Man dreams of having electricity

By Aruna Lolani 16 June 2017, 12:00AM

In the village of Tuana’i, Naoa Semi, 50, is asking for help so he can have electricity and water.

Approached by the Village Voice team yesterday, he said he’s been longing to move to his own place in the forest but he couldn’t due to the non availability of water and electricity.

He may be staying in the inner area with his family but Naoa wants to start a life of his own already. 

“This is my home. This is my own land,” he tells the Village Voice.

“I can’t stay here because the water doesn’t reach here and also there’s no electricity, you can tell because you see no electricity poles on the way. 

“But I do come here everyday to check on my house, check on my plantation.

“Further on the way, there are about ten families that have already occupied the lands and lived here for a long time now despite the current issue.

“All do not have water, no electricity, so you might wonder how they are able to survive back here without both aspects.

“Well, all of us, myself included, depend on some families at Afega for water. That’s the only we can be helped with by those families but with electricity, there’s nothing we can do about it.

“I’m lucky that I have a family in the inner village to get water from so eventhough it’s far, I try my best to get water.  

“Sometimes it’s water from the rain; sometimes I just fetch water from the village’s concrete water tank.

“You know, old chiefs of our village have made a plea on this matter to the government but up to now, with some of them passed on, nothing has been done yet and it’s just sad.

“A lot of people from the village have been wanting to move here to build their homes and make use of all these lands but that’s the only thing stopping them.

“We are all people who grew up in the farming life so that’s why they all want to move to where I am.

“If I have access to water and electricity, I would stay here in my home for good because I have everything I need but I don’t.”

By Aruna Lolani 16 June 2017, 12:00AM
Samoa Observer

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