your family update
You Backed them and things began to change
Ranil Pilimatalawa
Donor
When we met Rasalaxsumy, the weight of her responsibilities was clear in every gesture. She is a mother of five, four of whom are in school, and each day she carries the heavy burden of keeping her family afloat. Her husband suffered a severe accident that left him with significant mental impairments, making it impossible for him to work. The care of her children, her husband, and their household rests entirely on her shoulders.
Rasalaxsumy works as a laborer whenever she can, earning just enough to cover the basics, yet still struggling to meet the family’s daily needs. Despite these hardships, her eyes held hope — she dreams of starting a small home business that could bring stability, provide for her children’s education, and ease some of the weight she carries each day. Her determination and resilience make it clear that with support, she could transform her family’s future.
(Before the program), I have five children. My husband suffered a nervous breakdown, and I had to take care of everything alone. Four of my children are in school. I used to go for any daily wage job I could find just to give my children even one meal a day. I couldn’t buy them anything they wanted. Life was full of pain and hopelessness. At one point, I even thought of giving poison to all my children and ending our lives together.
At that time, when I was in a state of complete depression, the Palmera team came to my house. They met me, listened to me, comforted me, and helped me join the village savings group. When I started attending the meetings, the Palmera team taught us a lot, trained us, and helped us develop our skills. Little by little, my life began to change. I started saving little by little.
Palmera Savings Group is a place for women to come together to learn financial literacy, save, and use their collective savings to revolve loans for urgent needs and to improve their businesses. A key part of these groups is for women to share their personal challenges and their shared collective challenges as women, and in these safe spaces, women have seen so much value.
After Palmera came to our village, I began growing fruits and vegetables and raising chickens on my own. Later, Palmera saw my effort and supported me to start a dairy livelihood. Now I give milk to my children and sell the remaining milk to my neighbors.
Earlier, I depended completely on my husband and waited for wage jobs to survive. Now, the income I earn through my own work has given me peace, stability, and self-confidence.
Food security is the most critical, and we spend time focusing on that in the first year along with identifying the right income source for the family. While the dairy business has begun, there is lot more work we must focus on in order for her to profitably engage, and this will be the focus in the year to come (along with her continued strengthening).
I sincerely thank Ranil Pilimatalawa, brother, for this great help. It is because of your support that our family is alive and standing strong today. This good deed will surely bring blessings to you and your family for many years. I pray that God blesses you with a long, healthy, and prosperous life.
On behalf of my five children, my husband, and all the villagers, I express my heartfelt gratitude to you and to Palmera for changing our lives.
Thank you,
Rasalaxsumy
