DUTIES of fixing affected roads during wet weather have been shouldered by villagers living on the mountain range area outside Labasa Town.
Villagers of Navakuru and Suweni in Cakaudrove have taken such duties upon themselves over the past years.
With the recent cyclones that hit Vanua Levu, the villagers were seen on social media posts piling logs and rocks in affected portions of road for vehicles to travel through.
Suweni Village headman Waisale Cabenasiga said men carried rocks and cut logs to fix the road.
“We need to fix the roads because villagers travel to the market to sell crops and grog and that is our source of income,” he said.
“Every time it rains and the road gets damaged, we attend to it right away because waiting for the authorities to come and fix it will take weeks.
“So over the past years, that’s our job and we have also joined forces with those from Navakuru to fix a bridge along the way to the village. If this bridge is affected, then our students won’t be able to attend school at Navakuru and those villagers won’t travel to town.”
When roads were fixed, he said they would contact the bus company to resume normal services.
“That’s how it works here and has worked very well over the past years.”
