Family lives in makeshift shed
SHIVNEEL Chand of Voivoi Settlement in Nadi has been living in a makeshift shed after he was unable to pay his rent.
Now, after more than a month of trying to survive, the father of two and his wife, Ashna Prasad, were forced to relocate their children to a relative’s home after they could not bare witness to their children sleeping through the cold nights.
The couple spend their day tending to their farm where their dream home was to be built. They spend their night huddled in a tent tucked into their tin shed while Mrs Prasad’s brother sleeps on a tarpaulin borrowed from neighbours.
With nowhere else to go, the family put out a desperate plea after their situation turned dire.
LIVING in a tent in a makeshift tin shack was not where Nadi carpenter Shivneel Monish Chand wanted his young family to be in, but after being without a steady income since April the 28-year-old had no other choice.
The Voivoi settlement resident said they moved out of their rented home in Legalega after they could no longer pay for the rent.
“I had bought this piece of land in Voivoi three years ago thinking that I would slowly build our family home,” he said.
He said since the start of 2021, the couple were living in a rented house.
“For two months we were renting then the lockdown happened in April and again I was not working.
“I could not pay the rent so we moved out.”
The family now lives in a tin shed with a tent as their only protection from the cold nights.
“Because of the weather, especially at night, it’s too cold so I had to move my children to my relative’s place.
“My son is five and my daughter is six. It’s very hard for them to be away from us.
“Sometimes they cry that they want to be with their mother.”
He said at the moment, the family has been able to survive on a brushcutter offered to him by a relative.
“I try to make $30 a day. If I get that amount, $15 goes to my kid’s food and $15 for my wife and me.
“It’s really hard because we are trying to survive. We live on water borrowed from our neighbour and food that we have to make sure that doesn’t run out.”