PACIFICA has a proud history of mobilising Pacific women and their communities. Now the Pacific women’s group is leading by example in the fight against obesity.
Chantel Choromanski with Metua Fa'asisila.
Sally Dalhousie has been a member of PACIFICA for 13 years and is now its National President. She says PACIFICA was established in 1976 to help new Pacific migrants who had come to New Zealand.
There are now 19 branches of PACIFICA throughout the country from Whangarei to Invercargill. Branches meet monthly and come together at a National Conference each year. All work is voluntary and much of it focuses on what can be achieved locally at the branch level.
“What we have is a great passion for what we do and a unified focus. We enjoy the challenge and the potential of what our work could bring about for Pacific people,” says Sally.
Health issues are very much on PACIFICA’s agenda. The latest PACIFICA initiative is a pilot programme which aims to fight obesity at the community level by providing group exercise programmes for Pacific women as an alternative to expensive gym classes.
“We’ve been completing a pilot with the Auckland Central Branch and we’re hoping to turn this into a national project and roll it out through the branches,” says Sally.
Sally’s enthusiasm for the project is based on first hand experience. Twice a week since Xmas she and 11 other women have been meeting at Mt Eden to exercise for an hour. The sessions are challenging, fun and effective. Over the first five weeks the women lost an average of 6 kilos each.
“I think it’s effective because Pacific women enjoy the group thing. We’re all struggling together. Many of us have tried green prescriptions and going to the gym but they are all individual approaches. Because we have a whole team working together, it makes a difference.”
PACIFICA Auckland Central Branch President, Anne Fitisemanu initiated the programme. Her current role at Counties Manukau DHB and a background in marketing means Anne is constantly looking for innovative ideas to tackle health issues. She didn’t have to look far for inspiration – three of her seven children are in the health and fitness industry. Anne took her idea to her local branch and then to the national executive of PACIFICA who saw its potential.
“The challenge I wanted to put out to our women was ‘how can we contribute to reducing obesity?’ because I believe that Pacific women have a lot of influence over family.”
The programme’s trainers are Anne’s eldest son Trumaine who is a personal trainer and his partner Chantal, a recent physio graduate. The group meets twice a week on Tuesday nights and Saturday mornings and has been making excellent progress.
Sally believes although the initiative is small, it has the potential to make a big difference.
“We know that 63% of all Pacific adults are obese. And our children are two and a half times more likely to suffer from obesity than non-Pacific children. It’s an epidemic. It is really important that something is done about it. We’re doing something practical here to alleviate the problem. We’re getting active and we’re tacking the problem of obesity at the grassroots.”
