The late Green Party MP Fa’anānā Efeso Collins has been remembered by his widow as an “extraordinary man” at a service in South Auckland.

The 49-year-old husband and father-of-two died on February 21 after collapsing during a charity event in Auckland’s central city.

Fa’anānā’s unexpected death came as a shock to many, with his aiga — including wife Fia and daughters Kaperiela and Asalemo — saying he was “the anchor of our tight-knit family”.

• READ MORE: Other reports on Fa’anāna Efeso Collins
• Efeso Collins: I’ve come to this House to help
• Efeso Collins gives maiden speech a week before his death

Politicians and members of the public, including school students, were among those attending Fa’anānā’s funeral at Due Drop Event Centre in Manukau on Thursday afternoon.

Many of the guests were dressed in traditional Pacific clothing, and a gospel choir sang as the crowd filled the room.

To start the service, poet Karlo Mila read a poem that finished: “You become the ancestor we always knew you were.”

Family spokesman Taito Eddie Tuiavii then gave a formal greeting in Samoan, paying tribute to Fa’anānā and his villages.

‘Larger than life’
He described Fa’anānā as “larger than life”.

It was an “indescribable feeling” to mourn the loss of “our champion”, Tuiavii said.

Fa’anānā’s sisters took the stage to share stories from his life.

As a child, Fa’anānā was known as ‘Boppa’, his sister Jemima said. He loved playing and watching cricket.

“We didn’t have much growing up in Ōtara, but we were raised with an abundance of love, and that made us pretty rich.”

Fa’anānā preferred watching the TV news to children’s programmes and loved trivia.

He attended Auckland Grammar School for just two weeks, before deciding to leave due to “racist comments”, his sister said. He then transferred to “the mighty” Tangaroa College before going on to Auckland University.

‘Deep friendship with Jesus’
Fa’anānā always had “a deep friendship with Jesus”, the crowd heard.

“Efeso was able to reach so many people because of his relationship with Jesus.”

Jemima signed off by saying: “Manuia lau malaga (rest in peace), Boppa. Until we meet in the clouds.”

Another of Fa’anānā’s sisters, Millie Collins, described her brother as “our family’s golden boy”.

“He was my mum and dad’s sunshine, and to his brothers and sisters, his cousins and friends, he was our superstar.”

He was always helping out his extended family, Millie Collins said.

“[He was] born to impact the world, born to lead through service. A visionary, a loving, honourable son, husband, father, brother, cousin, nephew and friend.”

Heartbroken at parting
Dickie Humphries, who has known Fa’anānā since they attended Auckland University, addressed his friend’s widow directly, saying he was heartbroken that they had been parted.

“This is not what our friend wanted for you. He wanted to love you through a long life,” he told Fia.

However, he was also happy Fa’anānā had found “his best friend, his greatest champion”, he said.

Fa’anānā’s legacy had showed him “we must live big lives”, Humphries said.

“Lives of service, lives that leave this world better for having been in it. Lives that make right on the legacy of Efeso.”

He said all gathered there must keep working towards a better Aotearoa — one where Pasifika people did not die young, or face racist abuse while in Parliament.

Humphries remembered his friend as someone with “an inquiring mind and a curious heart”.

‘Unwavering belief in people’s brilliance’
“He had an unwavering belief in the brilliance of our people.”

Among the people at the funeral were Green Party co-leaders Marama Davidson and James Shaw, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, Labour leader Chris Hipkins, and National’s Gerry Brownlee, Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown, Te Pāti Māori co-leaders Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and Rawiri Waititi.

Fa’anānā’s wife and daughters were wearing the dresses they wore at Parliament earlier this month, when Fa’anānā gave his maiden speech as an MP.

Like Humphries, Davidson addressed Fia directly in her speech, saying Fa’anānā valued her opinion above all else.

“He lived for the power of Pacific women.”

Family was his “constant bullseye”, Davidson said.

She promised the Green Party would wrap their arms around their colleague’s family for their whole lives. All 15 Green MPs were at the funeral.

Legacy of self-determination
The party would also continue his legacy of fighting for the self-determination and wellbeing of Pasifika people, Davidson said.

“My friend, my brother Fes. What I wouldn’t give to hug you close and long right now, even just one more time. You beautiful man. I love you always.”

In his speech, Fa’anānā’s friend Te’o Harry Fatu Toleafoa said the MP was kind to everyone, “whether you’re Christopher Luxon in the Koru Lounge or the cleaner”.

“He treated absolutely everybody with value, dignity, respect and he made them feel special.”

Te’o also paid tribute to the next generation of leaders following in Fa’anānā’s footsteps.

“He was the best of us … but if you think Fes is the best, wait ’til the next generation comes up.”

