Family 3 (2016/17)

The third family that we supported was from the Weligama DSD in Matara and comprised of 4 children aged 13, 11, 8 and 4 (3 boys and 1 girl). At the time, 3 children were attending school and were known to be committed students while the youngest was in pre-school. Their mother (36) was shouldering the entire responsibility of bringing up the children as the father (38) is psychologically impaired due to a head injury that had taken place while working as a labourer in construction work. As a result, he gets attacks where he is unable to control his temper and hits his wife and children with various objects, due to which the mother has a facial disfiguration as well. The mother was struggling to make ends meet while managing this situation and caring for the entire family with no proper source of income. They were living in a small shack with minimum resources and no electricity or water-sanitation facilities.

The mother had started building a small house on a land provided by the Divisional Secretariat and a small government grant of Rs. 50,000. With the financial support of 12 donors, the house was completed and handed over to the family in October 2017. The children were absolutely delighted to finally have their own bed to sleep (and play) on! The mother was provided livelihood support to produce incense sticks as a cottage industry while the children were provided with educational support to attend extra classes.

Thereafter, the children were living safely in the new house while the mother was able to look after them with the reasonable income she is earning. The father also started working again, as a mobile fish vendor. As of 2022, the eldest boy is married, and is working as a fisherman. The other 3 children are still schooling. One of the challenges the family continues to be faced with stems from the surrounding community which is habituated to frequent conflicts and a gang culture that often sucks in adolescent boys.