The Story of Senitila Tutone
- D.Zhu
- Jul 29, 2023
- 8 min read
Updated: Aug 2, 2023
Tongan-born Senitila Tutone is a proud surgeon, breaking racial and gender barriers working in a field which is predominantly male and white. In order to come this far, she learned to cultivate resilience, the quality that helps her weather through challenges that life throws at her.
Tila was born and raised in Havelu, Tonga for 17 years before leaving for New Zealand, and grew up amongst a laid-back, community-oriented, and simple way of life. She says: “Growing up in Tonga compared to New Zealand was very different. We didn't have much, and I think one of the great things about growing up in the islands is that you know everyone in your village and everyone around you.
You go to the neighbour’s house, stay there, eat there, and everyone interacts with each other.” The Tongan life was not a culture of competition, but rather a culture of community.
Because people didn’t always have much material means, they relied upon each other to overcome their struggles. “Say, I went to make a drink at home, and I ran out of sugar and there's no sugar at the shop. I just call out to the neighbors and say ‘Yo, you guys got some sugar?’ and then they're like, you know, whatever they have, they'll half it and give it to us.” Tila describes that the Tongan community is based on “the foundation of love”. In Tila’s adolescence she began to venture further away from her immediate community, attending school functions and parties, sometimes to the dismay of her strict grandparents.
“There was some strictness and things around it with my grandparents, but you know, I managed to get my way. I think overall I absolutely enjoyed the islands.”
Although the local community was a major highlight of Tila’s upbringing, the Tongan life presented its own challenges, especially in education. With a 76.7% high school enrolment and free tuition, education is readily accessible in Tonga, but often limited in application to only the islands. Due to Tonga and majority of the Pacific Islands using their own independent education systems, university degrees obtained on the islands are invalid outside of their respective island. Tila felt that there was much less opportunity in Tonga. “The unfortunate thing is that the South Pacific, you can't take that degree elsewhere. So even if I did graduate, you know from with any degree in Tonga. And I wanted to move to New Zealand, I'd have to sort of redo the whole thing.”
Because of this, Tila had to leave Tonga for New Zealand, to complete her last 2 years of high school before studying in Auckland. “I guess the goal for me was that I was always going to end up in New Zealand anyway for higher education. But my grandparents, who raised me when my mom was here studying, they wanted me to finish high school, so at least I know the language and the culture and who I am and my identity as a person before I came to New Zealand to finish off my studies.” Despite having visited New Zealand extensively in the past, her perception of it was as a holiday home in which she would visit her mother every summer. Due to her mother’s scholarship and job in medicine, Tila was granted permanent residency to live in New Zealand, thus making the immigration process seamless.
“I kind of knew a bit about New Zealand, but just from a holiday perspective we'd come just, you know, during the summer holidays and December then go back to Tonga. Well, I guess my perception was New Zealand, it's amazing country and you know, I want to live here. I can't wait to come here. And then I moved here. It was much, much tougher.”
Upon arriving to New Zealand, Tila immediately was faced with her first challenge, living alone away from her grandparents while being thrown into an education system she was entirely unfamiliar with. “I've always gone everywhere they (Tila’s grandparents) went. That was tough. So, when they left me, I was properly depressed for a while because I had to adjust myself to a whole new school. And it wasn't that I grew up with these kids, I went to Mount Roskill grammar school in year 12. And so I didn't know a single person there, having to adjust and for the first time, there weren't any Tongans.” Tila was completely unaccustomed to the NCEA curriculum, adding another discomfort to her already disgruntled self. Language and accent also presented as issue, as although she had experience with English, her primary language was Tongan. “We sort of had a weird type of accent when you come from Tonga because we watch a lot of American programs and what I've noticed is Pacific Island people that had grown up in the Pacific and came here at an older age have an Americanish accent. Then I had to change that because I was getting mocked with that and so I had to stand there and practice.” Tila felt isolated in high school and struggled to acclimate herself to the cold weather, however, the stress of acquiring the grades necessary for scholarships and university was her biggest stressor.
Tila immediately noticed the cultural differences upon arriving in New Zealand, both in community togetherness, and cultural values. “The culture here in New Zealand is, you know, obviously in the European type, whereas in Tonga, it's a very traditional type. There was a big shock to me. In Tonga you’d never see people hold hands, you know, couples or girlfriends do that in islands. Here I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, what are they doing? Aren’t they embarrassed?”. Despite being faced with cultural divides, Tila was able to integrate into the Auckland Tongan community. Due to family connections in New Zealand, she was able to involve herself in the community, especially in service opportunities. Tila took part in tutoring and mentoring Tongans in New Zealand, something which helped her give back to the community while also helping her feel as though she was at home away from home.
