Hemi Tukino John Paurini 

Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāti Tūwharetoa 

2024 Student of Heke Reo Māori 

16 July 2024 

Early Years 

When Hemi was young, his whānau moved about a lot as his parents were in the NZ Army. When he was 9 years old his dad retired from the Army and they settled in Levin, close to extended whānau and their marae, Ngātokowaru. His secondary education was completed at Hato Pāora College in Feilding.  He also undertook some studies following college, completing a Diploma in Film, some Bible studies, and has been slowly working towards a Bachelor of Business (Marketing). 

Marriage and Babies 

Hemi is married to Olivia Perelini who grew up in Samoa. She moved to Aoteaoa to study medicine at 18 years. Olivia is a doctor specialising in oncology. They met at church in their late teens, but it wasn’t until about 10 years later that their friendship became more. They have two tamariki, a son Hiwawa, a daughter Pele, and a baby due in October. The tamariki take up much of their time. They were living in Auckland until December when they moved to Raumati. He is currently a student in Heke Reo Māori - the Diploma in Reo Māori. Previously his work was in transport. 

Te Hokinga Mai 

Since returning to the area, Hemi and his whānau have been participating in marae activities. He has been attending the weekly marae online reo classes by Hēni Jacob – Te Reo o Hinepuororangi. He has also attended one of the monthly marae hui, which are held online during the winter months and face to face during the warmer months. The whānau have been participating in the monthly Kai ki Hokio – a monthly kai at the marae where each whānau takes turns to cook for the hapū. They also attended two noho marae. Very recently they attended the Matariki celebrations at the marae. Hemi thinks that there seems to be more activities happening at the marae now than he remembers growing up. There have been many opportunities to be involved with the marae. It has been important to Hemi to return home to learn and connect to his marae, to his wānanga, Te Wānanga o Raukawa. In this environment he has had access to the pūrakau, the waiata, the mita of his people. 

Ōna Whakaaro 

Thoughts from Hemi are, “Te Wānanga o Raukawa is a great environment. You get out what you put in. I’ve really enjoyed my studies. I’ve put in a lot of effort into my assignments and because of that I have learnt a lot.” He loves being surrounded by te ao Māori and is keen to find employment in that space where he can continue to learn, operate more freely, sharpen his reo, sharpen his understanding of whakapapa and tikanga. Being able to work in a space like that would be awesome. 

Next year Hemi and his whānau are moving back to Auckland as Olivia has accepted a new position there. Perhaps they’ll return in a while? 

Hokia ki ō maunga kia purea koe e ngā hau o Tāwhirimātea 

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