Forever waiting for water

By Vatapuia Maiava 24 November 2016, 12:00AM

Tupa’i Agafili, from the village of Ti’avea, may have water pipes running to his house but what is the point when there is no water?

The farmer explains how hard life is when his family have to wait anxiously for water for as long as one month at a time.

With numerous requests sent to the government, the problem is still a hindrance for many living in the area.

“The government always have programmes but I have noticed that all they do is talk and never do anything to help the people,” Tupa’i explained to the Village Voice.

“The one thing we really need out here is water. We have water right now but it’s very unreliable due to water cuts. Sometimes we would go a whole month without water.

“We would sit around and wait for the water to come through the pipes but it never does for a while. It’s tough living without water.”

The only source of water for the villagers is a nearby stream which is not easy to get to. Tupa’i describes the path to the stream as extremely dangerous.

“While waiting for the water, we would take buckets to the stream to get water,” he said.

“The stream isn’t easy to get to and it’s very dangerous. If you are an elder with just children living at home then you have to go get water because it’s too dangerous for the children; they can get hurt.

“This has been a problem for very long now and we really want it to be fixed.”

Tupa’i also said that some people came to check on the problem due to the requests for help but nothing has changed.

“We have sent many requests to the government for help but everything is still the same,” he said.

“They did come and do some work here for our village but we are still in this same situation today. I ask that the government please help us.

“We really need water and please have some love for the people living here. Please look at the struggle we face and the life we live; we need your help.”

Aside from the water problems, Tupa’i said that the road is also in a very bad state making farming work for the farmers very difficult.

“Another issue for many of living in this area is the road,” he said.

“The roads are in such a bad state and it makes it hard to get to our plantations. The area we work is pretty far and we need to transport our crops and the road gets in the way.

“Some villagers would like to use cars to get to and from the plantation but the road would just ruin them.

“So my other request to the government is to please fix our roads.”

By Vatapuia Maiava 24 November 2016, 12:00AM
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