your family update
You Backed them and things began to change
Shiamala Suntharalingam
Donor
When we met Suseela, her life was marked by hardship and quiet strength. Her husband, a heart patient, was unable to work, leaving her as the only source of income. Each day, she worked tirelessly for a small wage to feed her family and care for her blind mother. Despite her efforts, she could not afford her mother’s medical treatment or the cost of transportation to the hospital. Suseela also suffered from a persistent skin disease, making her daily struggles even more painful and exhausting.
The family lived without proper toilet or water facilities, relying on the kindness of a neighbor to access water for drinking and washing. Yet, even in these difficult conditions, Suseela remained strong. Her determination to provide for her family, despite her own illness and challenges, revealed her resilience and deep love for her loved ones. She continued to hope for a future where her family could live with comfort, health, and dignity.
We’ve captured their voice so you can hear their story.
We are living in Manikkapuram village. My Name is Arumugam Suseela, My husband, my mother, and I are living together. My mother is blind, and from the beginning we faced many difficulties. We struggled even to have enough food. During the COVID-19 period, we also lost our elder son, who was only 21 years old.
Recently, the Palmera came and built a water tank for us, as we did not have any water facility. Until then, we had to take water from the houses nearby. With this support, we are now able to grow a fruit and vegetable cultivation, we also cultivate chilies, which we are able to manage ourselves when we cannot go to the shops.
For a long time, we could not cultivate peanuts, but thanks to Palmera. With their support, we are now able to do so. We have also decided to have goats raising, and asked for help from Palmera . They granted help.
The one who has been helping you is Shiamala Suntharalingam. What would you like to tell her?
We are deeply grateful to her, and we wish her a long and healthy life.
Please note for many beneficiaries sharing in written form is not easy. We sit with these men and women to support them to share their story and have added context so you can weave together what you have made possible.
My name is Suseela. I live in Theravil, Sri Lanka. In my family, I, my husband, and my visually impaired mother, the three of us, are living together. The money provided by the government was our family’s only income.
(At the time we met Suseela, her family was struggling with deep poverty. With yours and Palmera’s support, she found the strength to save her own money and build a livelihood, helping her family recover and rebuild their lives.)
In this situation, an assistance program was provided to my family for our livelihood by a person named Shiamala. I and my family express our gratitude to the family of Shiamala who provided this assistance.
While my family was living in this way, Palmera introduced a savings group in our village. The staff in our village came to our house and told us to join it. They told us about the benefits of the group: saving a specific amount of money each month, everyone getting together and saving their money.
There will be 4 meetings in a month. They told us about things like going to those meetings and sharing our joys and sorrows with our neighbours. I also joined the village savings group that was called Malar, and by saving the money I have and talking with them, my mind felt at peace. They said that we should not save the money left over after family expenses. We should set aside money for savings first and then spend.
(Palmera established the village bank in her village to develop financial literacy, a place to save and revolve their savings as loans to reduce their debt from predatory lenders. Through the village bank, people come together each week to talk, to share what is going on and support each other. This is a foundation for change. Because change happens in community and that is exactly what these structures support.)
While we were saving, they conducted a training class in our group on how to do home gardening. In this, they taught us how to produce non-toxic vegetables ourselves. Accordingly, I also started a home garden on my land. In it, I have planted and am growing vegetables like long beans, eggplant, bitter gourd, spinach, okra, and plantain. When I look at it, it looks very green. Seeing it made my heart happy.
After starting this garden, I am able to fulfill my family’s food needs myself, and my family is able to get nutritious food.
I was in a situation where I couldn’t go to the bank. Currently, I have saved LKR 38,000.00 in our village savings group. I sell my vegetables to my group members and save that money as well.
As my family’s journey was progressing like this, Palmera introduced groundnut cultivation methods in this area and included my family in that project. Through the new technology of this project, they taught us how to cultivate groundnuts and get more profit. Having cultivated groundnuts only twice, they taught me how to cultivate in all three seasons.
(Palmera focuses on peanuts because it is a profitable sector that many in the region were not able to profitably engage in. What was needed was to address many last mile agricultural barriers including new practices, technologies, access to quality seeds and collective purchasing of inputs and selling, all activities that we supported Suseela with.)
My family’s goal is to continuously do home gardening and include poison-free vegetables in our food, and to increase groundnut cultivation in all three seasons to become a producer and a groundnut seed producer.
It gives us great sadness that the organization that works with us on such activities is leaving our village. However, we will do well as they said. We have faith that we will guide ourselves through their advice. I thank the staff and Palmera who guided us like their own children until the very end.
Now, I am cultivating groundnuts on my land in all 3 seasons. Since the price of groundnuts is high in other seasons, I get a large income. Through that money, I am able to fulfill all my family’s needs.
(The assets Suseela has built through the programme -her animals, her cultivation, her skills- belong entirely to her. When Palmera’s support ends, these income sources do not disappear. What she has built continues. This is what sustainable economic independence looks like.)
Since my husband and my mother are a little unwell, a water tank was built by Palmera to fulfill their daily needs. With this tank, it is easy to fill it with water and bathe.
I pray to God that the family of Shiamala who helped with projects like the home garden, groundnut cultivation, and the water tank which are the reason for my family’s development, may live a long and happy life. I am happy to say that you are the one who made my family develop through your help.
Thank you.
Suseela
This is our final letter from Suseela. The programme is complete. And what she has built will not end when our work does. She came to us with no savings, no reliable income, and no clear path forward. She leaves with all three. And with the skills, confidence, and community to keep building what she has started long after this programme ends. Thank you for making all this possible. We couldn’t have done it without your generosity.
