Family of ten depends on water from well

By Nefertiti Matatia 16 January 2018, 12:00AM

Resorting to water from a well has become the only hope for Muanita Va’alata and her family when it comes to their daily water needs.

Every day, the family members at Manono-uta collect water from the morning until, depending on their needs for the day.

It is what they have been doing for a long time because their water supply has been cut. 

The mother of three was spotted by the Village Voice team fetching buckets of water from a well at Manono. 

The well is known as Vaisuamumu to the locals.

The water fetched yesterday was for the washing.

She said their tap was disconnected because they did not have enough money to pay for their outstanding water bill.

So every day, they use water from the well to do their washing and other house needs. 

They borrow drinking water from their neighbour.

 “My family is in desperate need of getting a water tank so that we would have cleaner water,” she said.

 “If we would have a water tank, we would not have to go to our neighbour and my kids would be able to avoid getting sick too.”

Muanita’s family recently moved from Savai’i.

Now they live with her husband’s family in Manono.

 But only her brother-in-law works. 

Despite this, the 21-year-old says her brother-in-law’s income is not enough to cater for their family of 10.

“We live together with my two sisters-in-law and his (husband) parents. It is very hard trying to budget and at the same time we have to accept the fact that we cannot get everything that we want,” she added.

Mrs. Vaalata is pregnant with her fourth child and she is due in three months’ time.

She says despite the baby being a blessing, there would be financial constraints considering both her and her husband are unemployed.

But the water challenge is the biggest problem of them all.

By Nefertiti Matatia 16 January 2018, 12:00AM
Samoa Observer

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