GRIEVING Nagado villager Merewalesi Sigavere said she felt like a piece of her was gone.
She was left shocked, and couldn’t bring herself to tell her three children their father was dead.
Aseri Doidoi drowned in the Nadi River on Thursday last week.
He was returning from their family cattle farm, when he was reportedly swept away by strong currents. He was later found by villagers on Saturday afternoon.
Mrs Sigavere said when she found out about her husband’s death, she was left powerless over the loss. “I feel like a piece of me is gone,” she said at her home in Nagado.
“He was our strength and was someone we could really depend on.”
The hardest part though was breaking the news to their three children.
“My two sons were away in school and our youngest daughter did not know anything. She woke up on Friday morning asking for her father, but I couldn’t tell her.
I wanted her to go to school and then break the news to her when she came back home.
“My son found his wallet in his room and there was $27 in it. I told him to take $25 and top up his bus card and use it to go to school. That will be your father’s last gift to you.”
Mr Doidoi’s body was recovered after a search party was organised.
According to police, the 51-year-old was returning with other villagers when he was swept away by strong currents.
The drowning toll stands at three, the same during this period last year. As we near the end of our first month this year, we should remind ourselves of the importance of life.
Let’s be vigilant when out at sea or in our rivers and streams. Unfortunately some people are still pushing their luck at sea.
Many people are still braving the elements to island-hop on fibreglass punts.
They are toying with danger, taking their chances out at sea.
They place their lives at risk and when accidents happen, they drag in emergency service team members who will be tasked to look for them. Let’s do the right thing and put a stop to our drowning stats.
The World Health Organization, in a report on January 15, 2018, stated drowning was the third leading cause of unintentional injury death worldwide, accounting for 7 per cent of all injury-related deaths.
There are an estimated 360,000 annual drowning deaths worldwide, it stated. Unfortunately, many of us do not know how to swim, leave aside water safety issues.
We live in a country surrounded by the Pacific Ocean.
We have rivers, streams, creeks and the sea.
Obviously learning to swim is important.
It may even save a life.
But it is equally important that we appreciate water safety and understand our limitations under various scenarios.
We should be aware of issues of safety in or near our many waterways.
That means appreciating the need for vigilance when out at sea for instance.
Then there is the issue of common sense.
It does make sense that our children should be taught how to swim and appreciate water safety.
Water safety is everyone’s business.
