your family update
You Backed them and things began to change
“Holding my mother’s hand to the neighbor’s toilet is hard, everything is difficult for her.”
Vigneshwari lives in a small shed in Batticaloa, in the Eastern Province of Sri Lanka with her 80-year-old mother. Her husband passed away ten years ago, and since then she has been managing the household with very little, while looking after her mother.
She has a daughter who lives nearby, but her family isn’t able to help Vigneshwari often. Vigneshwari and her mother mostly rely on a small allowance to cover food, electricity and water. She buys rice, porridge, and other essentials and stretches the money carefully through the month. Even with all that planning, it’s barely enough for the two of them, and the bills take most of what little is left.
When her husband was alive, he worked as a daily wage laborer, moving from place to place to make ends meet. Now Vigneshwari spends her days making sure her mother can get around safely and that they have enough to live. Sometimes they need to borrow a little or rely on neighbors for help.
Her mother’s age makes life difficult. Sometimes she needs medical care. She also needs help to move from one place to another. The old lady even needs help to go to the neighbour’s toilet, sometimes very late at night. They don’t have one of their own.
Vigneshwari works hard to keep the household running and makes sure they can live with dignity. She hopes for a future where her mother is comfortable, the bills are easier to pay, and her daughter can live a life where she doesn’t have to worry about their meals.