your family update
You Backed them and things began to change
Ruwan
Donor
Amalarani learned very young what it meant to carry a family through hardship. Now, with daughters of her own, she is determined to give them the security and opportunities that were missing from her childhood.
Amalarani lost her mother when she was 14. With her father having left the family, she and her younger siblings were separated while they tried to survive. Amalarani began working in a garment factory so she could care for one of her younger brothers. The experience placed adult responsibility on her long before she was ready for it.
Today, Amalarani lives with her husband and their young daughters. Her husband takes daily wage work whenever it is available, and his earnings are the family’s main source of income. Because the work is irregular and the family has no reliable second income, even their basic needs can be difficult to meet.
Their home does not have a toilet, a well, or electricity. Each of these gaps adds work and difficulty to daily life, particularly while caring for young children. With very little left after food and other immediate expenses, improving the home has remained far beyond what the family can manage on their own.
Amalarani is no longer able to continue her garment factory work while managing the care of her daughters and the household. She wants to contribute financially, but work outside the home is difficult to sustain. The family must stretch her husband’s earnings across food, school needs and every unexpected expense, with no savings to protect them when the work is scarce.
For many years, Amalarani carried her worries quietly. The losses and separation she experienced as a child continued to affect her, yet she rarely spoke to others about what her family was facing. She needed more than a source of income: she needed a practical path forward, people she could trust and the confidence to believe that her family’s circumstances could change.
Your support over the next two years can help Amalarani develop a livelihood she can manage alongside caring for her daughters, strengthen the family’s food and financial security, and begin creating the safer, more stable future she wants for her children.
Please note for many women sharing in written form is not easy, we support them where needed. So you can see what you have made possible we have provided additional context around her letter.
When I was 14 years old, my mother passed away due to cancer. My father had married twice, so he went away with the children of his first wife. I was mentally affected by the loss of my mother and the sadness of my father abandoning us. Unable to manage financially, I, my two younger brothers, and my one younger sister experienced great hardship. In this situation, I placed one of my younger brothers and my younger sister in a children’s home that cares for young children, and I went to work in a garment factory to look after my youngest brother. After they grew up, my younger brother and younger sister left the children’s home and came to be with me.
I too got married and was living separately in a house with my three daughters and my husband. Without a toilet, a well, or electricity, we were facing very real difficulties. I have also stopped working at the garment factory. My husband supported my family by doing daily wage labour. My eldest child is studying at Mukkomban Maha Vidyalayam. My second child is studying in preschool. My third daughter is a 9-month-old baby.
(Amalrani welcomed her third daughter during the programme, so now she has 5 children. Her challenges with toilet and well is being resolved as through Palmera’s support we have connected her to a housing programme and hope to get confirmation in the coming month of her acceptance into that government programme. This is critical as a key part of Palmera’s role is not just funding every part of the needs, but connecting her with existing programmes, widening her network of support).
I was still experiencing the hardship I faced when I was 14. I wondered if things would have been alright if my mother and father had been there back then.
Many days passed as I kept thinking and thinking. I was very mentally affected, and I didn’t tell anyone about my plight. But my neighbors knew about my family’s situation
(At the time we met Amalarani, her family was deeply affected by vulnerability. Understanding the context in which we meet families is important, it is a long history and with this we must work to support their uplift. Palmera hires staff within the village as part of our team. Below Amalarani references Deva Kala akka who is from the village and one of our staff. We do this because while there is considerable work we have to do to capacitate our village based team, they have the knowledge and connection with the women we seek to uplift and this makes all the difference.)
At this time, Deva Kala akka, who is from our village, came and spoke with me. She said that many village savings groups are functioning and that by joining one as a member, my family’s plight would be helped. She also said that by joining this group, I could progress. But I was hesitant to join the group. Because my family’s income was not sufficient, I wondered how I would get money to save, and I asked Deva Kala akka about this. To that, she said, “From the money you spend, you can take 20 or 30 rupees and save it, can’t you?” She explained the benefits of the village savings group. I also asked Tharsini akka and learned about it.
After that, I became interested in saving. I went and joined the village savings group as a member. After joining this group, some changes happened for me. Because of this, I was able to open up. For example, I feel that it has guided me, a person who was shy about discussing the hardships as I suffered from my mother’s loss and being separated from my siblings, and my current plight. Even with my sisters-in-law, I’m now able to mingle and talk with everyone. I was also able to feel the connection of everyone’s relationships.
I thank you for the beautiful help you provide. Because I developed leadership skills, self-confidence, and the ability to mingle with others through this group, whether at school or in public places, I go and speak about my needs myself and identify them.
(Palmera established the village bank in her village to develop financial literacy, a place to save and revolve their savings as loans to reduce their debt from predatory lenders. But a big part of that process is a year long of training, mentorship, and support, from conflict management to leadership to setting goals and understanding circumstances. For the first time, it provides some structure for women to work through all their thoughts and challenges. In this way it becomes the foundation for change).
I thank you because from the money my husband gives for daily food expenses, I would take 30 rupees for savings. It was only after joining this group that I realised I had this much change within me, and the village savings group was a guide for that. When I think about it, I feel very happy. It was only after joining this group that I started a home garden, raised chickens, and made ‘peanut sambal’. After using the vegetables for our food needs and selling the excess vegetables and peanut sambal to the shops, my family is now in a position where we can eat three meals a day. Thinking about this makes me very happy.
(For food security, Palmera supports women to establish home gardens and small poultry farming. This takes time, as with the rise of wild animals and water constraints, new techniques are needed to support these food security practices. Then slowly we build the confidence, and the income generation activity can begin.)
By getting a loan from this village savings group, I was able to fulfill my children’s educational needs. Also, in the past, my daughter did not go for evening tuition classes. After joining this group, the village savings group is helpful for me to send my child to evening tuition classes. In the beginning, I was dependent only on my husband’s income. Now, I have a home garden and raise chickens, and I save a portion of the income from that. This group has given me self-confidence. And so, I express my great thanks to you, who made me feel a happy state of mind.
To further improve my life, I am very keen to buy a sewing machine and get training for the handicraft, and thereby increase my income. Even though I suffered in the past, the self-confidence and courage that I will achieve good growth in the future have been born within me.
(Having women get to a point that they can dream and have hopes for economic empowerment is critical for their continued success. Social structures are not teaching them that so to have Amalarani share this shift in her state of mind is something that hasn’t come easy but is the foundation for everything that will follow.)
It was my village savings group that gave me this self-confidence and courage. I feel very happy thinking about this.
The support of my village savings group members and their encouragement have given me the hope and happiness that I will achieve a good state of progress in my family’s standard of living in the coming years. I state with certainty that my family and I will definitely achieve progress in the coming year, and I also state with certainty that I will bring my children’s education to a primary position, better than last year. I am happy to think that on this path I have taken, my village savings group stands fully with me and supports me.
Amalarani
Our work continues with Amalarani. She has begun the journey to stand on her own, but lasting change takes time. We will walk alongside her for one more year before letting go of her hand. It is this continued accompaniment that makes all the difference. And this is possible because of you. Thank you.