Te’o mentioned the death threats Fa’anānā received in his role as a public servant, before addressing his daughters directly: “Thank you for giving us your dad, even though we didn’t deserve him.”

Racist hate mail
Pasifika journalist Indira Stewart also talked about the difficulties Fa’anānā faced while running for and serving in office.

He received racist hate mail and a bomb threat was made to the home he shared with his wife and daughters.

Fa’anānā was “one of the finest leaders of our generation”, she said.

“We are so proud of the legacy you leave behind for the next generation of Pasifika.”

Samoan singer-songwriter Annie Grace and South Auckland duo Adeaze also performed hymns during the service.

Fa’anānā’s widow Vasa Fia Collins was the last speaker and took the stage with her daughters beside her.

She introduced herself by saying: “I am an ordinary woman who married an extraordinary man.”

The funeral of Fa’anānā Efeso Collins.       Video: RNZ

Fa’anānā was “born to lead”, she said.

“If you knew him, you’d know that he always tried to discreetly enter spaces and sit at the back. But how can you miss a man who’s 6’4 with a booming voice and a beautiful big smile?”

A doting father
He was also a doting father, taking their daughters to school, teaching them how to pray and “feeding them ice cream when I wasn’t looking”, she said.

“He treated me like a queen, every single moment we were together . . . a true gentleman, always serving our needs before his own.”

Fa’anānā had a great capacity for the “square pegs” in society — those who did not fit in, she said.

He valued the knowledge of his Pasifika ancestors and always mentored and love young people, she said.

“Fes died serving others. He has finished his leg of the race and the baton is now firmly in our hands.

“Please don’t let all that he did, all his hard work — blood, sweat and tears — be for nothing.”

Fa’anānā was charismatic, humble and wise, she said. He saw the potential in others and made them better people.

Be ‘the very best of us’
“[He] never stopped encouraging people to rise, to aim high, to be the best version of themselves . . . he was the very best of us.”

Vasa told her daughters she was proud of them: “Daddy would be, too.”

Fa’anānā was the family’s “warrior” and protector, she said, and now he was their “eternal Valentine”.

“I’m so grateful for the life that we built together. But I trust and know that Fes is in the presence of God.”

Vasa finished her speech by singing a Samoan hymn.

Fa’anānā would be laid to rest privately after his casket was driven through Ōtara and Ōtāhuhu one last time.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

The New Zealand government is being told to roll out clearer and smarter communications around the latest covid-19 community outbreak, to make sure they are reaching into every corner, and culture of the country.

South Aucklanders spoken to by RNZ Checkpoint last night have expressed their disappointment that some of the region’s newest cases broke lockdown rules and advice to stay at home after being tested.

But Manukau councillor Fa’anana Efeso Collins says some covid-19 messages are simply not getting through in one of Aotearoa’s most multicultural centres.

• LISTEN: Clearer messaging needed for multicultural areas – Checkpoint (Duration 4′:49″)

“We need a clear South Auckland communications engagement strategy,” Collins told Checkpoint.

“We should be working with organisations like South Seas, Vision West, Anglican Trust for Women and Children, who can reach into the community and hand over the information.

“The bureaucrats have to let this go. They will cost us the war if they don’t let go of this now. They’ve got to let go of this power and trust the community to get the information to our households.”

Collins said there need to be more people in the Manukau area, delivering information about Covid-19 in person.

‘People respond to relationships’
“People respond to relationships. What we don’t have is people on the ground… out there making sure the message gets to our families.

“We’ve got to go directly into the home, speak the languages that are spoken in the families – Punjabi, Hindi, Samoan and Tongan – and make sure people really understand this.

Manukau councillor Fa’anana Efeso Collins talks about covid-19 messaging. Video: RNZ News

“Young people are on social media all the time. They’re going to understand Instagrams, we should be TikToking this information. That’s the kind of stuff we should be doing.

“But that’s the problem when you’ve got the bureaucracy handling it.”

In a post-cabinet briefing, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said they were very conscious of the need to ensure everyone was aware of alert level changes, and they worked with the Ministry of Pacific Peoples, Te Puni Kōkiri, and office of ethnic communities to get those messages out.

“I’m on a group of MPs where we look at ‘have we done a translation of the alert level changes, have we got it in multiple languages, across social media sites, so do in earnest make sure we’re not just utilising mainstream media, and nor are we just communicating in English.

Really grateful for the feedback I’ve received last few days with my take on the need for clarity in community messaging & how we navigate sometimes tense conversations. We all play a key role so stay well and safe famz.

— Efeso Collins (@efesocollins) March 1, 2021

‘People spread the word’
“We also of course use things like Civil Defence Emergency notifications to let people know what we’re expecting of them and of course people spread the word themselves as well, and we try and use our team as social and community leaders to spread that message and ask others to do the same.”

