Lunchtime Lecture Series 2026 – Kiwi/Maori/Samoan My life was a metamorphosis of all three.

Rev Dr Fei Taule’ale’ausumai

Fei is an Aotearoan NZ born Samoan. She grew up in West Auckland in Kelston.  Fei was ordained 35 years ago as the first NZ born Pacific female minister to be ordained within the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa NZ.  She has had an extensive ministry both nationally and internationally.  Fei holds a Dr of Philosophy (AUT), a Master of Arts in World Religions (Victoria University), and several other degrees in theology. She is in her fifth year as minister at St Andrew’s on the Terrace.  Her PhD is entitled: The Samoan Diaspora Church in New Zealand: Patterns of Movement and Dynamics Amongst Three Generations of Samoan Families.

Growing up in Aotearoa NZ in the 1960’s is very different to growing up today.  I remember when my mother came to a Kapahaka concert I was performing in and she scratched her head and thought “hmmm there’s something wrong with this picture”.  Childhood involved negotiating between what it meant to be Kiwi/Maori/Samoan.  It was a metamorphosis of all three cultures.