Health has taken centre stage at the Trans Pacific Union Mission (TPUM) Session this week, with a range of initiatives promoting wellness for delegates and showcasing the Church’s commitment to addressing lifestyle diseases in the Pacific.
Each day begins with the Walk4Life initiative at 5am, followed by health screenings where delegates can check vital indicators and consult with a doctor from Fiji’s Ministry of Health.
Nutrition has also been a big focus with free healthy snacks and food tastings offered to delegates during morning and afternoon breaks. They can also visit the Bitu Bar, which is originally based in Nadi as a community wellness centre operated by local Adventist churches, but was brought to the session to provide natural, herbal juices made from local fruits and vegetables.
In addition to promoting healthy alternatives to sugary drinks, the juice bar also supports the 10,000 Toes campaign, which works to fight diabetes in the Pacific.
Next to the juice bar, a health booth is offering educational materials on common health myths, resources on the Step Up to Wholeness program, and fundraising items such as flip flops and socks for the 10,000 Toes campaign.
TPUM health director George Kwong explained that the session is an opportunity to show leaders the urgency of health reform in the region. “In every 20 minutes there is an amputation in our region,” he said. “This is a great opportunity to create awareness among our leaders, so they can take ideas back home and emulate what they’ve seen here,” said Mr Kwong.
Pamela Townend, 10,000 Toes coordinator for the South Pacific, said the emphasis on health is about building discipleship, “Our people do not realise the importance of health. So we need to be sharing these messages on a continual basis because our church actually is sick and we want healthy disciples, not sick ones.”
“We start by educating our church leaders and members so that when they are connecting with people in the community, they actually have got the right health tips themselves,” added Mrs Townend.
For some delegates, the initiatives have already made a personal impact. Clarinda Molia Hanna, from the Western Solomon Islands, said the early morning walks, the health department’s report and the onsite health screening inspired her to take her own health more seriously.
“Coming here to the session has opened my eyes,” she said. “My blood sugar is sitting at the border, and I know I need to reverse it. This is a turning point for me—my body is the temple of the Holy Spirit and I need to look after it.”
Despite the long days of meetings, Ms Hanna made the effort to join the Walk4Life group every day before sunrise. She said she was particularly inspired by the example of church leaders and staff who consistently turned up for the walks, even after late nights of preparation, “I saw how enthusiastic all the leaders are and how fit they are. We would finish late, but they were still up early setting everything up. Their resilience inspired me to rethink my own health pathway.”
She added that the food tastings and juices gave her practical ideas to take home. “We have so much fresh food in the islands. I realised we just need to start with what we have.”
