STAND, EARN AND LEARN

“If my husband doesn’t get work, we have no food to eat. There’s nothing.”

Santhini lives with her husband, their 3-year-old, and a grandfather in a village in Battocaloa, Sri Lanka. When her husband has no field work, there is simply no food. She stays home to care for her child, and what she is working toward is a stable home and a better life for her child.

“When there’s nothing to eat at home, all six of us go out to the forest to find something.”

Santhi lives with her husband and four children, getting by on daily labour with no steady income. Her son takes on whatever work he can find so his sister can stay at university. Santhi just wants the family to be cared for and live well.

“At 75 years old, even working when I can, I can’t make enough for food and medicine.”

At 75, Perinbawathi takes small jobs to pay for food and medicine, but the work is irregular and never quite enough. She walks through fields and jungle to reach her clinic twice a month, managing knee pain alongside recovery from kidney surgery. She hopes to live without hardship and sorrow.

“He left me and the children six years ago. Now I take care of the children myself.”

Jessika’s raising her two kids alone in eastern Sri Lanka after her husband left them six years ago. She manages with the little money he sends. Her brother helps them with food. She turned down a job to stay present for her children, and hopes they’ll study well and be okay in the future.

“Being poor is the one thing in my life I could never break free from. It’s always there.”

Indrani lives with her husband and four children in her sister’s house, since they have no home of their own. Her husband’s agricultural work is seasonal and never quite enough, so when money runs short she borrows. She hopes to see each of her children finish their studies and start a happy life.

“All I want is to look after our grandson, to pay off our debt and not burden my children.” 

Jeyarani lives with her husband and grandson, managing on about 10,000 rupees a month. She works hard to stretch their income while carrying loan debt. She is also raising her grandson and keeping him in school. She hopes to clear their debt and live a better life one day. 

“The storm took everything we had, forty, fifty coconut trees knocked down, and our house was gone.”

Punitha manages the house while her husband travels far for wage work. With their bicycle broken, getting her kids to their distant school is hard. She raises goats, chickens and tends a garden to help with costs. She wants to educate her children so they can live better than her.

“We earn just enough for food. Nothing is left for anything else.”

Niroja and her husband are raising a 1-month-old with no home of their own and no toilet. Her husband travels far for daily labour, and she worries each time he goes. She manages every rupee carefully to keep the family fed. She hopes for a house, a small shop of her own, and steadier work for her husband.

 “When my husband had his accident, we had no money. I fried vadas and went house to house to feed my family, and we still couldn’t eat three meals.”

Santhaluxmi manages her children alone while her husband works in Colombo. After his accident left him unable to do heavy work, and her own heart attack forced her to stop working, the family lives on what he earns. Her hope is that her son can be come an engineer one day.

 “Food is difficult to afford. Somedays there is nothing. Nothing to eat.”

Thirumawathy lives with her husband, who finds only 2 to 6 days of wage work most months. With no toilet and a half-finished house, she tends a home garden and contributes to a group loan to stretch what little they have. She has written to government agencies and other organizations asking for help and kept following up, hoping one day to finish the house and have a proper toilet.

 “An elephant attacked our home. It destroyed the kitchen and damaged the house. The roof leaks when it rains. It’s difficult to keep a toddler safe.”

Tharsika lives with her husband and little daughter. They earn just enough for food, sometimes buying on credit. They are repairing the house slowly and hope their daughter can study well and have a safe home and a future she chooses.

Sukenthini and her husband can’t speak, so they can’t always find work to pay for food.

Sukenthini, 29, lives with her husband and two young children. Both parents can’t speak. She cares for the kids, cooks, and helps her husband find daily work. They manage with little money and sometimes eat just rice. She wants both children to study and have better opportunities.

“After my husband died, I was left with four children and no way to feed them”

Vimaleswari, 69, has been raising her great-grandchild since her son’s wife died when the child was six months old. She worked grinding flour, threshing grain, and doing wage work to feed her family. Now her great-grandchild works and helps with groceries. Vimaleswari hopes to see her granddaughter get married and have her own home.

At one point, both parents couldn’t go out to find work. There were a lot of days then when they didn’t even have enough to feed their daughter.

Kanchana cannot speak and cares for her home with her husband, who cuts firewood despite swollen legs, and looks after their 13-year-old daughter. They manage food, school costs, and credit carefully, working hard every day to make sure their daughter can finish school and have a better future.

“I haven’t had enough to eat since I was a child. Now I have to watch my children go through the same.”

Rajeshwari lives with her husband and 3 children. Her husband goes fishing. But some days he brings nothing home. She makes sure the children go to school and works with what she has to take care of them. She believes education can give them a chance for steady work and regular income.

“There are times when we only had one measure of gruel.”

