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“My husband and I work the whole day in the forest cutting and collecting firewood just to make 3000 rupees.”
Nageshwary lives in Kettupaanai in Sri Lanka’s East with her husband, her son and his family, and two grandchildren from her daughter. Her daughter went abroad, and her son-in-law is not living with them, so she takes care of her daughter’s children, a 15-year-old girl and a 10-year-old boy.
She is 53 and doesn’t go out to work regularly. Her husband collects and sells firewood. Some days they make three thousand rupees, but it‘s not easy. Nageshwary helps by going into the forest with him, collecting and tying the wood so he can carry it. It takes the whole day, from morning to three in the afternoon. Sometimes they take the grandchildren with them.
The money they earn is not always enough. Nageshwary saves a little for medicine or school for the grandchildren. Her daughter sends some money, but it still leaves them managing carefully.
Sometimes they take a loan from a group to buy seeds, fertilizer, and tools to plant crops. One season of farming can cost up to one lakh rupees, so the money they have only covers part of it. They work hard to make it stretch.
Collecting firewood is heavy work, and the forest has elephants. Nageshwary says it is not easy for her body anymore. But she keeps going. She looks after her grandchildren, helps with the farm, manages money carefully, and does everything she can so her family can eat and go to school.
She hopes to build a proper house and start farming more steadily. She is ready to work for it, but she needs support to get started.