Work hard for your family: Timoci
TIMOCI Evans and his family have been living in Lokia since 2005. As a young couple, him and his wife Jessica worked extra hard to start a small farm beside their home to help with an income for their family.
Timoci works as a maintenance personnel at a company not far from their home but on his day off or free time he works on their family farm.
He bought seedlings of eggplants, long beans, cucumbers and other leafy vegetables to start his farm.
At their mini market, they were also able to sell coconuts, and breadfruits harvested from their plantation as well.
"Whenever breadfruit is in season, we would pile up heaps to sell and customers around here would come for them," he said.
"I started farming vegetables and root crops so that we could earn extra income as we have a portion of land beside our home."
When harvest season is far ahead, Timoci says he gets his produce from the market in Nausori to help keep his mini market running.
"I opened a mini market in front of our home with my wife and so far we've had a great turnout," he said.
In a day, Timoci could earn about $50 or more and even though there wouldn't be many customers showing up, still the business runs smoothly.
His wife, Jessica, makes sasa brooms from coconut leaves and also sells them at their mini market for $5 each.
Timoci, like any other farmer, says the weather is one of the major challenges he faces.
"When it is too hot, some vegetables hardly grow, but around this time of the year, there's plenty rain we're getting - so that is something to be grateful for," he said.
Timoci urges market owners and street sellers to never give up and be smart in running businesses when they get a chance.
"It is important to always work hard for the benefit of our family," he said.