Health Initiatives
Talanoa Health Project
In 2020, Health Bridges, a student-led organization at the Claremont Colleges, partnered with MALO to support its health programming. Throughout the last three years, Health Bridges members have engaged in 13 talanoa-style dialogues with the MALO community. Through open conversation, talanoa brings together the relations of Mana (potency), Tapu (sacred/restrictions), and Noa (equilibrium) to share wisdom, stories, and ideas across generations. As our team supports MALO events and health communication with the community, talanoa has continually grounded us in the transformational vision of MALO: it has been a privilege to hear stories of laughter, tears, and love and of the MALO team’s tireless work to serve the Inland Empire Tongan American community.
With this project, we aim to amplify the voices of the MALO community by sharing the key themes of our conversations in a series of posts. By weaving together the wisdom of MALO community members with existing health research, we hope to blend various forms of knowledge to prompt deeper conversations about Tongan American health in San Bernardino and Riverside Counties and beyond. Taken together, we hope that these writings will highlight MALO’s work to serve and strengthen its community while inspiring more storytelling.
Community Health Workers (CHW)
Community Health Workers (CHW) help support the health and wellbeing of community members. They run numerous initiatives and events, including a partnership with Health Bridges: a program ran through (and extension of the connection to) the Draper Center at Pomona College. CHWs have been heavily involved in getting resources to the local community. From hosting vaccine sites, to creating COVID testing, to tabling resources for local Inland Empire sites, CHWs have been critical in guaranteeing that these resources are accessible for the Tongan communities in this region.
Who We Are
Zumba Socials
Register at the following link:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdAvB0gulZIkAQFzith-pvZ10k7LZfeFKKZteYswWOVvS_GhQ/viewform
Time and date:
Wednesday 5:30-6:30 918 N Euclid Ave, Ontario, CA 9176
Friday 5:30-6:30 522 W Francis St. Ontario, CA 91762
MALO holds Zumba socials weekly for the community to come together, exercise, enjoy light refreshments, and socialize! It’s instructed by our very talented and first ever Certified Zumba Tongan team in the Inland Empire, @kalasikehecreations, @moala_vave & @mssphawnta! Please bring a little towel for the sweat, a chair for a break (or chill in the grass also), and be ready to have lots of fun, laughs, & a fabulous time!!!
MALO kicked off its first Zumba social on October 26th, 2022 in the evening at John Galvin Park! Here are some pictures from the event:
