FOLLOW THE FOOTSTEPS OF

7 FIJI AMBASSADORS

FOLLOW THE FOOTSTEPS OF

7 FIJI AMBASSADORS

Mere Vutikalalulu Waqa. Lead Ambassador - Nadi North Zone, Fiji
Mere Vutikalalulu Waqa
LEAD AMBASSADOR – Nadi North Zone, Fiji

My name is Mere Vutikalulu Waqa.  I am originally from Sawaieke Gau and maternally from Natauloa Nairai. I am a Level 4 Lead Ambassador, and we look after the Nadi North Zone.

I started with The 10,000 Toes Campaign since it started in 2019, and back then, there were just a few of us.

The 10,000 Toes Campaign is about more than health. I have learned more about myself, my family, and my community through training and coaching.

I plan to continue this excellent health work and help my community in need. It makes me happy to see new Ambassadors join our team.

Join Us in Fighting Diabetes Across Fiji and the South Pacific!

Your donations empower our Ambassadors to provide life-saving health screenings, education, and support to vulnerable communities in Fiji and beyond. Together, we can turn the tide on diabetes and other non-communicable diseases. Every dollar makes a difference!

Donations of $2 or more are tax deductible in Australia.

Timaima Volau Vibau. Team Ambassador - Vatulaulua Ba, Fiji
Timaima Volau Vibau
TEAM AMBASSADOR – Vatulaulua Ba, Fiji

Bula! My name is Timaima Volau Vibau, and I come from the beautiful island of Gau in the Lomaiviti Group.

I am a member of the Vatulaulau 10,000 Toes Campaign as a Level 2 Team Ambassador and am currently advancing to Level 3 Zone Ambassador. I have always had a passion for health, and after attending a 3-day LMA program organised by the Nadi 10,000 Toes Team in 2022, I decided that I would also love to join The 10,000 Toes Campaign as an Ambassador.

A highlight of my journey is that we have been equipped and recognised as one of the mobile hubs (the first GC Mission Impact Fund through health and The 10,000 Toes Campaign Pop Up Wellness Hub, Ba, Fiji)! This would not have been possible without the continuous support from our District Director and Mr George Kwong.

I want to share stories of when I had to do a diet plan meal for my patients.

The first is my cousin; she had brain surgery and came to Ba to improve her health after she heard me discussing the blood pressure and high sugar level results.  She then approached me and requested a meal plan for her.

I helped her by allowing her to come to my place and gave her green juices and raw diets. Now, she has improved her headaches and high blood pressure.

Secondly, a story of when I did a screening in my community, door-to-door. I did not have money to buy all the strips and lancets, so I had to sell some veggie burgers with my friend Paulini Ketewai, and with that, we could do our community screenings!

We continue to do the work and attend the various health seminars.

My favourite quote is:
“Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might…whatever you do… Keep doing good. KEEP ON KEEPING ON!!!

Timaima Volau Vibau and others at the wellness hub
Timaima Volau Vibau and others at the wellness hub
Join Us in Fighting Diabetes Across Fiji and the South Pacific!

Your donations empower our Ambassadors to provide life-saving health screenings, education, and support to vulnerable communities in Fiji and beyond. Together, we can turn the tide on diabetes and other non-communicable diseases. Every dollar makes a difference!

Donations of $2 or more are tax deductible in Australia.

Lia Daucakacaka. Lead Ambassador - Lautoka District, Fiji
Lia Daucakacaka
LEAD AMBASSADOR – Lautoka District, Fiji

My name is Lia. I am from the province of Cakaudrove in the Fiji Islands but currently reside in Lautoka. I am honoured to serve as Lautoka’s Level 4 Lead Ambassador, coordinating The 10,000 Toes Campaign in the Lautoka District.

Since starting this role, I have been actively rolling out the campaign across the district, with our efforts still ongoing in our surrounding communities.

My journey with The 10,000 Toes Campaign began in 2020 when my husband and I took on the challenge of participating in this important mission. We are committed to it and are involved in the lifestyle program.

This program has been incredibly effective, and we’ve experienced the benefits of adopting a healthier lifestyle before sharing it with others. I also had the opportunity to help a diabetic individual and a few others in need through the resources and support The 10,000 Toes Campaign provided. This experience reinforced the campaign’s importance in our community.

We need all hands on deck for this initiative—to help our communities through screenings, food demonstrations, and more. Together, we can make a difference.

My favourite quote is:
“Every small step towards wellness is a giant leap towards a healthier community.”

Join Us in Fighting Diabetes Across Fiji and the South Pacific!

Your donations empower our Ambassadors to provide life-saving health screenings, education, and support to vulnerable communities in Fiji and beyond. Together, we can turn the tide on diabetes and other non-communicable diseases. Every dollar makes a difference!

