The resilience of women in Nadi affected by the pandemic has been commended by the Fiji CSO Alliance for COVID-19 Humanitarian Response.

Director Social Empowerment and Education Programme Chantelle Khan says during their two-day visit, women shared some heartbreaking stories of what they are going through.

“We have to talk about the resilience of these women, that women are owning their survival, struggling to survive and they are owing to.”

Khan says they visited more than 100 women in Nadi, a year after the pandemic left many unemployed.

Former Flight Attendant Phyllis Vatucawaqa also shared an experience she went through recently.

“Just a few weeks ago my place got robbed and I reported it to the Police Station in Sabeto. Nothing else was stolen in the house, our valuables were still there, our farming equipment but only food was stolen.”

FRIEND Fiji Director Shashi Kiran says they have been assisting at least 10 families daily with food packs on top of other assistance.

“We have provided something like 13,000 families have been given seedlings in the last 9 months and 984 people have to go through different livelihood training.”

The group is planning to visit other areas and get more feedback from women.