As we enter the fifth week of Lent, the College community thanks you for your generous donations so far. Below is the story of Leaia who has directly benefited from the work of Caritas. This week students have learnt about Leaia in Humanities and RE classes.

Samoa may be a country surrounded by water, but access to clean drinking water is scarce in some areas, with many families facing extreme hardship as a result.

Leaia is a mother of five children aged 8 to 13. During the week, Leaia completes daily tasks with her sister Ene, while their husbands work on a cattle farm on the other side of the island. Their husbands come home each weekend to spend time with the family.

In an incredible act of resourcefulness, Leaia’s family built their home entirely out of recycled scraps collected from a nearby recycling plant, to avoid wasting precious household income. Leaia’s family only has enough income to pay for her children’s food and necessities. Leaia goes to the local shops to buy ingredients and, where she can, harvests fruits from her own garden. The family relies on solar power for lighting and gas, and a wood burner for cooking. Their home is not connected to a piped water system, so they used to rely solely on rainwater collected in old fridges.

When their water ran out, Leaia had to walk with her young children to collect water in buckets and containers from a neighbour down the street. Before being able to rely on her neighbour, she would walk a 40-minute round trip each day with her young children to fetch water in hot, humid conditions. The children would have to take several breaks, as the buckets were very heavy for them to lift.

With the support of Caritas Australia’s local partner Caritas Samoa, a 3,000 litre water tank was installed at Leaia’s home to harvest rainwater. This means that her family can now have access to clean water to drink and bathe in. The time that was previously used to collect drinking water can now be used for other essential tasks and, most importantly, her children don’t have to miss out on school.

Parents are warmly invited to our Easter Service being held on Holy Thursday, 28 April at 10.10am in the College Hall. Our Year 9 and 10 Youth Ministry students have prepared a short contemporary reflection on the Easter story. It is estimated that the reflection will run for around twenty-five minutes. We look forward to seeing you there.

Anna Smart
Religious Education Coordinator (Acting)