A father in need of a job

By Ulimasao Fata 31 January 2018, 12:00AM

Having one person work in a family nowadays is not enough.

This is the belief of a father of three, Tifatifa To’ana’i from the village of Faleasi’u.

The 40-year-old shared that wife is the only sole provider for their family of six.

Mr. To’ona’i on the other hand, works on his plantation beside his house, while also looking after his young children.

He said they used to live in the coastal area with his family.

“We had some issue with our family, so we decided to move here and develop our own family.”

Mr. To’ona’i was preparing morning tea with his children yesterday when the Village Voice team met him.

He explained their living condition and how they were able to build a shelter.

“So when we moved here, these  were the only things we had and we could afford and then we build our house from it.”

“As you can see, this small house was all from what we had, we have also cemented it, but the cement is still wet.”

“Our house is too small because we are still sleeping on where we pretty much cook on because we don’t have that much space.”

He shared: “We really need help for iron roofing and timber to extend our home so my kids can have enough space to sleep on.”

“For our house, we just buy one thing at a time when my wife gets her pay, especially for anything we want to fix here in our house.”

He shared he is able to contribute towards his family’s welfare through his plantation.

“This is my job at the moment for my family, as you can see with my plantation here around my house and all the way to the road,” Mr. To’ona’i added. 

“My plantation has been helpful in so many ways, especially in terms of food because we hardly sell our crops.”

“We only sell our vegetables.”

Mr. To’ona’i says they have just recently received water and electricity connections.

“We just had connection with electricity at the end of last year and I think it cost us $1500 for the installation amount.”

“Our water connection is also working well after we paid $1200 for the previous family’s overdue bills.”

“These things were all paid because of the money my wife earns from her work and some money my family overseas sends us.”

Mr. To’ona’i is also looking for a job.

“My wife has discussed that we will take our children to her family in Savai’i so that they can attend school there.”

“We are doing that because I will also be looking for a job to help my wife support our family.”

“The life we have now in Samoa is that everyone in a family needs to work together in order to support their families, and that is our decision.”

For anyone who is willing to help Mr. To’ona’i and his family, he can be contacted on 7625528.

By Ulimasao Fata 31 January 2018, 12:00AM

Trending Stories

Samoa Observer

Upgrade to Premium

Subscribe to
Samoa Observer Online

Enjoy unlimited access to all our articles on any device + free trial to e-Edition. You can cancel anytime.

>