For over five years, a group of dedicated wheelbarrow boys have been quietly collaborating with the Suva City Council (SCC) and the Fiji Police Force (FPF) to help keep the Suva market area clean and orderly, especially when the council and police experience a shortage in staff.
Suva Wheelbarrow Association assistant vice president Jiuta Soko said wheelbarrow boys would step in to assist garbage collectors, often staying late in the evenings to collect and dispose of rubbish left behind by market vendors.
Market vendors would pay them $2 for each table.
“Sometimes, when the Suva City Council has shortage of staff, some of our wheelbarrow boys would collaborate with the council in terms of collecting rubbish at the market area, and we would even help police officers control the kids at the Suva bus stand,” Mr Soko said.
“This has been going on for over five years now.
“It has been going well. We would help garbage collectors and collect the rubbish and dump it in the rubbish bins.
“Police would sometimes ask us to control the crowd at the bus stand especially on Fridays.
“It’s all about teamwork.
“When vendors leave, they leave their rubbish on their table.
“That’s when we come and collect and then dispose it.
“The vendors are the ones who pay us to take their rubbish, $2 a table.”
He said they would continue to help the council minimise the rubbish level in the Suva Market area.
