Laying the foundations of a better future
In southern Sri Lanka, many women in rural areas live in poverty, and are far more likely to be unemployed than men. In the tsunami-hit village of Dambetalawa, Sumana is one of 20 women given support to improve their livelihoods.
Increased income
"With the money I have made from making bricks, I have been able to build my own house," says Sumana Ranjani proudly.
She walks the short distance from her sturdy one-storey house, where she cares for her mentally disabled husband, to the deep mud pit from which she extracts the reddish-brown mud to make her bricks. She picks up the wooden frames she uses to mould them.
Alongside the mud pit is a large square structure, approximately four metres square, in which she can dry and store her bricks. Between the pit and the house is a large water tank, from which water is diverted via a drainage channel. Both of these were given to her from Oxfam's partner, the Ruhunu Rural Women's Organisation (RRWO).
Newfound confidence
Sumana can make 200 bricks a day and the average house requires around 2,000. Unfired, this quantity of bricks would earn her around 6,000 rupees ($54). "But now I can fire them, I can earn 16,000 rupees ($144)," she explains.
"It is very hard work. I never received any assistance before. With Oxfam and RRWO's support I have been able to achieve so much more," she says. And it is not only the additional money she speaks of. Now she has greater confidence to take control of her life.
"Before, I could not speak to outsiders, only family. RRWO has helped me to overcome my shyness. Now I can negotiate with traders," Sumana says.
Learn more
Further information about Oxfam's tsunami response
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