Growing up in the Vatukoula Gold Mines community, Fulori Yabakivou ensured her six children would achieve success in life.
The 65-year-old from Nakorosule in Naitasiri reflected on the hardships she and her children endured after her husband, Sanaila Yabakivou, a former miner, passed away on December 1, 2000.
Ms. Yabakivou recounted that due to financial difficulties, her children only had tea and cassava at home.
“That was our only means of survival,” she said. “And all we could do was pray.”
She would remind her children that even though their father was no longer with them, the Lord Almighty was always by their side.
“Both my husband and I grew up in the Vatukoula Gold Mines community, with our fathers being miners. We would share whatever food we had at home. Sometimes, we had to sell rourou to buy sugar and kerosene from the supermarket.
“I made sure my children went to school. Eventually, my eldest son completed school and started working, and so did my daughter. Now, my children are married and working, and I’m living by myself in the company quarters in Vatukoula,” she said.
When the payout was announced during the 2024-2025 National Budget, she asked her children what they wanted to do with the money.
“My eldest son said, ‘Mum, that is yours and enough for you.’ But I wanted to hear their opinions because their Dad was no longer with us,” she shared.