Show this to your kids the next time they complain about walking to school! Children SWIMMING across the raging river to get to class in Fiji
If your kids have ever complained about walking to school, show them this video and they’ll quickly realize that the journey can be much worse.
This is the shocking moment children in Fiji are forced to swim across a raging river to get to their lessons.
In the video Shared on Facebook, groups of young people dressed in their school uniforms have no choice but to plunge into the fast-flowing water to reach the other side.
The clip was filmed on Fiji’s main island, Vita Levi, in the Sigatoka Valley near the Wainiagwai Stream, which flows downhill and flows into the Wainimala River.
It comes after the bridge, which is usually further upstream, was washed away by floods.
This is the shocking moment children in Fiji are forced to swim across a raging river to get to their lessons
A flood warning is currently in effect for low lying and flood prone areas adjacent to and downstream of the Wainibuka, Wainimala, Waidina and Rewa Rivers.
Two days ago, it was reported by the Fiji National Disaster Management Office that water levels at the Wainbuka River were 3.77 meters above warning level and steadily rising.
The breathtaking video was posted yesterday by Fijian political commentator Kai Viti and comments poured in about the children’s welfare.
One user wrote: ‘I mean it makes us brave, but not every kid can swim in such strong currents.’
A second added: ‘It’s very sad. Our children have to take so many risks. The responsible authorities open your eyes. Poor children’.
Meanwhile, a third explained: ‘The children are filmed upstream where it is safer for them to swim to the other side.
‘On a day without rain we can wade across this river or stream to get to the village.
“Even a Toyota Prius can drive over this stream, where the bridge once was, on a normal sunny day.”
The clip was filmed at the Wainiagwai Stream, which flows into the Wainimala River in central Fiji
The breathtaking video was posted yesterday by Fijian political commentator Kai Viti and comments poured in about the welfare of the children
A flood warning is currently in effect for low lying and flood prone areas adjacent to and downstream of the Wainibuka, Wainimala, Waidina and Rewa Rivers.
Fijian-born Robert Kennedy noted: ’50 years of successive governments and children still have to take their lives into their own hands just to get an education’
However, when it rains, which is common in Fiji, scenarios like this are not unique.
Robert Kennedy, 53, a Fijian-born fashion designer who shared the video on his own Facebook page, added:
‘I live in Sigatoka on the coral coast of Fiji and I want to urge the government to take action in this area.
‘It is unbelievable today that children in the relatively remote areas just above the Sigatoka Valley of Fiji still have to cross these types of rivers to get to and from school.
“50 years of successive governments and children still have to take their lives into their own hands just to get an education.”
His stepsister, Julie, runs a charity in Fiji called Fiji Kids Learning for Life. The pair say they are shocked by this situation that has occurred in the Sigatoka Valley over the past fourteen years.
They do charity work to support children and their education.
This isn’t the only area in Fiji facing this problem: news website Fiji Village A similar case has been reported in Mataso, Ra, where families from the Camocamo and Navunavu settlements are calling on the government to provide urgent assistance.
Children attending Bayly Memorial School and Mataso Primary School have been filmed using a piece of bamboo to pull themselves across a river.
People are asking the government to raise the bridge or make boats available for the children’s use every day.
The outlet sent questions to Public Works Minister Ro Filipe Tuisawau, Rural Development and Disaster Management Minister Sakeasi Ditoka and Education Minister Viliame Gavoka, who have yet to respond.