Nutritionist in training

Published: 30 April 2015

I felt like a proud Aunty when I watched a confident Freda delivering a nutrition session to the participants of an eight week challenge at Nine27 gym in Manukau recently.

Freda Hausi with her father, Maka Hausi and cousin Chris Moale

I’m often asked ‘What do we do at Pacific Heartbeat’ and I like to share Freda’s story as an example. I’ve asked Freda repeatedly over the years if I could share her story, and on every occasion she humbly declined. The last time I asked her, she again said ‘No’. My response was ‘So…I’ll accept that as your permission then’.

Niuean Elfreda Hausi, was working in a call centre back in 2010 when, through her Nena Tiva Toeono (grandmother) and mother Epi Hausi, she heard about the Pacific Heartbeat Certificate of Proficiency in Pacific Nutrition (CPPN). In her application to attend the course, she received a glowing recommendation from her local Reverend, Mose Alano. He said “She will be an asset to the community and the church when she completes this course”.

Freda who already had a keen interest in nutrition, passed the nine day CPN course with flying colours.

The course confirmed for her that she wanted to continue in this area of study and she enrolled in a foundation course at MIT. Freda followed this up with part-time study towards a degree  in Human Nutrition at Massey University, all while working part-time and supporting her family through some major health issues.

She kept in touch with the team at Pacific Heartbeat upon completion of the CPN course and in 2014 decided she would take part in our year-long Train-the-trainer (T3) programme. To complete the programme, T3’s are expected to deliver at least three nutrition sessions. But we lost count of the number of sessions she delivered to her gym community….there’s no stopping this girl once she gets going and she hasn’t stopped there.

Bring on 2015 – Freda has now bitten the bullet to go back full-time to study to complete her nutrition degree. She’s still delivering nutrition sessions at both her gym and to her whanau in their goal to become healthier. She’s in contact with us almost weekly checking on her lesson plan ideas, collecting resources or asking for requests for support.

Freda shares that “Doing the nutrition sessions help keep me on track with my studies. Uni can get overwhelming and I can lose focus. Knowing that the reason why I’m doing this is because we are losing too many of our loved ones too soon makes me work harder. I can’t change the world but I can try my best and help those who I come in contact with”.

Freda keeps her nutrition sessions real, she never judges what people eat or where they’re at on their journey and  encourages people to make small achievable steps towards better nutrition. Her passion to improve the health of Pacific people is so admirable….Reverend Mose got it so right all those years ago!

Regina Wypych, Pacific Heartbeat, Mentoring & Support Programme

Footnote: Freda did in the end approve of this copy going to print…

Find out more about our Pacific nutrition courses and how you can register your interest, by clicking on the button below

View all Pacific nutrition courses