It was a huge burden lifted off the shoulders of 45-year-old Poasa Yabaki after donations of school stationery were made to his family to assist his 4 children to start the new school year.

Yabaki who is a father of 5 from Maumi, Tailevu also works odd jobs as a wheelbarrow boy and sells produce from his farm at the Nausori Market to care for his children and his wife Nanise Marama who is currently undergoing chemotherapy for cervical cancer.

Speaking to Fijivillage, Yabaki says that after the new year  what he is able to earn from selling his produce from his farm, he had set aside a small budget to buy school stationery for his children as the beginning of school drew closer.

He says that 2 weeks before the start of the new school year, a good samaritan with the help of the Fiji Cancer Society saw the need his family had and donated school bags, shoes, books, uniforms and stationery for four of Yabaki’s children who are currently in school.

Yabaki says that his daughters are in years 11, 8, 5 and kindergarten and his youngest daughter will begin school in 2020.

He says that he continues to care for his wife who is very determined to begin a hobby that they hope can eventually become another source of income for their family.