your family update
You Backed them and things began to change
“I have really suffered through life. I don’t want my children to live like that too.”
Jevamalar is the one who buys the food and cooks something for her four sons, so they don’t go hungry. Her husband spends much of his daily wage on alcohol. He sometimes takes back money he has given them, because he struggles to control his addiction. And this leaves her to manage the household with very little.
She lost both her parents when she was young and was raised in her uncle’s home, where she says all the children suffered and were often beaten. She married very young and never had the chance to continue her education. This happens a lot in the villages because marriage is seen as a way to escape a household struggling in poverty.
Now she manages the money carefully so her own family can survive.
Jevamalar says that the family suffers with illnesses. Her own body aches, and seizure-like episodes sometimes prevent her from travelling or carrying heavy loads. Her eldest son is unable to walk properly after an infected leg wound, while one of the twins still has reduced movement after breaking a leg in a motorcycle accident. Two of the children also have severe asthma.
They all live in an unfinished house built long ago. The windows are still open and the floor tiles have not been laid. There is no nearby water source, so Jevamalar depends on a pipe connected through a neighbour’s home.
School has becomes more difficult after Grade 5 because the children have to walk about four kilometres to reach a school that offers education beyond the primary years. It may not sound like a long way, but in the heat and the road conditions it can take more than an hour one way to walk and school starts at 7:15am. Two have already stopped going because they don’t have bicycles or a way to travel. Jevamalar worries the others two would find it difficult too.
With all these burdens weighing heavy on her, Jevamalar continues to buy food, cook for the children, manage the money carefully and look for ways to keep them in school. She hopes to start a small roadside shop so she can earn directly and support their education.
“My one wish is that they study well,” she says.
And your support over the next two years can help Jevamalar give her children a good education by working towards a steadier source of income and greater stability for the household.
