(Picture caption: Amelia Payne Fonua with Ministry for Pacific Peoples' Regional Director - Northern Toleafoa Ray Tuala at the Dressed In Confidence graduation ceremony.)
Amelia Payne Fonua watched her elders working the hard yards at an old age when they should have been sipping tea enjoying retirement.
Of Tongan heritage, the 20-year-old describes it as “generational trauma”, and it is why she has made it her mission to set herself up financially and enjoy the comforts of hard-earned toil.
“My future aspiration in this life truly is freedom… in this case, financial freedom, because as much as we say, ‘money can’t buy happiness’, it definitely does help, especially with the generation trauma I have witnessed,” Amelia says.
“My elders worked at ages where they should be sitting on their veranda sipping tea and talking to their children, instead of having children raise their young ones.”
Amelia, a proud Aucklander from Mangere, graduated recently from the Dressed In Confidence course – a New Zealand wellness programme that takes participants on a journey of self-discovery and helps boost confidence through fashion and employment readiness workshops.
Dressed In Confidence partnered with the Ministry for Pacific Peoples’ (MPP) Tupu Aotearoa programme to deliver their workshops, which support young people into employment, study and training.
A key partnership that contributed to Amelia’s success in the programme was through the Puatala team, which is also part of the Tupu Aotearoa family.
She says Puatala was the backbone to her experience during the Dressed In Confidence course.
“The team from Puatala made sure I was ready and set to walk through those doors with confidence and faith in myself… their support was everything to me and they definitely did not disappoint me one bit,” Amelia says.
With confidence in her kete, Amelia now wants to encourage others to be kind and be themselves.
“I pray that people see how important it is to be kind, to express how important you are without living with too much ego.
“We deserve to know how truly amazing we are as people because if we don’t, we are letting those who came before us and those who will come after us, down.
“I am hopeful that our village look at me and want to discover and authentically express just how compassionate, courageous and cool they are.”
The programme helped Amelia warm up to those who want to provide a safety shelter for someone like her: “usually quiet and emotional”.
She says she always hid from expressing those emotions, but through the Dressed In Confidence programme, Amelia healed many sides of herself.
Some of those traumas have sat with her since she was five years old.
“This programme really taught me that there is no one just like you, so be yourself because no one else can and while you do, look stunning through that process because I learnt so much on personal style and I can’t wait to display that.
“My greatest lesson so far is to focus on the present, love those who love you and pray for those who don’t.”
She has some sound advice for Pacific young people who might be a bit afraid of taking the next steps in life.
“Remember why you want to sign up, that intuitive feeling telling you how much you truly want to set yourself free and be yourself, listen to that.
“You have no choice but to tap into your soul’s purpose and remind yourself exactly why you’re inspired by this space to begin with because that is your reason and this life is yours to navigate.
“Choose you and you’ll never fail. You are your village and your village is you.”
Visit the MPP website for more information on the Tupu Aotearoa initiative.