After high school, Tila’s next step was Auckland University and medical school. During university, Tila began to surround herself with supportive people who had endured similar experiences through the MAPAS scheme. “The good thing about Auckland is we have what we called the MAPAS scheme… we already were put in a group with people with sort of similar pacific people to start off with similar background, similar struggles. And these are the people that got me through medical school. They are literally friends that have become my family.”
The MAPAS scheme (Māori and Pacific Admission Scheme) is an admissions scheme created to bridge racial inequities in medical fields by allocating 30% of entries to Māori and Pasifika students. This was created due to the comparatively tiny portion of Māori and Pasifika doctors in proportion to Pākehā. With a mere 4.1% of doctors being Māori and 1.9% being Pasifika, these values are dwarfed by 49.4% of doctors being Pākehā and 18.9% being European in 2020 (via Medical Council of New Zealand). Despite the vast gap in representation, the gap has been slowly closing thanks to programs such as MAPAS. Even with the positive MAPAS impact, it is often a controversial topic as individuals find the system unfair, giving Māori and Pasifika students an unfair advantage. This is primarily due to lack of education on the massive gap in representation and education inequities which Māori and Pasifika often face in pursuit of a medical degree. For Tila, the MAPAS scheme was one of the biggest positives throughout her university experience, providing an inside perspective on how valuable MAPAS can be.
Once Tila had graduated from medical school, she entered the medical workforce and now works in general surgery. Inequalities in the workplace were and are a major hinderance for Tila, who experiences a great deal of racism and sexism. “I'm doing general surgery, which is obviously something that is mainly geared towards men. The specialty and the whole training process behind it. And so, it's very, very rarely do you see a Pacific person trying to do general surgery, let alone a Pacific woman. So having to try and navigate myself in that space is very hard, and it wasn't just sort of, you know, unconscious bias. I've had people be racist to me in my face.” On top of facing extensive workplace racism, there is also a wage gap in medical field between men and women of up to 12.5%. These differences make the medical field heavily unfavourable for both women and Māori/Pasifika. “You'd think in, in medicine in the 21st century, you know, it'll be a bit better. But I can tell you firsthand it is not. Yeah, especially within surgery, pretty bad. I guess you still have to navigate yourself through it because at the end of the day, I can’t change that myself.”
In retrospect, Tila learned the importance of resilience and the ability to adjust to new circumstances, all while staying true to yourself. By being placed into an unfamiliar culture, she had to be mindful of other people and their cultures. In spite of racism and sexism, Tila still strives for a life of service, allowing for her to persevere through hardship.
“I've learned very much to be grateful and appreciative of what I have, and it allowed me to look back to the islands and be able to reflect on how it was like back there and how the foundation that was laid in terms of working hard and just knowing that we're here to serve people and then that being that foundation that's led me to where I am now. I don't think it's a coincidence. Yeah, I think it all this was meant to be and so I've learned to be grateful and appreciative of what I have in life.”
Now having lived in New Zealand for 15 years, Tila’s favourite thing about New Zealand is the opportunity to be a doctor and serve. Although she endures racism regularly, she is grateful for the position and responsibility of a doctor. “Trying to figure out how you can help change the health outcomes of this issue, especially with Pacific people, is one of the things that I do enjoy. It triggers my mind and I love that.” Conversely, Tila’s least favourite aspect of New Zealand is the cost of living, as housing continues to get more expensive.
When asked what she would tell herself before arriving to New Zealand, she answered: “I would tell myself that I got this. That I am amazing, and that I'm great because a lot of time what I have is impostor syndrome, where consciously I know, that I'm great but I always doubt myself… But if I could go back, I'd tell myself that I'm amazing and I'm great, you know, whatever I'm going to do.” Although she has grown acclimated to life in New Zealand, her home closest to her heart still lies in Tonga. Tila misses her family, the food, and the unconditional love within her village.
“My grandparents had raised me and unfortunately my grandfather passed away during COVID, but my grandma is still in Tonga, so I am literally missing her every day. I do see her every now and then, but it's not the same.” Although Tila feels that New Zealanders do share their love, it is hidden under a few layers, preventing her from having the same feeling of community she felt in Tonga.
Tila provides an acute insight into not just the problems of the medical workplace, but also systems such as MAPAS designed to decrease inequities which Māori/Pasifika people face. Although there is extensive dialogue on the equality of opportunity with MAPAS, action still needs to be taken to provide for marginalized and underprivileged groups in New Zealand: typically Māori and Pasifika.
Tila’s experience demonstrates how such programs can be effective in closing the racial gap. Tila’s personal journey included much hardship and oppression, but her resilience has allowed her to shine as a brilliant example as to the capabilities of Pasifika and Māori youth when given the opportunity to succeed.
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