July 10, 2013




Empowerment of a War Widow in Jaffna Peninsula (2013)


A visit by the Executive Director of WERC to a war widow in Jaffna peninsula named Ms. Bavani Kesavan who is 37 years old, made our organization to arrange some fund-raising activities to uplift her life. She is a mother of three children whose ages are 12, 10 and 6 respectively.

Ms. Mala Kadar from United States of America gave her a helping hand for a period of one year. However, we found that these funds were not sufficient to provide basic requirements for her children who are showing excellent progress in their schools.

With the meager savings from the above mentioned funds, she was able to set up a small shop as an income generation activity, however, the merge profit which she receives does not exceed more than Rs. 110/= daily and she is unable to cover up her day-to-day expenses.

Additionally, the house that the entire family stays in is not in a good condition and does not give adequate security for the family. We also observed that the house does not have windows and doors. There is hardly any furniture in the house.

Therefore, WERC took a step further to extend our helping hand to uplift their living conditions. This can be achieved by enhancing the standard of goods and services in her shop, providing them with secured housing and some furniture, etc.

WERC would like to undertake to provide her with certain facilities and we have identified that she is in need of the following items.

  • House with proper walls, doors and windows with locks
  • A table with four chairs to sit and study
  • Four plastic chairs and at least two beds with mattresses
  • A few shelves for the shop

We have estimated that we need a minimum of Rs. 500,000/= while considering the cost of providing such benefits.

We have already started collecting funds towards the total cost; so far we have been able to collect some funds from a few individual donors. However, the amount we have collected is inadequate and we seek more financial aid from individuals and other organizations.

Economic Empowerment of a War Widow in the Jaffna Peninsula - Gifting of a Sewing Machine (2014)

WERC identified a 37 year old widow from Kompavil in Puthukudiyiruppu who lost her husband due to shelling in the war. In the process of identifying the beneficiary, we received help from Ms. Thayalini who is a Women’s Development Officer…
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