Asked about confusion on advice and guidance at alert level 3, Ardern said advice had remained the same throughout, but the only difference this time was being more cautious with casual contacts due to the more infectious nature of the UK variant.

However, councillor Fa’anana said local community organisations were in a better place to get the message across.

He said he had seen evidence the communications from Wellington were not getting into all South Auckland homes.

“I still have people who ring and say, ‘can we still have lunch and come over to your house after church’. Church was online.”

With the virus continuing to pop up in South Auckland, Fa’anana said priority vaccinations in the region should be given serious thought.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Million-dollar houses are now being sold in one of Auckland’s lowest-income suburbs and a local politician says New Zealand government failure is allowing the market to drive further inequality and hopelessness.

Last month an unremarkable 1960s weatherboard house on less than a quarter acre section in Ōtara in South Auckland sold for $1.01 million.

Another – which 12 years ago sold for $340,000 – went for $1.1m, more than triple its last sale price in October.

• READ MORE: ANZ calls housing unaffordability an “enormous problem” in NZ

Manukau ward councillor Fa’anānā Efeso Collins said more than 80 percent of Pacific people did not own their own homes, and rising house prices were a cause of pain for his constituents, as rents went up and incomes did not.

“That means there are times where some people have to go without,” Collins said.

“I know there are parents who are decreasing the number of meals they’re having to ensure that the kids are eating enough, and getting three basic meals a day. That’s part of what I call the social trauma that’s being faced by many constituents that I work with.”

He said people felt hopelessness about the situation, which they did not think would get any better.

People ‘have given up’
“I think people have given up. There are many people in the Manukau ward… that have just given up,” he said.

“I’m really disappointed with what the government’s done. I think the government’s thrown money at a banking system that in my view isn’t working, and that’s not going to keep house prices down.”

The new highs in the local housing market served as a reminder to people in a low-income Auckland suburb that housing costs were eating up their paychecks.

“There are parents in Ōtara that I know of that are going without just to keep their babies fed,” one woman in Ōtara’s town centre, who did not want to be named, said.

“Sometimes you hear of parents that don’t eat because their babies need to eat.”

Born and raised in Ōtara – and still living there – she thought the high cost of living was feeding crime.

“It contributes to the poverty in Ōtara. How expensive the houses are is contributing to why there’s such a high crime rate,” she said.

Window washing
“There are heaps of children out here that are window washing because there parents can only just afford the rent. It’s not their fault – they are doing crime, but if they’re doing it to put bread and milk on the table, who can blame them?”

Another woman, a shop owner, said she was a Labour voter but housing was the government’s biggest failure.

“I’ve been living here for 35 years. I would like to buy my own house but I can’t afford to. It’s ridiculous, and now I’m over 60 [years old].”

She had been in paid work her entire adult life, and was only ever just keeping her head above water, she said.

“They’re too greedy, landlords. Every year she’s putting up our rent.

“For nearly six months I [haven’t] cut my hair. I have no money… $35 for a haircut, I can’t afford to pay. House prices must come down in New Zealand.”

One man in Ōtara said Auckland was a city of the haves and the have-nots. Another, without a house at all, said homelessness had broken him.

Economists and banks are not expecting house price rises to plateau any time soon.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Radio Waatea and The Daily Blog featured the Pacific and climate change on their daily live Fifth Estate programme tonight.

Martyn “Bomber” Bradbury spoke to a panel, including Labour spokesman on Pacific affairs Sua William Sio who was stranded at Tarawa on a fact-finding mission to Kiribati.

Sua spoke about the “fighting spirit” of Pacific islanders trying to sustain life in the face of the reality of climate change and called for a better United Nations framework for Pacific people impacted on by the dramatic changes as a result of global warming.

Many of the speakers talked about New Zealand needing to accept Pacific climate change migrations, adopt humanitarian policies and tackle the issue of sovereignty of their communities.

“We have to recognise and have a serious discussion about people from the vulnerable climate change frontline states who are overstayers in New Zealand because I now recognise that some of them, depending on which islands they belong to, cannot go back to those islands,” said Sua.

“You can’t be an overstayer if you have got nowhere to go back to,” said Bradbury.

In the studio for the programme were:

International refugee Michael Timmins, a lawyer who has worked internationally with NGOs and the UN refugee agency UNHCR

Professor David Robie, director of AUT University’s Pacific Media Centre

On the phone from Samoa: Ötara-Papatoetoe Local Board Councillor Efeso Collins

And on Skype live from Kiribati as part of his fact-finding mission in the Pacific: Labour Party Spokesperson on Pacific Affairs and Pacific Climate Change Sua William Sio

• Watch Fifth Estate and climate change on YouTube
• Discussion plus at The Daily Blog