your family update
You Backed them and things began to change
“I have suffered all my life, and even after I got married, it’s been difficult. Because he drinks, it’s always difficult.”
Kayalini lives in Paruthichery with her husband and their two children, a nine-year-old and a three-year-old. She used to work in a mill, but she stopped a month ago because her husband said she should stay home and there was no one to look after the children.
Her husband does masonry work when he can, but it’s not regular. Sometimes he works in gold work, but he only gets paid once a month. If it rains, there’s no work, so they don’t always have enough money for food or other things.
Most days they manage by borrowing a little money from a small self-help group or taking groceries on credit from the shop and paying later when her husband earns. They are also slowly paying off a loan they took to repair their house after a disaster. The house still has problems, like water leaking inside when it rains, which makes staying there hard.
Kalyani’s whole life has been difficult. Her husband’s drinking makes it even worse. Her husband sometimes drinks and leaves for a few days, which makes food and daily life harder, but family helps when they can.
Even with all this, Kayalini keeps caring for her children, managing the money, and paying off debts little by little. She wants her children to go to school and get good jobs one day, so they don’t have to struggle like she does.
Her hope is simple. She wants enough for their needs, a house that does not let in rain, and to raise her children so they can be happy and have work. She dreams of a small house with two rooms, a kitchen, just enough to live safely and comfortably. She says, “we want to educate the children, so they don’t suffer like us, and we want to keep them happy.”