Te’o Harry Fatu Toleafoa
Hailing from the Samoan villages of Vaigalu, Lepā and Vaie’e, Sāfata, Harry was born and raised in West Auckland.
Harry holds an LLM (Hons)/BA with a specialised focus on Pacific peoples. He's an enrolled Barrister and Solicitor of the New Zealand High Court and has worked for the University of Auckland, Faculty of Law and served on the Pacific Lawyers Association executive committee. In 2019, he was elected onto the Māngere-Otahuhu Local Board which has one of the highest concentrations of Pacific peoples in Aotearoa. He also works as a legal educator and community advocate for the Māngere Community Law Centre and serves on the board of directors at the Oceania Career Academy (OCA).
From 2019 to present Harry has been an executive member of the Māngere Housing Community Regeneration Group which was founded to ensure that Māngere’s voices and aspirations contribute into the long-term housing development plans for present and future generations.
He has also been involved with the Nga Manga o Māngere Steering Committee from 2017 to present. This committee organises the community forum and determines the bi-monthly meeting agendas and speakers. Formed in late 1991 as a forum for community workers in Māngere to connect to each other, it was named Nga Manga O Māngere as a reflection of the many branches of Māngere and as a recognition of the multi-cultural make-up of the area. Nga Manga O Māngere is a forum that gives equal voice to anyone working and living in Māngere as well as the opportunity to connect and be visible.
Harry also enjoys
- working alongside youth as a teacher at his local church - Henderson Ekalesia Fa’apotopotoga o Samoa I Niu Sila
- being an avid supporter of the Manu Samoa rugby team
- reading Samoan literature