your family update
You Backed them and things began to change
Sivamany Balachandran
Donor
When we met Yothimalar, the weight of her world was impossible to ignore. Her husband used to work as a carpenter, but after a serious spinal cord injury, he can no longer work or support the family. The small family of two lived each day caught between the harsh realities of hunger and hope.
Their home offered little safety — no proper door, no water supply — just fragile shelter against the unforgiving elements. Yothimalar herself faced a battle within: diagnosed with cancer, her medical needs were urgent but impossible to afford. Adding to her struggle, hearing loss had dimmed her connection to the world around her, making each day harder to bear.
Without income to cover even the most basic needs — food, medicine, or transportation to seek care — the future felt heavy with uncertainty. Yet, amid the hardship, Yothimalar held onto a quiet hope. She believed that with support to start goat farming, they could find a way to stand again — to create steady income, improve their home, and build a life where survival wasn’t the only option.
Helping Yothimalar isn’t just about animals or money. It’s about restoring dignity, rekindling hope, and giving a family the chance to rewrite their story.
We’ve captured their voice so you can hear their story.
Can you tell us about yourself?
My name is Yothimalar. I live with my husband. I have been receiving treatment since 2012 because I do not have children. However, I am not getting any benefit. Even though I have been receiving treatment with great difficulty, I am very depressed because there is no benefit. I do not go anywhere because of depression. I have been to the hospital and home only. Five years ago, my husband had an accident while working and hit his head. He has a fracture in his forehead. He cannot work hard either. Both of us were very depressed.
(Palmera established a village bank in our community to develop financial literacy—a place where we could save and access loans to reduce our debt from predatory lenders).
At that time, we saved a small amount of money when we joined the village savings group established by Palmera. We were taught guidance methods suitable for our progress there. So, for the sake of this group, I got an opportunity to save 100 and 150 LKR (approx. $0.75 AUD). Because I cannot travel by bus often. We have to travel 12 kilometers from our place to go to the bank. So, it was easy for me to save in this group. Similarly, we can get loans according to our urgent needs. We can repay them as per our convenience. The interest is also very low. So, we get a lot of benefit from this group.
Similarly, when we say that we have difficulty with food, they give us rice. We can repay that money without interest as much as we can. Similarly, we were taught how to fruit and vegetables cultivation naturally. We did not do spinach and vegetables before because we did not have a well. But they showed us that we can do these things by using rainwater. They trained us on how to make natural fertilizer, like by using coconut husk, etc. They also taught us the training methods. I continued to do fruit and vegetable cultivation. I grew a certain number of vegetables and spinach. I could eat vegetables prepared with natural fertilizers without any chemicals. Similarly, I will give the extra vegetables to others and get money from them. Or I will get other things from them in exchange.
Similarly, they taught us how to prepare these fertilizers. They taught us how to prepare natural fertilizers without any cost using the materials available in our house and how to apply the medicine to the crops, use it, and share it. We did all of them properly.
Palmera helped me to set up a livelihood with goat farming. I have decided to raise goats. Because we find it very easy to raise goats. I have set up a goat shed, and now we are earning more income. I want to continue raising goats because I am doing this very well.
Sister, Sivamany Balachandran helped you. What would you like to say to him?
I pray to God that God’s blessings be abundant for those who have done this great help. I must say that you have solved my problem of not having children. I feel like I am connected to something by raising goats. I could spend my time with them, and it has given me a lot of satisfaction. So, I thank you. I pray to God that you live a long and healthy life. Thank you very much!
