Desperate for water and job

By Aruna Lolani 30 March 2017, 12:00AM

A day without water is hard.

So try living without it for several days.

Welcome to Elaine Iopu’s world. The mother from Faleula-uta said it’s a tough life without water especially when you depend on farming for a living. 

  “My family is not the only one who suffers from this, there are many families around here who struggle every day without water,” she said.

“We get to ask for water from some of my neighbors and sometimes it’s embarrassing because we ask too much.  

“Sometimes we have to walk around and look for families where we can fill our buckets from.”

 “Life is very tough for us living here without any running water. Even though we don’t make much, we still try to manage to save up for a water tank because we really need it.”

Elaine said water is life and without it, it becomes very difficult. Her family cannot afford to have their water connected.

“The families who own a water tank are lucky,” Elaine said. 

“When it rains we are at peace.

“Another issue is that we really want to develop our farms. But how can we plant more crops when we don’t have water?”

It’s a tough life but what other choice does Elaine and her family have?

“To be honest, we struggle with water access, we have no money.

“We don’t work, we live in a faleo’o and we try our best to get by.”

Tusiga, Elaine’s husband, is also looking for a job.

“This is a humble request to Ah Liki Company,” she said. “You see my husband applied for a job about three months ago, and all they say is to wait. 

“Please give us an actual answer so that my husband could look for a job somewhere else. 

“Lucky my two children are too small to go school.”

If anyone wants to help Elaine and her family, she can be contacted on 7204423

By Aruna Lolani 30 March 2017, 12:00AM
Samoa Observer

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