During one of my visits to farmers I went into a settlement
in Lautoka which is about five minutes drive towards the sea from the main road
in Natabua Lautoka. The little tin shack is made of flattened 44
gallon drums. The home sits right in the middle of a vegetable and
cassava plantation.
After handing over farm implements I asked the owner if I
could have a look around his compound. We came to a waist high fence that had
empty tuna cans tied neatly together at various intervals. When I asked what
they were for the owner said, “Qori noqu burglar alarm.”
He went on
to say that because he lives in such an isolated place his home often gets
burgled. I am amazed that his home gets burgled because he is a squatter and
lives in dire poverty. His home is bare and the roof leaks, yet people still
rob him.
How cruel can that be!
But the empty tuna cans is an ingenious device and he said
that it has alerted his family many times when people try to climb over and the
tins rattle.
Allen Lockington is a self-employed customs agent and business consultant who has regular articles published in Fiji. I thank Allen for permission to reprint some of them in this political blog. They remind us that life goes on, whatever the political situation. And it's good to know that.
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