A 69-year-old father, Nato Temu Junior, and his 80-year-old sister, Fever Teira Tana, who live alone at their family home in Tupapa, are living happily and unbothered by the ongoing rise in inflation, which has increased by 2.8 per cent this year.

Since 2015, Junior’s only source of income has been his $250 fortnightly pension and his sister’s pension, which she has received for 20 years ago.

They budget only for the three most vital needs at home: the power bill, vehicle petrol and their phone credit. For the rest, they rely heavily on their crops from their plantations and fishing.

Speaking to Cook Islands News, Junior stressed that he is not heavily impacted by the inflation, knowing that his children have all moved overseas, as well as his sister’s children except for one of her daughters who also lives in Rarotonga but at her own home.

“Yes, everything nowadays is so expensive maybe triple the costs before Covid but I don’t think much about it because me and my sister rely heavily on our plantation and fishing and I am still strong to go out to the plantation and to the sea,” he said.

“What’s important for us is that our children are well and have moved abroad for a better life and we just retire happily by ourselves with our pension money being the only source of income. We use that for the things we need at home every day and that’s our power, petrol, and telephone.

“We do buy other things from the shops and stock up at home but because of the cost of living nowadays, we budget wisely and just buy what we need.”

Living by themselves, Junior and Tana have their own daily routines to keep them fit and well.

He goes to the plantations in the morning or to the shop to buy their stocks for the week, returns home, cleans the rubbish, then takes a stroll to the nearest beach to catch some fish.

As for his sister, she makes local medicines at home, weaving and cooks for both of them.