Running water is something one family at Aele can only dream of.

Yesterday Saua Pio caught up with the Village Voice while she carrying barrels of water from her neighbour to her house. 

For four years, she and her family have had no running water. 

“We are trying to live a normal life,” the 23-year-old tells Village Voice.

“My family is a poor family with no direct access to water in our Village.

“We use barrels and pots in order to store water for washing the dishes, food and others.” 

“To take a shower, we sometimes walk to the other side of our village to the village pool to shower.” 

Getting water from their neighbor is a struggle. 

 “It’s not like it’s for free, you see we pay $15 every day to fetch water,” she said. 

“Our pipe was cut off four years ago because of the family who lived here first before us.” 

“My father tried to explain the matter to the Water Authority but they didn’t listen.”

“Now we have no water at all, and things aren’t likely to change anytime soon.”

Saua said it’s a tough life.

“If we have enough money we would fetch water from nearby families but if there are too many things that money is needed, we have to walk a long distance just to get water.”

 “Living like this is a nightmare. We desperately need help.” 

And water is not their only challenge.

Money is an issue.

“We hardly have any meat from the shop because we save money to pay to fetch water,” Saua said. 

“Water is our number one priority than anything else in this family.”

Saua is a mother of three kids. 

If you want to help or know of someone who can help Saua, they can be contacted on 7710357.