Looking to the Future with Confidence

Veerasingam Vasanthakumari is 36 years old with six children (7 to 18 years old). The family lives in the Puthukudiyiruppu Central Grama Sevaka Division in Batticaloa District. Her husband abandoned Vasanthakumari and the children in 2002. For the past 7 years, Vasanthakumari has been the family?s principal breadwinner. There has been tremendous responsibility on her shoulders to ensure the family?s survival. Until the 26 December 2004 tsunami, her family lived in a small house near the coast. Vasathakumari?s children were in and out of school, and were not receiving an adequate education due to their dire poverty.