Friends assist Fijians struggling for food, shelter

WHEN the second wave of COVID-19 started to take its toll on people, a group of friends formed a Facebook page to reach out to those in desperate need.

This gave birth to the non-governmental organisation (NGO), Families Helping Families Fiji.

The NGO has more than 7000 followers and rising.

Group co-ordinator Jone Fifita said they had assisted 250 families over the past two months.

He said the group was made up of 35 individuals living in the Western and Central divisions.

Mr Fifita said they screened all requests posted on their page to ascertain which were genuine.

He said they discovered the case of a family who lived on the streets in Lautoka and used public amenities at the bus stand to shower and wash clothes.

Mr Fifita said as a result of their intervention, the family was offered a space to live by another family in Lautoka.

He said there were also cases where Fijians threatened with eviction were forced to move in with families who were themselves facing difficulties.

“It was heart-wrenching to hear stories from parents who were worried about how they were going to pay rent and that their landlords threatened to put them out if they failed to pay.

“We couldn’t bear to see children out on the streets so we took up the challenge to help them.”

He thanked members on the page who had sacrificed a lot to assist those in desperate need during the pandemic.

“The most common request is for food and baby formula, this shows we are in really difficult times.”