your family update
You Backed them and things began to change
Shiamala Suntharalingam
Donor
When we met Luxmi, her eyes held both strength and quiet exhaustion — the kind that comes from years of carrying life’s burdens alone. In 2011, she and her family moved from India to Manikapuram, hoping for a new beginning. But even in this new place, challenges followed. With two young children in school, their needs keep growing, while their income remains uncertain.
Her husband suffers from a neurological illness that prevents him from working regularly. On his good days, he earns a small wage — just enough to buy food for the day. On other days, there is nothing. Luxmi works tirelessly, juggling household duties and small jobs whenever she can, trying to stretch every rupee to feed her family and keep her children in school. Each day is a struggle, but she refuses to give up. Her quiet determination and gratitude for every bit of support reveal a mother’s strength that endures, even in the hardest of times.
We’ve captured their voice so you can hear their story.
My name is Lakshmi Rajkumar. I live in Manikapuram village. We went to India as refugees in the 1990s and returned in 2016. My family consists of me, my husband, and two daughters. We came here amidst great hardship. We also have no relatives here.
(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).
Now I have joined a village savings group and have benefited a lot from that group. I am managing to keep my two daughters here with courage. My family has only one income, so being in this village savings group is a big help. I can go on and on about the great benefits of this group. However, I will only save my income in this village savings group every week. I have even saved 5 LKR (Approx $0.025 AUD), 10 LKR (Approx $0.051 AUD), and I will also save 100 LKR (Approx $0.51 AUD) if I get it.
Now, if we have an emergency, if I am not well, or if we face difficulties during the rainy season, I will immediately take an emergency loan from the savings group. Every year, I take a loan for paddy sowing and agriculture. When I wanted to raise chickens, I took a loan for that too. Similarly, I take many loans and repay them little by little. There is a plan like that — I can pay them all at once or in small amounts.
The Palmera team that runs this village group also comes and helps us every now and then. For example, they give us peanuts if there is a suitable situation for peanut cultivation. I received those peanut seeds and was selected as a peanut beneficiary. They provided the seeds and covered all the cultivation expenses. I cultivated once and got three harvests of peanuts. Then I kept them and cultivated again in the following years.
I also bought chickens on loan. There are now 10–12 chickens. I use the eggs for our own needs and sell the rest to buy school expenses, pens, and pencils for my children. Similarly, for fruit and vegetable cultivation, they have given us seeds, seedlings, and packets to keep the seedlings, along with training on how to maintain them. Through this, we can reduce the cost of vegetables — whether it is rain or sun, in the rainy or dry season — by keeping the packets to save water so that we can grow vegetables without pesticides.
Every day, we grow some kind of vegetable at home — not just vegetables, but also spinach and herbs needed for medicines. It is a big effort for us to grow these. Even though everyone is doing it, we did not know how to grow or maintain them properly before. This village group trained us in the correct methods, and Palmera visits our homes every week to monitor and explain what we don’t know. Everyone now has these methods in their homes. So now we do not buy vegetables. During the rainy season, we tend to add at least one spinach dish to our meals every day.
Similarly, cow beneficiaries have received cows in the village through Palmera. I am also part of the cow beneficiary program. I have built a cow shed as well.
Shiamala Suntharalingam has supported you. What would you like to say to her?
I didn’t know her before, but I will always be grateful to her for her help at this time. I will never forget this support. I don’t see it as help just for me and my family, but as help for the education of my two daughters. Just as that education will never be forgotten, I will never forget the help she gave me. My family will never forget it. Thank you very much. On behalf of myself and my family, I express my heartfelt gratitude.