your family update
You Backed them and things began to change
My greatest sadness is not having my great-granddaughter with us.
There are many things poverty has taken from Maheswary’s family. The hardest is that they cannot all live together.
When Maheswary’s daughter died, she took responsibility for her granddaughter, Kunaledsumi. Years later, when Kunaledsumi had a daughter of her own and her husband left, Maheswary cared for them both.
But there was never enough money.
Kunaledsumi had been sick since she was a child and needed a lot of care. Eventually, the family made the painful decision for her daughter, Maheswary’s great grand-daughter, to live in an orphanage because they simply couldn’t afford to care for everyone at home.
Maheswary misses her deeply. Of everything she tells us about their life, this is the thing that hurts her most.
Kunaledsumi is 28 now. She has needed insulin injections since she was eleven. She also lives with chronic asthma and high blood pressure, and has problems with her hearing, vision and speech.
Keeping her well is difficult when there is so little money.
The only regular income in the house is Aswesuma, a small government welfare payment Maheswary’s husband receives. But Aswesuma is time bound and will not always be there. Kunaledsumi also qualifies for a disability allowance but has never received it.
So they manage with what they have.
Their home was given to them by the government many years ago, but it now needs repairs they simply cannot afford. There has always been something more immediate that needs the little money they have.
Right now, Kunaledsumi is in hospital for an operation on her leg. Maheswary is there beside her, as she has been through so much of her life.
When Maheswary thinks about the future, what she needs is some stability.
She needs to be able to look after Kunaledsumi’s health properly. She needs their home to be safe. And importantly, the family needs a way to increase their own income so they are not left with nothing when their government support ends.
These are the things your support over the next two years will help them work towards: better health, a safer home and an income they can increasingly rely on.
