BY JOHN HOUANIHAU
DAVID Roiroi of Marau Sound, North-East Guadalcanal was able to improve the living standards of his family after he previously went to New Zealand and now to Australia as a seasonal worker.
He was previously among Solomon Islanders who worked under the New Zealand Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) Work Scheme in 2009. However, after returning to Solomon Islands, he managed to travel again to Australia in 2019 to work at a meat factory under the approved Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) Scheme .
The father of three children is a form five, secondary school drop-out and is married to Laisha from Furona village, Katova District in Isabel province.
David’s wife, Laisha told Solomon Women that she married her husband in 2014.
“David joined the Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) Work Scheme in 2009, straight after dropping out of form five in high school.
“At that time we were still in a relationship, we haven’t yet married and we are always in contact.
“I asked him if can continue to do his form six but he said he wanted to work under the scheme because he had no one to support him to continue with his education.
“So this is how he went to work under the scheme and that was around 2009,’’ she explained.
Laisa said David spent most of his time in New Zealand and only visited his family (parents) during holidays.
“While working in New Zealand, David managed to build a permanent house for his parents in Honiara.
“That was his first three bed room permanent house,” she said with a smile.
Laisha thanked her husband, who made the most of his time overseas so he could send home money for their family to help build their own private house building and to raise his family standard of living in Honiara.
“This how we live. David often left us, myself and our three children. Although it’s a challenge for me as a mother especially to look after all the three kids, but I think patience is golden.
“He left us for Australia in November 24, 2019. He signed a three years contract to work in the meat factory.
“David’s two years contract in Australia was completed on November, 2021, last year.
“In Australia, he usually earn a fortnightly allowance of around AUD$700 – $800 (SBD$3,929.68 – $4,490.84).
“This year, 2022, he managed to send us money to build a two bedroom permanent home for our small family; and it’s a second house, he had saved money from what he earned from the seasonal workers scheme in Australia.
“As a mother, I thanked my husband for sacrificing his time in Australia to help us and our children to have a better future especially in such challenging times of economic hardship experienced in the country.”
