Naomi holding her 8-month-old son Paula in their home outside of Suva. Photo: Save the Children Fiji.<\/em>
\u00a0<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nIn Fijian custom, it is popular for families to dress in identical colors and prints during a special family occasion. This is called \u2018Kalavata\u2019 \u2013 Kala meaning \u2018color\u2019 and \u2018vata\u2019 meaning together. Naomi wanted to make this Christmas extra special for her children, and was proud to be able to use some of the cash assistance to purchase for her kids first Kalavata. \u201cThe kids were really happy because it was the first time that they had a Kalavata for Christmas\u201d says Naomi with tears in her eyes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While Naomi was filled with gratitude for the cash assistance, she also worries for the future – knowing that the third wave of Covid-19 will continue to make their lives difficult with the restrictions that it brings. She says they would like for the children to continue their education but doubts that this can happen anytime soon. \u201cI don\u2019t see our lives getting any better in the future due to Covid, because there is still no employment and the kids can\u2019t go to school.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Save the Children has already provided cash transfers to over 39,000 Fijian families like Naomi\u2019s. Our research shows that 95% of households assisted so far have spent their money on food and 49% of households put the money towards their children\u2019s education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Naomi holding her 8-month-old son Paula in their home outside of Suva. Photo: Save the Children Fiji.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\nCash is the most efficient and effective way to empower emergency-affected communities \u2013 and COVID-19 continues to be the most pressing emergency Fiji faces today. We know cash works, and that the project has already made a huge difference to the lives of vulnerable families.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Naomi acknowledges Save the Children for the timely assistance provided to her and her family. \u201cSave the Children was able to put smiles on my children\u2019s faces and I am so grateful to them for doing that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Disclaimer: The project is now closed and we are no longer accepting any applications.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
29-year-old Naomi lives with her family in an informal settlement just outside of Suva, Fiji\u2019s capital. Naomi is a stay-at-home mum while her husband is unemployed, having lost his job due to the impacts of the pandemic. Together, they have four children aged 10 and below. Till this day, Naomi and her husband struggle to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[45],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.savethechildren.org.fj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3089"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.savethechildren.org.fj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.savethechildren.org.fj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.savethechildren.org.fj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.savethechildren.org.fj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3089"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.savethechildren.org.fj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3089\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3091,"href":"http:\/\/www.savethechildren.org.fj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3089\/revisions\/3091"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.savethechildren.org.fj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3089"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.savethechildren.org.fj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3089"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.savethechildren.org.fj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3089"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}