MAKING sure her voice is heard, a determined Labasa mother carried her 29-year-old physically challenged son to make her submission.
Bimla Wati, 61, didn't care about how people looked at her or how big her boy was as she carried him on her hips
She was determined to make a submission asking that the new constitution increase Social Welfare allowances.
Facing great difficulties after her husband passed away six months ago, Ms Wati knew she had no choice but to support her son's mobility because her other five children had moved on with their lives.
Being a sole bread winner and the only one looking after her son, Ms Wati has had to carry her son to town for shopping, hospital for medical examination and even to special functions because there was no one to look after him at home.
"I carry my son wherever I go and even to the toilet and bathroom. It's difficult for me but I have no other option because I feel it's my duty to look after him well as he is my youngest child," she said.
"After my husband passed away, we moved to my brother-in-law's house and I have to work in his sugarcane farm as a labourer in order to earn money to pay the water and electricity bills."
Ms Wati, a social welfare recipient, said the monthly allowance she received from government was not enough to cater for their livelihood.
"Sometimes, we are both sick and I have to spend so much money on transportation and also on medicine which is expensive," she said.
"My other children don't visit us regularly and it's really hard for me given my old age.
"My son is fortunate he has two wheelchairs but I would be grateful if he has another that's more advanced."
She said any sort of assistance would really mean a lot in terms of their survival.
As part of her submission to the Constitution Commission in Labasa yesterday, she proposed that government increase the social welfare allowances for needy people like them.