Christian Communities across the world will gather on Friday 1st March to prayer for the people of Palestine. Our students in their classes on this day will also gather in prayer. Everyone is invited to the ecumenical prayer service in the church at 7:00pm on Friday.

Samoa is a beautiful country surrounded by water, but there is not enough clean drinking water in some areas, with many families facing extreme hardship as a result.

Leaia is a mother of five children aged 8 to 13: Sepoima, Pati, Lisiti, Eseta and Olevia. During the week, Leaia completes daily tasks with her sister Ene, while their husbands work on a cattle farm on the other side of the island. Their husbands come home each weekend to spend time with the family. In an incredible act of resourcefulness, Leaia’s family built their home entirely out of recycled scraps collected from a nearby recycling plant! They did this to avoid wasting precious household income. Leaia grows fruit and vegetables in her home garden to feed her family. The income from her husband’s work is only enough to cover the extra things their children need. The family relies on solar power for lighting and a gas and wood burner for cooking. Their home is not connected to a piped water system so they rely on rainwater collected in old fridges. As a result of climate change, they have faced longer dry seasons and briefer rainy seasons in recent years. This has left Leaia’s family without enough clean water at times. Leaia said, “It makes me feel worried for my family and I, especially my kids, because of the lack of water supply we have access to. We really need the water all the time... It seems like the days are hotter and the weather has become drier than in previous years.”

With the support of Caritas Australia’s local partner Caritas Samoa, a 3,000 litre water tank was installed at Leaia’s home to harvest rainwater. This means that her family can now have reliable access to clean water to drink and bathe in. The time that was previously used to collect drinking water can now be used for other essential tasks and, most importantly, her children don’t have to miss out on school.