Luaipouomalo Uliefu (right) pictured with her cookery tutor Maigie Atienza. Photo / Supplied
Luaipouomalo Uliefu (right) pictured with her cookery tutor Maigie Atienza. Photo / Supplied
Leaving her children behind in another country was not an easy move for budding chef Luaipouomalo Uliefu - but it was one that motivated her to do her best in her chosen career.
“If I can’t work hard, then there will be no future for them,” she said.
“It’s our responsibility to provide for them and put everything on the table for them.”
It has been a decade-long journey for Uliefu, who decided to leave Samoa for New Zealand out of a desire to provide a better life for herself and her two young sons.
Her gift for cooking started in Samoa where she made meals for two generations of her family.
One day, she made a meal for her uncle - a gravy made from canned fish and boiled banana in coconut cream.
His reaction to that meal would be something Uliefu would remember, after he told her: “You will be a chef one day.”
In 2011, she made the move over to Wellington - taking up a job as a kitchen hand and leaving her sons with extended family members back in the motherland for a year.
“I knew I couldn’t afford to pay for childcare while working. When I left them, there was a hole inside my heart. I missed them every day,” she said.
“When I finally gave them a hug, that hole was gone.”
Budding chef Luaipouomalo Uliefu is heading to Singapore for an internship that she hopes will further her cooking skills. Photo / Supplied
Shortly after her children arrived in Aotearoa, Uliefu met her now husband and the couple had two children.
In 2018, the aiga (family) moved to Pukekohe, South Auckland, after she took up a job and became a student at the private training provider, Ignite Colleges, based in Wiri.
The mother-of-four is one of 111 recipients of this year’s Prime Minister’s Scholarship awards; which supports New Zealanders’ learning experiences in various countries in Asia and Latin America.
The award will allow Uliefu the chance to study for six weeks at the Singapore Hotel and Tourism Education Centre - a premium hospitality school that specialises in training students in the hospitality industry.
“I felt overwhelmed, excited and, most of all, thankful. I had dreamed of formal study, to gain a qualification that recognised my skills in the kitchen,” Uliefu said on being named a recipient.
When she was told of the award, she described tears falling down her face “like the rain”.
Ignite Colleges cookery tutor Maigie Atienza said she nominated Uliefu for the scholarship because of her work ethic and dedication to her craft.
Atienza gave an honourable mention of a special Samoan dish Uliefu makes - luau or palusami, made using taro leaves and coconut cream.
“Her luau was amazing. You can tell she put her heart into making those dishes,” Atienza said.
Uliefu says she wants to encourage people, especially Samoan women and struggling single mums to keep persevering and remember who they are doing it all for.
“Look at your children. What’s it going to be like in the future for them? I want to make my family, especially my kids, proud.”
