Kia orana tatou katoatoa i te aroa maata O te Atua, greetings to you all with the love of God. As you may know, Mama Pi Elisaia, our patron and founding trustee of Pacific Homecare, passed away peacefully on April 21st, 2022.
There is no doubt we love her very much and will miss her presence in so many ways. Our love, comfort and prayers are with Maria and Frank and their families, all of Mama’s extended family, friends, the Pukapuka community and her church families. This is a tribute from all of us at Pacific Homecare to Mama Pi 💙
Mama Pi. Her smiley face, her humility, her wisdom, her insights, her cheekiness, her advice. Her overall presence and hard work provided us with a rock of stability throughout the challenges of time. Her partner in crime was another Pukapukan ‘Warrior Queen’, the late Mama Matarena George. In her own words, the “Mama to Many” described her journey like this; “when I look around this place [Pacific Homecare Office] and how nice it is, it makes me think of how far we’ve come since we started. All we had was a tiny little office with one desk we managed to squeeze in,” she laughed.
The organisation started in the late 1980s, although Mama Pi’s own journey began half a century before then on the island of Pukapuka, part of the Cook Islands’ northern group. Her parents moved to the main Cook Island, Rarotonga, to find work – which usually took a week to get to by boat from Pukapuka (three to four days on a fast boat). From there, Mama Pi was raised by her grandmother. “It was a good life, climbing the coconut trees, planting taro, feeding the chickens and going to school,” she recalled.
In 1950, at age 13 she moved to Rarotonga to finish her schooling and begin training as a teacher. In 1954, she decided she wanted to be a nurse. Here, she started training and worked at the local hospital. By the end of 1957, she prepared to move to Fiji for nursing school. However, her father had other ideas and bought her a one-way air ticket to New Zealand. That involved taking a boat ride to the neighbouring island of Aitutaki to catch a Teal flight from its shallow lagoon to Auckland.
She did many jobs before graduating from Nursing School at what is now Greenlane Hospital. Although, starting a wonderful family put a pause on practicing what she had trained for. Much of her life was spent in the garment industry. She didn’t consider returning to the health scene till the late 1980s, when her cousin and friend, Matarena George approached her. The pair grew up together in Pukapuka and worked alongside each other at the General Hospital in Rarotonga. “Matarena was a real workaholic, and she was a real community leader, involved in so many things.” Mama Pi recalled.
Mama Pi admitted she loved her work, especially driving her car around the community to share a cup of tea and a chat with their many clients. “Staying in touch with our people is good for you. A lot of them do get lonely and enjoy the company, just having a chat. Besides, for me, it’s better than sitting around at home.”
To Mama, you were such a wonderful person, a great leader and certainly the “Mama to Many”, rest in peace. Our love is with you and your love continues to inspire us all here at Pacific Homecare. This poem is very much you and your essence:
“Taku pua Tiare Māori – My Gardenia Blossom”
Taku pua Tiare Māori
Ko Toou manea te matenga o te inangaro
Ko toou kakara te rapakau o te aue
Ka puera koe ki roto i te ngakau
Kore ra koe e mate
My Gardenia Blossom
Yours is the ultimate beauty
Your fragrance is the cure for despair
You bloom within the heart
And stay eternal.
May the Lord bless you, keep you and make his face shine upon you. May he give you peace.
On behalf of our Board and our entire Pacific Homecare Family,
Hamish Crooks
Chief Executive
