Cost of living almost unbearable

By Aruna Lolani 12 September 2017, 12:00AM

What chance do we have of living life in the future if the cost of living keeps on rising?

That is a question raised by Sione Siaki of Tanumapua.

The 62-year-old is concerned about how the cost of living is more than the money most people earn from their jobs.

“You know I try my best not to think about the cost of living but there are times when it just gets to me,” he says to the Village Voice.

“I mean I’m a farmer and I have three children and out of that three; only one is working to provide for this family financially.

“Now with the prices of everything going up; the breadwinner of this family can barely cover everything by himself.

“My other children are still in school and that costs money because aside from their school fees; there are also other obligations for the school that we have to contribute to throughout the whole year.

“What about our food? That’s another expense and then we have bills to pay for water and electricity.

“The way I see it; a $100 doesn’t necessarily cover all of your expenses and it doesn’t really last long in our hands because it is used up in just a blink of an eye.

“And that’s where my frustrations come from because a lot of us complain about the Chinese setting up businesses here but they are actually people that are making things easier and cheaper for us Samoans.

“I mean, if we go to our locals, we all know that we cannot afford most of their products and that’s not good because it is our own people that are making things hard for us.

“So the cost of living should be reasonable because we are already struggling as it is with just trying to survive on what we have.”

By Aruna Lolani 12 September 2017, 12:00AM

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