It remains hard for members of the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI) to believe that one of our youngest and most promising officers was among those tragically lost in last month’s ferry disaster in Tonga.
Sisiliah Rachelmana Puleheloto, a 23-year-old policewoman from Niue and member of RAMSI’s Participating Police Force, managed to make an enormous contribution in her nine months with the mission—both through her work in the Solomon Islands community as a member of RAMSI’s Participating Police Force (PPF) Community Relations Team and as a warm and outgoing member of the wider RAMSI family.
With her wide Pacific smile and willingness to take on any task, ‘Sisi’, as she was known in the mission, touched all who came in contact with her, whether they were members of RAMSI or from one of the many Solomon Islands communities she worked with as part of RAMSI’s Community Outreach programme.
Speaking at a packed memorial service held at RAMSI's headquarters on August 20, RAMSI's Special Coordinator, Graeme Wilson, said that in many ways Sisi’s contribution to RAMSI personified the mission’s motto, Helpem Fren.
“Showing a big heart, Sisiliah worked cheerfully and energetically with colleagues from across the region to help Solomon Islanders build a better and safer future,” Wilson said. 
The first female police officer from Niue to represent her country in an international mission, Puleheloto, in an interview not long before her death, described her work in the PPF’s Community Relations team as being about providing the ‘human face’ of RAMSI.
She said: ‘Having a meal, playing some games and sharing a laugh can be just as important as traditional policing activities’.  
“I had seen this for myself,” the Special Coordinator told the hundreds who attended the memorial service, “not only when I’d come into contact with Sisi during her official outreach activities, but also during some of the many out-of-work hours she put into the community.  These included at our Saturday afternoon Auskick clinics at the Honiara High School where she was an enthusiastic participant in our efforts to introduce Australian Rules football to Solomon Islanders.”
The Commander of the Participating Police Force (PPF), Wayne Buchhorn said Puleheloto’s dedication to her work, particularly in community relations earned her the respect of her RAMSI colleagues and the community.
“With her positive attitude and smiling face, Sisi also built strong working relationships with many community groups and non-government organisations and was a role model for many.
“She will be missed by all, both in her own nation with its police force of 16 members and by the many friends she had made from around the world in her short life,” Buchhorn said.
RAMSI’s Pacific Islands contingent, of which Sisi had been the youngest member, is also keenly feeling her passing. Senior Pacific Islands contingent members broke down when recalling how she had brought the contingent together, using her child-like ways to cajole them into doing what she wanted.
“She was a young girl with a big heart who loved to organise, especially to organise us,” said Fijian police officer, Sala Vakatuturigani. “But God has promoted her to end her mission. Sisi has a new mission now.”
Present at the service were a number of babies who had been named after Sisi during her time in the Solomon Islands.
Several community representatives spoke of her work with Solomon Islanders, especially her ready smile and great way with children.
“We need more officers like her who work easily with our communities and relate so well to our children,” one community leader told those gathered.
Born in September 1985 to her Tongan mother, Akoaga, and Niuean father, Andrew,  Puleheloto spent most of her first decade of life in Auckland, New Zealand, with her grandmother, Hanesa, returning to Niue when she was about 13 years old.
Joining the Niue Police Force in 2005, she was selected to represent her country in RAMSI’s Participating Police Force on October 23, 2008, one of only two contingent members from Niue.
She was President of the Niue Women’s Rugby Federation and a member of Niue’s Rugby Union.
The last time most members of the mission saw Puleheloto was when she performed a traditional Niuean dance for RAMSI’s 6th anniversary Island Night at the mission headquarters in late July. None of us considered that this might be the last time we would see that wonderful Pacific smile or hear her cheerfully agree to take on yet another task. 
A few days later, Sisi left for her four-week mid-term break, which was overdue after she happily delayed her departure in order to help meet some of the mission’s Outreach commitments and to time it for a relative’s wedding in Tonga. Deciding to travel to her mother’s homeland, the Kingdom of Tonga, for the first time, she rang back to her Pacific Islands colleagues shortly before boarding the ill-fated Princess Ashika to tell them how excited she was to finally be meeting all her extended family members in Tonga.
Puleheloto had been expected to return to her work with RAMSI before the end of August. She is the fifth active member of the mission to die in the six years since RAMSI was first deployed to the Solomon Islands in July 2003.
The mission’s thoughts are also with the past and present Tongan contingent members and their fellow countrymen and women, particularly the grieving families in Tonga who also suffered such devastating losses with the sinking on August 5. Sisi worked closely with the Tongan contingent members as she did with all RAMSI staff.
“We are rightly grieving Sisi’s passing,” said the Special Coordinator.” But I’m sure she would also want us to take up where she had left off and continue building RAMSI’s partnership with the people of Solomon Islands. We can draw strength in knowing that we can carry Sisi’s warm smile in our hearts wherever we go and whatever we do.”