No water until 2020, family told

By Aruna Lolani 02 May 2017, 12:00AM

When a family is in desperate need of water, they really mean it. 

Especially when the family has had this problem for years and they cannot continue on like this.

This is the plight of a family of more than 10 people from Aleisa. 

In an interview with the Village Voice yesterday, Maria Sio told of her everyday struggle to get water. 

“Here at our village we haven’t had water since we moved here. 

“We were told by the Water Authority that the soonest we will get our own taps will be around 2020. 

“You have got to be kidding me? 

“Why on earth is this?

“Please, we are not begging for water, we need it. 

“If they know the importance of water, they should also understand where we are coming from.” 

The 28 year old went on to say that they are forced to buy water. 

“Like I said before, we grew up here and this has always been the case. 

“So, to get water, we need to have a $100 every week. 

“On top of having no water none of us work to have that money every week. 

“As you can see around our house, half of our land is covered with bananas and taro.

“We live off taro and bananas but the worst thing is, there are more than 10 people in our family. 

“So if we get a tank of water for 100 tala and by the end of Friday it’s gone then we need to get another $100 to fill our tank again. 

 “Imagine $100 every week to fill our tank and no one is working. It is such a nightmare. 

“We would rather just walk miles every day to get water than to try to earn 100 tala every week just to fill our tank.

Maria said everything else is fine except for the lack of water. 

“We try to make ends meet but with water problems we almost feel like giving up.

“On the way down, at first, it’s easy when I used to work; the plantation only provided us with food while my job dealt with buying our water. 

“But since I don’t work anymore, the plantation is providing for everything. 

Maria is a mother of two and she lives with her parents, and her two siblings with their families, where they all use the one water tank. 

 If anyone want to help or know of someone that can help Maria call 7271754

By Aruna Lolani 02 May 2017, 12:00AM
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