Savai'i family struggles with no water, electricity

By Sialai Sarafina Sanerivi 06 December 2020, 11:00AM

People can live without electricity. But without a steady supply of water, life can be really tough. 

That is the reality for a family-of-four living on the big island of Savai'i.

Ask them and they will tell you how hard it is to have to fetch water from families living on the far end of the village every day.

"Sometimes, if we have enough money, we pay for a car to help us carry our buckets of water from the other side to our house," the mother of two told the Samoa Observer 

"But when we don't have enough money, we send my husband to collect water for us and he walks with his buckets all the way to our house.  However, God has been good to us lately. As it has been raining the past few days and weeks. So we were able to collect water and store water from the rain.

"As you can see, we also don't have a water tank, we use buckets to store water. For our laundries, we take them to one of our relative's house while we save the water we store for food and drinking."


At night time the family's main source of light is a small lamp as they have no access to electricity. 

"We moved here and started living here in the year 2019, so we are still trying to build our family."

However, despite their daily struggles of having no access to water and electricity supplies, the 24-year-old mother who is expecting a third child is optimistic. 

"Even without the basic necessity we need in life, we are still grateful for the little that we have. We are also working hard to build our own small family. 

"My husband is now working for a coconut plantation business at the village of Pu'apu'a while I sell vegetables on the side of the road to earn money for our family. 

"Our children are very young and it is our aim to keep working hard so by the time they are of age to go to school, we would be able to give them a proper house and provide for the things they need."

The young mother said they are planning to extend their house. 

"That's why my husband decided to find a job. We are hoping that we could build a better house for our children. As you can see the condition of our house, it is very small for our growing family. 

"It's also tough when it rains and during bad weather. 

"But I truly believe that the Lord will help us and we will never stop working until we achieve our goals and plans for our little family."


Tags

Village Voice
By Sialai Sarafina Sanerivi 06 December 2020, 11:00AM

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.

>