your family update
You Backed them and things began to change
“Some days we simply have no food. For me or my children to eat.”
By the time Thilagavathu returns from work in Kattankudy, she has already spent the day doing housework, laying rope or cutting grass. When there is no return bus, she walks home. With the road conditions and extreme heat in the North of Sri Lanka, the long walk home is a difficult one.
Her husband left six years ago, leaving her to raise their three children alone. Her eldest son, who is 24, studies in university while working at the forest office. Her daughters, Salim, 22, and Kubeni, 17, live with her.
Thilagavathu earns very little money when she finds work. The income is so little and uncertain that somedays they don’t have enough to eat. “Honestly, there were two or three days when we had no food. I’m setting aside my shame and telling you,” she shares.
When money runs out, she takes food from the local shop on credit and repays it from her earnings. She has no relatives to turn to. And no one there to help. But she keeps working hard and saving whatever she can for the sake of her children’s future.
Drinking water is the family’s most pressing problem right now. They don’t have running water at home. They can’t afford it. But paying for water is also not an option. So Thilagavathi and her daughters walk far to fetch some or asks her neighbours in an emergency.
The money she earns is also not enough for clothing, education and other household needs. Her children’s motivation to study has been affected by the pressure they see at home.
Thilagavathu once arranged for Kubeni to stay at the a relatives home, so she could have food and continue her education from there. But Kubeni was unhappy there being away from her family and later returned home after failing her Ordinary Level examinations. Thilagavathu hopes she can resit the exam from home this time while attend a tailoring course.
She wants her children to reach a better situation in life, and hopes her son will find a better job after completing his studies.
For now, Thilagavathu continues travelling far for work, taking food on credit when she must, walking home when there is no bus, doing whatever seasonal labour is available and making sure all her children have a way forward through training, education and a steady income. This is what she wants more than anything else. To live better.
Two years of support can help Thilagavathu work towards greater income security and a better future for her children.
