For almost six years, Nilani and her family lived on rent, with no permanent place to call home. They often found themselves shifting from one house to another, as the years passed their financial situation progressively worsened, they could not afford to pay rent and pay for their children’s school fees. As a result, they were evicted from their rented home. Despondent and with a heavy heart, Nilani and Canisius decided that the family has to be separated as they had no place to live; the two daughters were sent to live with Nilani’s sister and their son was sent to live with Canisius’ brother. Nilani then moved to Kalpitiya where she assisted her husband with his fish business.
After having to separate her family, Nilani became an active member of a society for the homeless ‘Jana Awaboda Kendraya’ (J.A.K) almost three years after the family was seperated, they were finally awarded a block of land by the J.A.K. Thrilled to have her family back under one roof again, Nilani built a temporary shelter on that land hoping that this would be her first step towards a better life, she expected her journey to be a long and arduous one until her family was selected as a Habitat beneficiary. “Thanks to Habitat, we were blessed with a permanent house in August 2012”, she said. As their children grew up the one-bedroom house became too small to accommodate them and none of them had their privacy, but they did not mind it as they got to live as a family under one roof.
Nilani shares how grateful she is that Habitat was able to help their family for the second time, by extending their house. “We are so happy; we are living with so much freedom now”. Nilani has the biggest smile as she talks about her children and how delighted they are to finally have a proper house after years of enduring pain.
“My children are thrilled that they were able to use their savings and contribute to the house in the smallest way”
