Life is tough but there is good news. We don’t have to face it alone.

That is the opinion of Vaimoli Vaimoli from the village of Aleisa.

Aged 32, the Village Voice caught up with Vaimoli while making his way home from work yesterday afternoon.

“I work because I love my family,” he said. “I have two brothers who both work in town and I’m the third one who also provides for my family financially.”

“We understand that our family relies heavily on us every week, and that’s why we have to go to work every day no matter how tired we are.”

“Personally, it is such a good feeling when you work together because no matter how hard life is, when you see other people working with you then it will just push you to continue working hard.”

“That’s the essence of teamwork.”

But stretching their incomes between paydays is hard.

“To be honest, no matter how much money we get from our pays, no matter how smart we are when it comes to budgeting, we struggle. A $100 is like a $1 nowadays.”

Vaimoli works at one of the family’s plantations at Lefaga.

“I got $120 for my pay,” he said  “That’s not bad but as I’ve told you before no matter how much money we earn, the high cost of goods and services is way above the sky. Nothing is easy in this life we live in.”

 “You always have to work hard in order to get what you want and to be successful in life.”

 “But this is my way of helping them out.”

Vaimoli truly believes that there is always a way if there is a will to do anything. 

“We have to stop complaining and do something useful for our family.”

“That’s the reason why I was looking for a job– is to feed my family because I don’t want to just sit around and do nothing while my family is struggling.”

“Whatever amount of money I’m earning today, at least I have something on my hand to give and support them.”

He went on to say that he almost gave up in the middle of last year when he was looking for a job. However, he is happy and grateful for the job he has now.

“I keep on trying because I love my family especially my mother.”