Help needed in Naitasiri districts

Taitusi Sokiveta, Phoniex, Arizona, US

It is a great blessing for the people of Nasaibitu Village in Nayavu, Tailevu, with their new walkways and drainage systems.

However, is there a possibility for more charities for other low-lying villages in the Wainibuka district with each village providing the labour like Wailotua No. 1 and Wailotua No. 2 villages.

This also includes Malabi, Naveicovatu, Nasautoka, Nasau, Naivicula, Naiqia and Naibulini villages.

During heavy rainfall, all these villages get very muddy walkways and driveways entering their villages.

The only exceptions are Nayavu, Natokalau and Dakuivuna villages because they are located on higher grounds.

If you think that the Hibiscus Festival on a rainy Saturday at Albert Park in Suva is muddy, well Wainibuka is much muddier including Wainimala in Naitasiri and it could last for weeks.

I recall while attending Wailotua District School in 1966 – 1967, when it rains heavily the whole week, the Wailotua River rises 90 feet high and it becomes a very big lake, than the water stays stagnant because the Wainibuka River travels downstream at an unbelievable speed during heavy floods.

It will than take three to four weeks before the lake water subsides then the whole place is left with mud.

The worst part I can clearly recall is the foul smell.

It would last for weeks. You can even smell it at night when you are in bed and in the classrooms.

When farmers uproot their taro tops, the crops are rotten and it is like walking in a newly planted rice field knee-deep. With concrete walkways and a good drainage system, it will help all the low-lying villages in Wainibuka and other parts of Naitasiri.