai) is a city in the Wellington Region of New Zealand. Administered by the Hutt City Council, it is one of the four cities that constitute the Wellington metropolitan area. It is New Zealand's sixth most p ...

, Auckland.

Career

Lemisio became involved in education in the 1970s, first as a parent helper at the Petone Polynesian Pre-School. Through this early work she began to organise with several other women at the school to develop and formalise the teaching of the Tokelauan language and culture. In 1987 she had gained support from teachers and community leaders to establish the first Tokelau Language Nest for Tokelauan children in Petone. At that time there had been no formal pacific education plan and Lemisio's efforts complemented those being done by other

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 an ...

leaders including the

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...

community (with the establishment of Kura Kaupapa Māori) and Samoan community (with the creation of the Samoan language nest, Ā'oga 'Āmata). Lemisio encouraged other mothers to engage with the language nest, leading to an increase in the number of Tokelauan women qualifying as Early Childhood Education teachers. Since the creation of the Petone Tokelauan language nests, additional language nests have been created in Auckland, Rotorua, Taupo, Porirua, Naenae, Taita, Stokes Valley, Upper Hutt, and Dunedin. In 1988 she supported the founding of the ''Ofaga o te Gagana Tokelau Ahohi i Aotearoa-New Zealand'' (Tokelau Early Childhood Association Aotearoa-New Zealand), a national organization supporting early learning centers across New Zealand. She continues to be a member and advisor to current president Rev. Nathan Pedro. Lemisio was instrumental in the 2002 ''Te Motumotu'' initiative, designed to promote the Tokelau language and early learning through the ''Ofaga o te Gagana Tokelau Association.'' This work led to the first Tokelau language guidelines by the New Zealand Ministry of Education, ''Gagana Tokelau: The Tokelau Language Guidelines'', published in 2009. Lemisio was a founding member of the Tokelau Hutt Valley Sports and Culture Association, Te Umiumiga A Tokelau Hutt Valley Inc (Tokelau community umbrella organisation), and co-founded a

Fatupaepae A fatupaepae is a matriarchal senior figure in the culture of Tokelau. Fatupaepae groups are village-level women's organizations in Tokelau, with one such group in each atoll of the island territory: Atafu, Nukunonu, and Fakafo. According to the T ...

PACIFICA branch for Tokelau women.

Awards

In the

2016 Queen's Birthday Honours The 2016 Queen's Birthday Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours are awarded as pa ...

, Lemisio was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in recognition of services to the Tokelau community and early childhood education.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lemisio, Susana Living people Members of the New Zealand Order of Merit People from Lower Hutt People from Nukunonu New Zealand educators New Zealand women educators New Zealand people of Tokelauan descent 1945 births