Starting a new life in a new area is nothing easy and for Aiulu Ata, from the village of Faleasiu, moving to her new home just three months ago has been no walk in the park.

With no water or fence to protect her cabbages from rogue chickens, Aiulu says that life is a real struggle for her and her small family.

“The hardship we currently face here is having no water source,” she told the Village Voice.

“We need it to take care of many things. My mother just left to go to a house nearby where she can find some water to use. We also have problems with growing our vegetables and also ways of looking for money to take care of my child’s schooling costs.

“I have one child currently schooling.”

With the water issue, Aiulu says that their only form of water storage is just two buckets.

“We don’t have a water tank because we have lived here for only about three months now,” she said.

“No requests for a water tank have been sent to anyone. We are just saving up for one but it depends on the money we have.

“I went to look for some water drums to store water but I only ended up buying two buckets.”

Aside from water, Aiulu also has problems with her small plantation. The hardworking mother tends her cabbage patch in hopes that it provides food and money for the family but it’s not easy when there are rogue chickens around.

She says the chickens come looking for worms and destroy the cabbages.

“This (cabbages) is what we use to try and get some money and it’s also used for our food,” Aiulu said.

“With the cabbages, there is nothing easy when growing them. There are too many chickens around belonging to other families who have no chicken fence.

“I always chase the chickens away from my crops but it doesn’t help. I am looking into a fence for my cabbages because the chickens come looking for worms here. “There are many people who are affected by this but we still look for ways to make money despite it all.

“My every day duties are just your average chores. I just get my kid ready for school then I prepare the food for my mother and children before I clean up the land.”

All in all, Aiulu says that living in the village is peaceful and she likes it very much.

“I like living in this area,” she said. “It’s peaceful because it’s just us here at home. We have a good road and there’s not really much we have to worry about.

“We moved to this village because there was no Seventh Day Adventist church in our old area.”