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| Sustaining a livelihood in old age ... |
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HelpAge identifies the importance of sustaining a livelihood in old age and continuing to engage in income generating activity for as long as possible. It aims to empower older people and encourage them to continue or restart their livelihoods to live in dignity and with little dependence on family and government.
TOU provides assistance to senior citizens in starting varies small scale livelihood activities such as small groceries, paddy hulling and selling, paddy cultivation, home gardening, cane work, cow rearing, food making, dress making, handicrafts and other small businesses. |
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Arumuham Pakyam – 60 years
Iyenkeny Village SCC
Batticaloa
Eastern Sri Lanka
23rd Nov, 2006 |
Arumuham lives in a small fishing village in Batticaloa. Her husband died 12 years ago. She has three daughters and two sons, all married and having their own families and living in the same village. Arumuham lives by herself in a small hut where she makes clay pots for a living. Her family has done this business for over 50 years and her children too have continued to do the same business on their own. |
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She recalls her experience during the tsunami when her village was filled with water. She was displaced for nine days in total, five days in the Chenkalady church and four days in Chenkalady School. When she returned home, the water had washed away all her pots plus two tractors of clay which she purchased to make new pots. |
Although Arumuham does not have any major health problems, she is suffering from rheumatoid pains and has poor vision in the night. She has received medicine from HelpAge medical camps for her leg pains but the pain persists as she cannot afford to continue her medicine.
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Arumuham joined the newly established SCC in her village and learnt about the livelihood assistance given to restart their businesses. She received a sum of Rs. 3,000 (Approx USD 30), where Rs. 1,500 was a payback-loan. She has now completed re-paying her loan. Arumuham says she earns about Rs.1,000 for a month, if she sells around 300 clay pots. Her continuous leg pain does not allow Arumuham to take her produce to the market. So she relies on customers that come directly to her house for purchase |
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Arumuham faces several obstacles in expanding her business; she finds it difficult to protect her clay during the rainy season as she does not have suitable storage facilities. The price of clay is high since she has to purchase it from sellers who bring clay from an un-cleared area (war area) in Pankudawaly 7 km from her house.Arumuham is a recipient of the Government Samurdhi food stamp and she receives dry rations |
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| worth Rs. 300 a month.There are days that Arumuham is compelled to ask her children for some food. But things have improved lately for Arumuham since receiving financial assistance through her SCC and expanding her business. She has witnessed a steady flow of buyers for her pots but the oncoming rain might prove to be a challenging constraint to her slowly but steadily rising business. |
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