“Even now the children stop me and call ‘Teacher! Teacher!’ and they say either ‘My mother is dead’ or ‘My father is dead,’ or ‘We are alive and living with relatives.’ I am so saddened to hear that.”
The waves also left her women’s credit union in ruins and one third of its members dead. The women of Kalmunai on Sri Lanka’s battered eastern shores had lost dear friends and the financial institution they owned and trusted.
But Sithy and her fellow members did not give in to despair. They worked with SANASA – Sri Lanka’s credit union movement – using Canadian funds and technical aid to rebuild her credit union, restore member accounts and deliver loans and training to help women start small businesses.
“The lives of women should be improved,” says Jameela. “Their skills should be developed. They should be able to earn a living by themselves. If men can do it, why not women? That is why we set up the credit union.”
Today the membership of the new Al Hutha Women’s credit union is growing. Members are repaying their loans and saving for the future.
Sithy says the pace of recovery is slower for families living in a conflict zone.
“Lives lost cannot be brought back,” she says. “Things lost cannot be retrieved. There is no improvement in the economy and we face a lot of hardships.”
But with patience and hard work, credit unions in this uncertain region are building a modest number of homes, wells, and toilets to help make life better. They decide who among them will receive these services.
Jameela and her husband are more than impatient to move out of their temporary home – a shack with corrugated tin walls and dirt floors.
“Look at the poor materials they are using,” says her husband, pointing to a hole in the front door of a unit in the five storey housing project he and Jameela may one day call home. He is angry that after such a long wait his family may live in sub-standard housing.
Jameela counts her blessings. She has a new baby girl. And she is teaching again.
“The children are too small to remember everything. But I remember. That’s why I volunteer to teach them.”
And the credit union she helped bring back to life is a beacon of hope for women and young girls in her community.
The Canadian Co-operative Association partners with SANASA, the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and the Canadian Red Cross to do this important work.
This work continues.
You can help with a donation to the Co-operative Development Foundation.
1-866-266-7677
www.cdfcanada.coop