THE on-going repatriation exercise undertaken by the national government in its efforts to prevent, mitigate and possibly contain the spread of COVID-19 to the rural areas has put extra pressure on families to feed their relatives.
Davidson Sepo of Kolofe village in North Malaita said that the heavy influx of relatives has resulted in food shortages and accordingly increased prices of locally produced food items at the local markets.
Sepo said that most families in the village can only help for a short period of time.
He said if the situation persists, it will be disastrous for families.
“We can provide a little help from our gardens but not for a long period of time as the trend now seems to indicate,” Sepo said.
He added that families with large numbers of members should seek assistance from their members of Parliaments (MP) or the national government to sustain them during this time.
“What we have in our gardens is enough for our families and if we continue to support these people who have been repatriated, we ourselves will run out of food,” Sepo said.
He added that if the trend continues, rural families will be in need of food and this would only compound the problem even further.
Sepo calls on MPs to visit their constituencies to see first-hand the plight of the people in the rural areas and do whatever it takes to lessen the burden on families.
By GEORGE GWAMANI