Donations of $2 or more are tax deductible in Australia.

Unaisi Nalesu. Lead Ambassador - Naselesele Village, Taveuni, Fiji
Unaisi Nalesu
LEAD AMBASSADOR – Naselesele Village, Taveuni, Fiji

I am glad I participated in the first LMA training (2021) in Taveuni, which George Kwong conducted before I became an Ambassador. Since then, I’ve been interested in health work, and I became a Level One Ambassador while volunteering at the Bitu Wellness Bar.

I am now a Level 4 Lead Ambassador in Naselesele Villagem Taveuni.

Naselesele has an alarming rate of non-communicable diseases (NCDs). For the first time in this village and the maritime zone, a group of health volunteers with The 10,000 Toes Campaign in my local church uses Live More Abundantly, a proven lifestyle intervention program, to help fight the crisis.

Trained Ambassadors visited every household in the village for NCD screening. The team identified high-risk individuals and invited them to the LMA program. Each week, villagers attended a workshop on different health topics. The workshop ended with a food demonstration followed by a healthy meal. At 5 a.m., villagers went for a 5-kilometre health walk and finished with a shot of green juice to start their day; this continued throughout the ten weeks. It was a new and exciting experience for the participants.

The results at the end of the health training were astounding: 70% of participants dropped in blood pressure, 60% in blood sugar, and 100% in BMI.

Participants at the LMA training have not only shared the benefits of the training with their families and fellow villagers but have also been living witnesses to their changed lifestyle, improved health, and positive role models in healthy living.

As the forerunner of the LMA program in the maritime zone, I hope that the participation of the Naselesele SDA 10,000 Toes team and myself, and the impact it has on the villagers, will motivate our fellow ambassadors to run programs as such and help save lives.

Join Us in Fighting Diabetes Across Fiji and the South Pacific!

Your donations empower our Ambassadors to provide life-saving health screenings, education, and support to vulnerable communities in Fiji and beyond. Together, we can turn the tide on diabetes and other non-communicable diseases. Every dollar makes a difference!

Donations of $2 or more are tax deductible in Australia.

Jolame & Meresiana Soqo Lead Ambassadors - Naitasiri District, Fiji
Jolame & Meresiana Soqo
LEAD AMBASSADORS – Naitasiri District, Fiji

“Ni sa yadra vinaka” is cultural way of greeting in my village!

My name is Jolame Soqo, and I am from Nasoqo village, which is in the interior of the province of Naitasiri in Fiji. I am married to Meresiana Matavesi, who is from the island of Yasawa. We are the district’s Lead Ambassadors.

We first heard Mr George Kwong give a health presentation on herbal medicine and diet in 2020. We were touched by his testimony because, at that time, I relied heavily on wearing glasses because of my short-sightedness and non-stop head pain. In addition, my wife could not bear a child, and we both wanted to be healthy. We decided to join The 10,000 Toes Campaign.

We could not attend the training, so we requested a kit and trained at home for a few months. We then started promoting health in the community, organising health programmes, and conducting Ambassador training with help from the Campaign. After all this training, we conducted Ambassador training and recruitment ourselves in Naitasiri.

Our health knowledge has grown by attending seminars such as; Health Summit in Nadi [2022], Journey to Wholeness [2022], Steps to Wholeness Summit Samoa [2023], Health Leader Weekend Camp [2023], Health to Go Weimar University training on Zoom [2023], and Health Leaders Empowerment training [2024].

We also gained powerful knowledge when we, as a family, practised living more abundantly with what we learned from every seminar. We are so thankful that there are positive results after three years of training, practising a healthy lifestyle and promoting The 10,000 Toes “Just do it” idea of the campaign. To mention some, I am no longer wearing glasses for seven months, and my head pain has stopped!

We meet people with the same questions, such as, “How did it happen?” “What did you do?” Our answer is the same: “We just do it” [live more abundantly]. Understanding and practising healthy living, we were blessed with another baby boy after nine years! This is a living testimony when we uphold prayer and healthy living in our homes.

We are also so grateful to have been named the 2022 10,000 Toes Campaign Ambassadors of the Year!

My favourite quote is:
“We have a health kit in our hands, knowledge in our minds, and Jesus in our hearts; all we have to do is “just go and do it.”

Join Us in Fighting Diabetes Across Fiji and the South Pacific!

Your donations empower our Ambassadors to provide life-saving health screenings, education, and support to vulnerable communities in Fiji and beyond. Together, we can turn the tide on diabetes and other non-communicable diseases. Every dollar makes a difference!

Donations of $2 or more are tax deductible in Australia.

