FAITH in the power of prayer and a desire to put the devastation caused by the recent floods behind them has moved elders from Semo, Nabau and Emuri to engage in income-generating projects in a bid to boost food security and earn much needed cash.
Assisted by 14 volunteer relief workers from the Teach Us To Pray Ministry — an American Christian outreach program and doctors and counsellors from Fiji-based Gift International Ministry — the village elders are working to host a multipurpose rehabilitation program to benefit the flood affected.
The rehabilitation program will see hundreds of villagers from the three villages receive free medical, optical and dental clinics.
Villagers will also receive training and information on beekeeping, microfinance, egg production and vegetable farming courtesy of assistance from the Nadroga-Navosa Provincial Council, Sigatoka Police Station, Provincial Administration, Education Ministry and the Agriculture Department.
The Teach Us to Pray Ministry led by Doctor Ken Greenlee has been reaching out to the underprivileged in the country for the past 10 years and working in squatter settlements in Vatuwaqa and Nadawa in Suva and Rakiraki and Lautoka in Western Division in the past.
This year, the ministry decided to shift focus to the three villages along the Tuva river catchment by providing free medication, reading glasses, beekeeping equipment and sweet corn and tomato seedlings.
Spirits boosted by the assistance provided by the government, non-governmental organisations, religious bodies, individuals, nearby resorts and businesses — the villages are now combining their resources and labour with their faith in God to speed up their rehabilitation in the wake of the devastating floods.