your family update
You Backed them and things began to change
Anjana Retnasaba
Donor
When we met Kanthaiya Muniyandi and his wife, their story of resilience and hardship stayed with us long after.
Now living alone in a small temporary house, the couple faces daily struggles. Kanthaiya is elderly, and his wife suffers from painful joint issues that limit their ability to work. Despite their health challenges, they have endured through years marked by loss and hardship. They once had six children, but three of them tragically passed away during the war. The other three children have since married and moved away, unable to provide financial support to their aging parents.
Kanthaiya and his wife own half an acre of land. Their monthly income is only 8,000 LKR (approx $40 AUD) —a small amount that barely covers their basic needs. Yet, Kanthaiya’s experience in goat rearing spans over 15 years. Their land includes glyceria bushes and nearby grazing grounds, and Kanthaiya is still able to go into the forest to collect leaves for the animals.
This livelihood fits their age and capabilities perfectly. With the right support to strengthen their goat rearing, Kanthaiya and his wife could better meet their hospital bills and food expenses. It would ease their daily burdens and allow them to live their remaining years with a little more peace and dignity.
We’ve captured their voice so you can hear their story.
My name is Muniyandi (Kanthaiya). I live in a village in Theravil (village name). I was working as a wage laborer. I was going through a lot of hardship. My wife is also sick. At the same time, I also can’t work much. At the same time, my two children were killed during the last war. So we suffered a lot. Because of that, my wife’s mental health is affected.
(Palmera established a village bank in our community to develop financial literacy—a place where we could save and access loans to reduce our debt from predatory lenders).
When we were living in great difficulty, a village bank was established there by Palmera. They invited us to join that group. We didn’t know much about it. We joined there. We saved 20, 50, and 100 LKR (approx. $0.50 AUD) every week. They care about our situation. They asked, “What are you doing?” What are you eating? They inquired about our well-being as well. We told them our real situation. They said they would help us. Later, they bought us goats. They gave us five goats. Now I have a total of ten goats. They come to see us all the time and care about us, ask about our goat raising often, and see how we take care of the goat. We sold a goat for 40,000 LKR. With that money, we invested in peanut and green gram cultivations in our land. Now we have harvested. Also, Palmera encouraged us to start fruit and vegetable cultivation. Our livelihood is going well now.
The family that helped you live happily now is the Anjana Retnasaba family. What would you like to say to them?
May the Retna family, who helped us, receive the grace of God. Thank you very much. My wife and I pray to God that they live a long and blessed life.
