your family update
You Backed them and things began to change
“When my husband had his accident, we had no money. I fried vadas and went house to house to feed my family, and we still couldn’t eat three meals.”
Santhaluxmi lives with her husband and their 3 children, a 16-year-old daughter, a 12-year-old son, and a 3-year-old son. Her husband works in Colombo guarding mason equipment and comes home once a month, sometimes less. Day to day, Santhaluxmi runs the household on her own.
In 2020, her husband had an electrical accident inside a pit. It damaged his leg and all five fingers of his right hand. He was in bed for six months and hasn’t been able to do heavy work since. Before that, he earned 1500 Rupees a day breaking stones. After the accident, that stopped.
During those 6 months, the family couldn’t eat three meals a day. Santhaluxmi started frying vadas and selling them door to door to keep food on the table.
Once her husband recovered enough to find lighter work, she started a small business selling fabric and clothing. Then she had a heart attack and had to give that up too. She’s not working right now because of her health and her son who is too small for school.
The family’s biggest pressure at the moment is school costs. Their 16-year-old daughter is studying for her O Levels and needs tuition. An organisation is helping them cover those fees. But the 12-year-old son cannot go to tuition classes because there is no money for it. He wants to become an engineer one day, and Santhaluxmi wants to find a way to get him that support.
They live in one room. All of them. The heat inside is intense, and there is no toilet they can use at night. Someone has come to assess the house, but nothing has changed yet.
The family has no one nearby to call on. The brother-in-law who helped them during the worst of it has since married and moved on. Santhaluxmi says they have no other support of any kind.
The husband sends what he can from Colombo. Santhaluxmi cooks once a day and stretches what they have. The food is just enough, most of the time.
Her eldest daughter wants to become a teacher. Her son wants to become an engineer. Santhalakshmi says they do not have big dreams. She just wants to see the children get some education, live without debt, and get by with hard work in whatever small place they have.
