A Fresh Serving of Health
VSA spoke with Tavake Fangupo, General Development Manager NRL Tonga, and Seni Lafo’ou, Mai e 5 Project Co-ordinator, to reflect on their mission to create stronger, better communities.
VSA have followed Tavake’s work with the NRL Tonga closely, particularly partnering with volunteers to assist in their commendable contribution to the education sector through the Mai e Nima Health and Well-Being 10-Lesson Programme. Tavake and Seni agree maintaining a partnership with VSA is pivotal to the programme. Tavake says, “Over the last four years, VSA have contributed to upskilling staff and enabling the capacity needed for the programme to grow.This support has played a huge part in expanding the programme to its current capabilities.”
Seni Lafoou, Tiffany Babington, Tavake Fangupo
Tavake grew up in Auckland and has always been involved in sports. He says, “It’s fantastic to now be in a position where I can facilitate health and sporting opportunities to youth.”
Now living in Tonga for twelve years, he manages the NRL Tonga Programme. This was established to encourage, educate & promote healthy living through the Mai e 5 Health & Well-Being Programme and help eliminate violence against women & children through the Voice Against Violence Programme. They are involved with over seventy primary schools, fifteen high schools, and several disabilities centres and junior competitions throughout Tongatapu and outer islands groups.
Seni is a natural people-person and began her career in the New Zealand travel and tourism industry but always had a keen interest for community and sports. She moved to Tonga in 2016 and knew when the opportunity came to take on the role as Project Co-ordinator for Mai e Nima, it was too good to miss!
Mai e Nima , originally formed out of the Nishi Foundation (another VSA partner), has been in existence as an independent organisation since 2012 with the purpose of teaching nutrition and well-being to ten pilot schools but did not have the exposure and resources needed to expand to its full potential. At this stage, NRL Tonga were already delivering lessons to all Tongan Government primary schools promoting physical education.
As both NRL Tonga and Mai e Nima shared a common objective, they knew they could make a greater impact together, so the organisations linked to run a 10-lesson health and well-being programme to primary schools across the main and outer islands of Tonga.
“We both brought different strengths and resources to the programme,” says Tavake, “by working together, we were able to bring partnerships together to maximise opportunities we provide to schools.”
Non-communicable diseases account for 74% of deaths in Tonga, with the impact of diabetes, obesity and heart disease ever present. Therefore, Mai e Nima is crucial to securing better quality of life and longer life expectancy for future generations. The lessons are widely accepted in schools and receive a particularly special seal of approval from the students. “It is rewarding being able to give back,” Tavake says, “especially when working with youth.”
Mai e 5 introduces several exciting projects for schools to be directly involved with such as the Let Kids Cook Competition. A student excelling in the programme is selected to construct a nutritious-filled, 3-course menu and have a ‘cook-off’ with fellow competitors from local schools. The New Zealand High Commission also provided funding to plant vegetable gardens which allows children to learn first-hand about the benefits of horticulture.
"It is rewarding being able to give back, especially when working with youth."
A highlight of the programme, Tavake shares, is its inclusivity which has opened the door to unexpected opportunities like their involvement with helping at disability centres. Tavake says, “Staff spend once a week delivering the programme in a way the children can understand. The team also visit Tonga Red Cross disability centre once a fortnight. It is something I’m proud we’re part of.”
The programmes adaptability was also proven when the combination of a global pandemic and destruction from the eruption of the Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha’apai in January resulted in the temporary closing of school grounds. Mai e 5 showed its resilience by running an active Facebook page, staff recording a cooking show to air on television and hosting a radio talkback show on the local station Radio Nuku’alofa. These alternatives to in-class learning ensures the important messaging around healthy living is reiterated at home and creates opportunity for kāinga to talk about positive adjustments they can make to daily routines.
Over time, a survey was created for each primary school participating in the programme to complete to identify if students understood the purpose of the lessons. The data collected was phenomenal and later shared with the Ministry of Education and other key stakeholders, so they were able to see how their support was making a difference. Seni says, “The results showed there was vast improvement in knowledge around what it means to prioritise healthy living, and the amount of enthusiasm we receive from the students is a pretty nice feeling!”
Looking towards the future, both Tavake and Seni envision the Mai e Nima Programme ingrained into school curriculums and included in teachers’ training college, so staff are equipped with the knowledge confidence to take full ownership of the programme when delivering it to classrooms. Another goal is to have staff established outside of Tonga to run the programme as currently when they visit outer islands, the entire programme plan is being delivered in a single lesson due to limited staff resources.
Support for this critical movement goes a long way towards improving vital knowledge and skills towards health and well-being throughout the education sector of Tonga.
Loketi Manu at Free Wesleyan Primary School Nukunuku during their school delivery
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