Rajeshwary, 59, lives in Batticaloa, Sri Lanka with her husband who is very old. Neither of them works, and their sons send a little money each month. Some days they eat only rice without curry, because sometimes there is not enough for oil, vegetables, or medicine. Rajeshwary manages the house and daily needs, living day to day.

“When I was very young, my father broke his leg. My mother was dead. And I had to take care of him and my three sisters all by myself.” 

Rajini lives in Batticaloa with her husband and two children. Her husband’s work is irregular and he is sick now. Rajini sells vadai in the evenings, manages the house, and makes sure the children go to school and tuition even if that means her skipping meals. She works very hard every day so her children can have a better future.

“I’ve known hunger from childhood and I still carry it with me.”

Nirojini lives in Navatkadu in Eastern Sri Lanka with her husband and three children. Their small home has no toilet. Her husband does whatever work he can find, sometimes fishing, sometimes cutting stones. But money is never enough for food, bills, and school. Nirojini works hard and walks long distances to keep her children educated so that they have a better future.

“We are stuck paying off debt, so we can’t even think about a good future.”

Sureshini, 34, lives in Batticaloa with her husband, two daughters aged seven and three, and her father. Her husband works whenever he can, but some days they have no food and borrow from relatives. They pay 20,000 rupees every month for a loan. Sureshini works hard and hopes to fix their house and educate her daughters.

“I just want my daughter to be healthy and go to school like other children.”

Kuventhini and her husband live in a small hut with their 15-year-old daughter. Her husband does labor work when he can, and most days they struggle for food. Their daughter has stomach pain and migraines, and they cannot afford private treatment. Kuventhini is slowly repairing their home and making sure her daughter can keep going to school.

“We don’t have a toilet at home, so the children go to a nearby house when they need one.”

Suhanya and her husband are raising three children, 14, 12 and 7. Her husband takes any
daily wage work he can find and often travels to Colombo, but the income is not steady. Food and
school costs are hard to manage. Suhanya keeps encouraging the children to study so they can
one day find stable jobs.

“I had to stop studying when I was in the ninth grade because my family had no money.”

Lingajothi is 31, living with her husband and their two-year-old son. Her husband’s daily wage work is uncertain, and when there’s no work, there’s no income. They often rely on credit just to eat. Their home is unfinished with no toilet. She raises chickens to help with money, while hoping her son can stay in school and have a better future.

“Somedays we eat only once.”

Yogamma lives in the East of Sri Lanka with her husband and 24-year-old daughter. Their house is unfinished, work is irregular, and some days they eat only once. She does wage work to provide food, repay debt, and hopes to finish the unfinished house and get her daughter married to someone who can give her a better life.

“When it rains, the roof leaks so badly that we can’t stay in our house”

Gopika lives in Batticaloa with her husband and 4-year-old son. Her husband does all kinds of wage work, but last month they had no income, and when it rains there is no work. Food is sometimes hard to get, and they still have some debt. Gopika cares for their son while they work little by little to finish their house and support his future.

“I have been living in this small temporary shelter since I was born. Now I am 30 years old.”

Annitta has never known anything else. The shelter lets in heat and offers little when rain comes. Her husband had an accident, three months in hospital, no savings. They borrowed to get ahead and were cheated. That debt is still there. A real home is all she wants for her kids.

“My child should not suffer any of the hardships I have suffered. She should be well in the place where I left off.”

Dharmini never finished school, the conflict took that from her. This month her husband had three days of work which means they have to borrow for food. Today is Vidhuja’s birthday and all they could manage was a few chocolates to share with her friends

 “We haven’t cooked today. There is nothing to cook with and the whole family is sick.”

Pushpavathi lives with her husband and 2 sons. She makes vadai to bring in income. But now her asthma and fever have stopped it completely. Her husband cannot do heavy labour due to a leg injury, so they have nothing. She wants to get back to work as soon as she can, so they have food on the table.

“Our house is broken, and we are just managing with what we have.”

Kajawathani, 22, lives with her husband and 3-year-old daughter. Her husband does any work he can find, and she is trying to find a job too. Their house needs repairs, and money is tight, but she saves carefully, plans ahead, and hopes to study more, work steadily, and slowly fix their home.

 “My children aren’t in school right now. We had to pull them out because we didn’t have enough money.”

Pushparani lives with her husband and children, running the house on his seasonal stone-loading work, that stops entirely off-season. With school costs adding up, they made the hard call to pull the kids out. But she hopes to see them go back and educated, with a home of their own.

“Some days we don’t even have enough to eat.”

Amutha, 44, lives with her husband, daughter and mother in Sri Lanka’s East. Her husband’s daily wage is not enough, so they buy food on credit to repay when they can. Debt keeps growing. She missed school but pushes her child in Grade 8 to continue. They live in a small house without electricity and hope for a steady life without debt.