your family update
You Backed them and things began to change
“He left me three years ago. Its put a big burden on me to manage school , food everything”
When Unitta goes out looking for work, she worries about what may be happening to her children. Her elderly mother helps watch them at times, but Unitta is the one managing the household and finding ways to keep them fed, clothed and in school.
Her husband left three years ago and returned to his first wife. Unitta did not know he was already married when she married him. This happens a lot in the villages, here it is expected to be married and that is how a woman can live, but it is hard to know …
A court case is now ongoing, but he has stopped providing any support.
She does what she can to earn an income, right now she grows bitter gourd when it is in season and takes seasonal agricultural work,. She has also begun looking for work in shops. But leaving the village is difficult. There is no vehicle, and she worries about her children while she is away. “When I go out looking for work, I don’t know what is happening to my children.”
Unitta also receives a little government welfare each month. She uses it for food, education, clothing and medical expenses for herself and her two children, a ten-year-old son and a five-year-old daughter. It is not enough to cover everything. Most days, they only have one meal for the entire day.
Her son works hard at school. He scored 120 marks, just below the 130 needed to continue into the next stage, but Unitta could not afford private tuition that might have helped him improve. She says that she can’t afford tuition classes. “If I could, he would have gotten better marks.”
The school in Kachchakudi only goes up to fifth grade, so Unitta is planning for her son to stay with relatives in Nilamanai when he needs to continue his education. Her younger daughter will stay with Unitta’s mother. There is no well at their government provided house because the land is too hilly, which adds another difficulty to daily life.
Unitta wants her son to study well and one day find a government job. She believes education can open a better future for him. For herself, she hopes to run a small shop in the village, where she could earn an income while remaining close to her children and taking them to school.
She is growing what she can, accepting seasonal work, searching for a job in a shop and arranging for her children’s care and education. She is also pursuing financial support through the court while managing the household on her own. Her hope is to earn from a place where she can stay close to the children.
Two years of support can help Unitta work towards a steadier income and greater household stability while she continues caring for her children.
