Raman Kathiresan
Mankadu
Small Business support: Laundry

Raman is a 55 years old Hindu man who is part of the untouchable class in Sri Lanka. This resilient widower has survived the tsunami, buried his wife and several relatives, endured living in a refugee camp, overcame blood cancer and currently lives in a temporary shelter built by another NGO. Raman has been washing laundry for almost 40 years and says it is the only job that he is capable of doing and still enjoys the work.. So when he lost all of his tools in the tsunami he and his family had no way to support themselves. SP-SL provided the basic wash supplies, iron and bicycle to retrieve and deliver the laundry. As a result the entire family has entered in the enterprise and are generating a large enough income to support themselves.

This week I went to visit the family (see photo below) to learn more about his story and to honour the work that he has been doing. As per usual in these visits half the neighbourhood showed up to see the honoured guest. You see, most people will not even enter the property of someone who is part of the untouchable class. The fact that a white person came, ate and drank with them was an unparalleled honour that spoke volumes about human value and dignity. It only cost me a few hours of time to have a profound impact.

While we were there the family taught me all about their life, culture their religion (worship of a snake god) and a whole lot more. I hope that through these visits these families have an increased sense of their value and understand why SP is doing this kind of work in Sri Lanka, The possibilities and future for this young man and his family have been greatly improved because of the SP-SL Livelihood Project

Make it a great day