Taio Waqa LEAD AMBASSADOR - Nadi, Fiji
Taio Waqa
LEAD AMBASSADOR – Nadi, Fiji

I learned about The 10,000 Toes campaign through Mr. Kwong in 2020. That year, I signed up to be an Ambassador on www.10000toes.com without knowing how exactly my involvement would be.

During 2020 – 2022, I was out most of the time in the field (roaming Fiji, ha! ha!) recruiting Ambassadors Fiji-wide with Mr. George Kong and Mrs. Mary Ravula and getting to do recruitment in Nauru and training in Tonga, all with the idea of getting people to know and become involved in The 10,000 Toes Campaign.

After attending the ELIA Wellness Summit in Australia in 2023, I became more interested in supporting my local community. In 2021, I recruited six faithful and active Ambassadors, who helped me create the Namaka Wellness Hub.

Some of the activities we started at our Wellness Hub include local business and community health screenings and selling healthy fruit and vegetable juices every Wednesday.

So far, we have conducted health screenings of approximately 250 houses in the Waqadra community, but we still have so much more to do. Through our screenings sadly, the majority of those screened are at risk for diabetes and other NCDs, and what we identified and found familiar with these high-risk patients was the lack of local green leafy vegetable consumption in their diet.

Our team is excited to start constructing a backyard garden at our Wellness Hub this year. The vegetables that will be grown include tomatoes, lettuce, cucumber, cabbage, and fruit trees. We will freely give these to the needy and high-risk patients we have identified through our screening. We also plan to invite them to our Wellness Hub to learn and view healthy food demonstrations using the produce from our project. Food demonstrations will be held quarterly every year.

Although we are still in the first stages of our backyard gardening project, i.e., soil preparation, we are determined to complete the task we have set. Thanks to The 10,000 Toes Campaign, those in our communities around our Wellness Hub will have fresh vegetables year-round.

I have had setbacks as Lead Ambassador, but I am grateful that I have a strong team of dedicated Team Ambassadors who have become actively involved as volunteers in The 10,000 Toes Campaign.

My favourite quote is:
“If you are working on something you really care about, you don’t have to be pushed. The vision pulls you.” Steve Jobs

Join Us in Fighting Diabetes Across Fiji and the South Pacific!

Your donations empower our Ambassadors to provide life-saving health screenings, education, and support to vulnerable communities in Fiji and beyond. Together, we can turn the tide on diabetes and other non-communicable diseases. Every dollar makes a difference!

Donations of $2 or more are tax deductible in Australia.

Roselyn Manaseitava. Team Ambassador – Namaka Wellness Hub, Fiji
Roselyn Manaseitava
TEAM AMBASSADOR – Namaka Wellness Hub, Fiji

In 2021, I was recruited by our current Lead Ambassador, Taio. During her recruitment, I was surprised to see and learn of diabetes and its effect in the South Pacific. Since then, I have taken up the calling to be a part of the team at the Namaka Wellness Hub, and I have never regretted being an active Ambassador since then.

As an Ambassador of The 10,000 Toes Campaign, I have been richly blessed and empowered to live a more wholistic life. During the first years I joined, I was never a health enthusiast, but thanks to The 10,000 Toes Campaign, I am now making wise decisions, especially regarding food.

My highest accomplishment would be being a part of the ELIA Wellness Summit in 2023, held in Sydney, Australia. It was my first time travelling overseas, and to be able to encounter and listen to the stories and motivational speeches of health professionals and fellow health enthusiasts on healthy living within their communities gave me an excellent opportunity to challenge myself to make a difference in my community and make a stand by volunteering actively with The 10,000 Toes Campaign in combating the storm of diabetes.

Now, at 30 years of age, a significant core of my health journey with The 10,000 Toes Campaign is helping people live more holistically. I believe that living healthy, and most importantly, choosing your food and exercising regularly, can help combat diabetes.

Our Wednesday juicing is an activity within our Wellness Hub that I share with my colleagues and workmates. Thanks to the healthy fruit and vegetable juices we sold and the health screening that The 10,000 Toes Campaign offered, a colleague of mine reduced his blood sugar reading and blood pressure!

I am very thankful to The 10,000 Toes Campaign, which allows us to offer free screening services to our workmates and people within our communities. Through this screening, we have identified people who are in need and require assistance with their health.

My favourite quote is:
“I am called to serve.”

Join Us in Fighting Diabetes Across Fiji and the South Pacific!

Your donations empower our Ambassadors to provide life-saving health screenings, education, and support to vulnerable communities in Fiji and beyond. Together, we can turn the tide on diabetes and other non-communicable diseases. Every dollar makes a difference!

Donations of $2 or more are tax deductible in Australia.