No water in the taps
I woke up this morning and went to the tap. There was no water. I should not be surprised, we don’t get water in Matata during the day because the water pressure is low, so the water taps run at night only. Even having piped water was only possible in 2006. Before that we used to go to the river or use the well. But as we all know water from the river and the well is not guaranteed to be clean. So I am thankful that there is piped water even though it comes only at night. My mother is happy too that she can at least wash the dishes and the clothes without walking too far.
Matata is 3 kms from Suva, the capital of Fiji and only 15 mins walk from Lami town. Yet we live a different world. The city and towns have flush toilets, we have pit toilets. Their roads are tarsealed while to Matata it’s only a feeder road that taxi drivers do not want to use, so we have to walk with our shopping from the main road.
One major issue for us is lack of full-time employment. For many of us, casual work is seasonal. There is no land for farming as the land area was reduced from 32 acres to 8 acres many years ago.
We the youth have been talking about the importance of education so that we can improve our lives. A few of our young people are now in tertiary education but the majority do not go beyond form 5 or 6. Yet we do not lose hope.
The take-over of the elected government on 5 December 2006 has not had any direct impact on our lives. We are still walking, still without jobs, still without water during the day. Nothing has changed except now we have to go through military checkpoints. If we make too much noise, we will be taken in by the military. This happened in the next settlement to Matata and so we are careful now.
Since 1924, four generations have lived in Matata and we have remained marginalized. Politicians have come and gone, governments have changed but our life remains the same.
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