By Esther Lauaki
What’s your connection to Wyndham?
I’m a pastor at the Werribee Church of Christ. Originally from Perth, I’d been to Victoria once before and when we finished service at our last church we were offered a post here in Werribee. I had no idea where Werribee was before then.
How long have you lived in the area?
I’ve been here for about four years with my
lovely wife Cynthia, who is from the Philippines.
What are you passionate about?
What I do as a pastor, connecting with people and the things we do as a church. I’m in a job that I’m very passionate about, otherwise I wouldn’t be doing it. Being a pastor is not a 9-5 job.
I always have my phone for people who need to talk and I’ve often found myself in a hospital at 10 o’clock at night … being with a grieving family. It’s a different side of life.
How do you and the church get involved in the Wyndham community?
We run a food bank and that’s one of the ways that we meet people in the community. We have a program called Let’s Talk on a Saturday where people can come in and practice their language, particularly migrants who want to practice their English. This is in addition to three bible study groups we run each week. We do a car-boot sale twice a year and around Christmas we run a Carols on the Lawn event. I am thinking about starting up a men’s breakfast event to address some of the issues that men may face.
What’s something not many people know about you?
I love my AFL – I’m a Hawthorn supporter. I’m a pastor but I’m an ordinary guy. I also love history.
What do you love about Wyndham?
I’d always said that I wanted to live somewhere that was 30 minutes from the city with a multicultural community. When we were offered the opportunity to come and live in Werribee it was perfect. The shire has a wonderful vision for the future of the area. Werribee has a unique identity and the people are very easy to get along with. As I get to know the area, I also realise that there are a lot of needs in the community. I think, “what can I do to help?”. Moving here from Perth was a bit of a culture shock in many ways. There was traffic. With traffic it can take you 15 minutes to get into the centre of Werribee and we’re just around the corner.
