It is a new lease of life for the villagers of Vatusekiyasawa Village in Rakiraki.
Their hard labour and efforts proved worthy of the merrymaking and feasting enjoyed by the entire village last Friday.
For years, the villagers have been left vulnerable to water-borne diseases because of the water source they relied on. But this is all behind them as they now embrace the fruit of their hard work.
After the flood in January this year, many villagers suffered from typhoid as a result of the contamination of the water that was sourced to the village from a catchment.
The villagers were inspired to seek help regarding their problem and accordingly wrote a letter of application to the Rotary Pacific Water for Life Foundation (RPWLF).
Resina Koroi, a coordinator with the Foundation, told of the month-long grueling process endured by the villagers in their desperation to have clean and safe drinking water sourced to their homes.
“We first arrived at the village in March for a face to face discussion with the villagers. They explained the problem to us and we later hired a surveyor and plumber to assess the village water source,” she said.
The water source is a fresh water spring situated close to the Nakauvadra hills.
The distance from the village to the water source is about seven kilometers.
The gravel road leading from the village to the site only go as far as the sugarcane plantations in the area.
At the end of the road, the journey to the spring must be completed on horseback or on foot. And this journey, according to the villagers, takes two hours or longer if made on foot.
But the arduous journey and the additional difficulties of getting to the spring site did not deter the villagers from their efforts to get clean and safe drinking water.
If anything, it encouraged their spirits and boosted their determination to work together for the benefit of their families and others who needed clean water.
Mrs Koroi took a hands-on approach to the project as she does with every project undertaken by the RPWFL.
“I made the trip on horseback to see the site. It is quite a distance but the men and women of the village were not disheartened at all. With this Foundation, people should know that we are not a hand-out organisation but a hands-on NGO,” she said.
So began the laborious task of laying pipes between the five-kilometer distance from the spring to the village.
For weeks the hundred-member team worked hard in digging the ground and laying pipes towards the direction of the catchment.
“There were a hundred men and boys involved in this task. Some of them camped up in the caves for more than a week and their women visited the site everyday to take them food. The rest of the team returned to the village at nightfall and made the journey back to the spring at dawn,” she said.
A dam was built around the spring to prevent the water from contamination and pipes were laid two kilometers from the dam to a water catchment. More pipes were then laid in the three-kilometer distance from the catchment to the village.
No pump is required to ensure a strong flow of water to the catchments and village taps but as Mrs Koroi put it, the system is ‘gravity-fed’.
“An extra tank has been placed in the village for overflows. And a Water Committee has been set up in the village which will curb the incidents of water wastage. A levy of $2 per month has been imposed for each family and the money collected will go towards the maintenance and up-keep of the dam, catchments and pipes,” she said.
Mrs Koroi said the entire project cost $15,000. The RPWFL came into being after serious discussions between Vodafone ATH Foundation, Fiji Water, Westpac Bank and Golden Manufacturing Limited regarding the quality of water available to people in rural areas.
Mrs Koroi said they prioritised applications by assessing which areas were in urgent need of clean drinking water and worked accordingly.
Representatives from sponsor companies who made the trip to Vatusekiyasawa for the traditional thank-you ceremony last Friday included Vodafone’s manager territories Antonio Kitione, Fiji Water Foundation manager Molly Powers, Westpac Bank customer service manager (Tavua/Rakiraki), Jan Mohammed and RPWFL foundation manager Joel Sahai.
Speaking as chief guest on the occasion, Ms Powers said the project was one that had been done in the fastest and shortest periods.
Traditional protocols were observed followed by a trip to the catchment site in an effort to help guests and visitors understand the magnitude of manual labour the villagers had experienced at the cost of access to clean water.
The villagers gratitude was expressed through their Turaga ni Koro, Nasoni Naqura who said the water would not only benefit the population of more than 600 in their village but also those who lived in nearby settlements.
Mrs Koroi said they now planned to hold talks with the nearby Waimari Primary School about how they could supplement its current water supply.
The trip back from Vatusekiyasawa Village was filled with talks of awe and amazement; particularly at how people had suffered and their unfailing perseverance in trying to get access to a basic necessity.
And it is one that many of us continue to take for granted today.
I was fortunate to have been invited to be part of the experience thanks to the Vodafone ATH Foundation and Mr Kitione’s crew.
As Vatusekiyasawa villagers reap the rewards of their hard work, the RPWFL Foundation’s work, however, is not done as it now embarks to consider the next urgent application awaiting their attention from people in need of clean drinking water.

Fiji Sun, 20 June 2009