A Mothers Strength By Solomoni Biumaiono Via Fiji Times Online She may carry the whole weight of her family on her shoulders but Merelisoni Luvu does very well to hide her predicament from the rest of the world. The 36-year-old is the sole breadwinner for her family and though not formally employed, she does everything for her family, from household chores right down to farming. Her husband Tevita Tikotikovakasiga, 45, is medically unfit to carry out any physical work because of his poor eyesight as well as a poor mental state. The couple, who stay at Sawanikula Village in the Naitasiri highlands, have three children to look after and the burden of feeding the whole family falls solely on Merelisoni. Sometimes I cry when I start to feel the pressure of looking after my family. Sometimes we sit together as a family I always tell our dad to look after me because I bear some surgical scars when I bore my children, my two boys, I only bore one of these two girls. I asked him for him to love me and try and help me in any little way he can for our family. He told me that he cant work, he cant do farming work. I am the only one who does the farming work. I go to gather and cut firewood, I go to the forest to get food if there is no food for tea. Whatever I see like bananas and plantains, never mind if it is not ripe I would bring it for us to eat, Merelisoni said in the iTaukei language. With the help of a relative, Eroni Elliot, Merelisoni tried approaching a welfare organisation for help. She was unsuccessful. Eroni is concerned that Merelisoni may be overworking herself and he is trying his best to help by approaching various organisations and individuals to help her family, especially since Christmas and the new school year are just around the corner. My family is poor. Our wish is for our children to be educated. Two of our children are in school while the third one is still at home. Our dad is like this and I am the only one looking after our family. Our eldest is in class 6 and the other is in class 4 and the third is three years old, she said. In her effort to seek help for her family Merelisoni has to spent $22 of her already limited finances for the carrier fare for her and that of her three children from Sawanikula to Suva. We didnt have tea this morning I told my kids for us to just go to tutua and see what we can do before we can go and ... only God will prepare things for us, Merelisoni said. While her husband and her children all wore some form of footwear, Merelisoni walked around Suva barefoot until a good Samaritan gave her a pair of slippers. With the little money that she earns, Merelisoni tries her best to put their children through school. So far, it has been a task that requires her to seek help from her relatives. Many times I usually ask my uncles to buy their uniforms, their school things because our dad doesnt earn anything for our family, she added. To make ends meet, Merelisoni usually sell bananas, plantains and ota in the Suva market, making the weekly trip down to sell her wares and if she is not successful, it simply means the family will have to go without sugar and salt for the week.
Posted on: Mon, 02 Dec 2013 04:35:20 +0000
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