Tsunami hits ECLOF clients
Last December in Sri Lanka, Shanthi Siriyalatha
proudly paid off the first instalment of an ECLOF loan
that she was using to help her family earn their living.
She obtained a second loan and bought further supplies
for her timber business. Then the Indian Ocean tsunami
hit and the woman's hopes and materials were all swept
away in a tidal wave of destruction.
In Sri Lanka, the tsunami directly affected at least eight
ECLOF clients and ECLOF Sri Lanka has had to make special
arrangements to help the people cope with their situation
by giving them more time to repay old loans, and new loans
to restart their businesses.
Shanthi Siriyalatha lives in Moratuwa, a town on the west
coast of Sri Lanka, and is a member of a women's group
called the Molpe Society of Moratuwa.
Siriyalatha is in her early thirties and married to Premasiri.
They have two sons; one is 13-years-old and the other is
seven. Both children attend school. Siriyalatha and Premasiri
have lived all their lives in Moratuwa; it is a town famous
for its timber-related products. In almost every household
someone is involved in manufacturing furniture. The items
are sold on to merchants who put a few final touches and
then sell the products at high prices. Premasiri's parents
and other family members were all in the timber trade and
Premasiri learnt his skills from them as he grew up.
After Premasiri and Siriyalatha married, they began their
own business by purchasing small quantities of timber that
they cut up into various sizes suitable for house construction.
Finance
There was a high demand from house builders for prepared
timber but Siriyalatha and Premasiri had no spare cash
to buy more raw materials so they were forced to borrow
from moneylenders at rate of 6% per month. As Siriyalatha
and Premasiri's business grew, they decided they needed
an electric sawing machine to increase production. However,
an electric sawing machine is no good without electricity
so the enterprising couple had to contact local government
officials, who agreed to provide a suitable electricity
supply for a payment of LKR25,000 (US$251).
Set back
Siriyalatha and Premasiri did not have the money to pay
either for the machine or the electricity supply so Premasiri
went abroad to work. However, his wages were not paid and
after three months he returned home with nothing. The couple
decided to pawn all their jewellery and borrow LKR200,000
(US$2008) in order to buy the machine and get the electricity
supply. This was all successfully done and production increased
but Siriyalatha and Premasiri still faced a shortage of
raw timber.
Moving on
At this point, Siriyalatha approached the Molpe Society
of Moratuwa for help. She joined the group, which then
applied to ECLOF for a loan on behalf of Siriyalatha and
about 75 other members. Siriyalatha received a loan of
LKR5,000 (US$50) in October 2003 and repaid it on time.
In fact, she was one of the first to arrive with her repayment
on each time it was due.
Siriyalatha used her first ECLOF loan to buy a chainsaw
that her husband used to cut up logs in readiness for machine
sawing. The chainsaw helped improve the business's turnover.
While Premasiri attended to the day-to-day operation of
sawing timber, Siriyalatha handled the buying of raw materials,
measuring the timber, payments and all other cash dealings.
After paying off their first ECLOF loan, the couple still
faced the problem of not having enough timber. Therefore,
last November Siriyalatha applied for a second ECLOF loan
of LKR25,000 (US$253). The loan was granted and Siriyalatha
bought more wood.
Disaster
It was just after making her first repayment on the second
loan that the tsunami struck. Siriyalatha and Premasiri's
small home and workshop were right in the path of the waves,
which destroyed everything. The sea swept away the logs
that Siriyalatha had recently bought for LKR40,000, and
the sawing machine and other equipment were damaged beyond
repair as they were dashed against rocks and water got
in and ruined everything.
Escape
When the first tsunami wave hit, Siriyalatha, Premasiri
and their two boys ran inland and escaped but they were
also left without anything. Since then, the family has
been living in a camp and the children attend school from
this camp. Premasiri is now doing labouring work to supplement
the small amount of money the family receives from the
government.
When Kinkini Manjula, the ECLOF Sri Lanka loans officer,
met Siriyalatha to discuss her future plans, the young
mother gazed at her for a while. Then, with tears rolling
down her check but with a determined voice, Siriyalatha
told Kinkini that she and her husband were going to work
hard to get their business back on its feet, and to settle
down to a normal life. They were, she said, tired of living
in a camp for displaced people. However, Siriyalatha and
Premasiri may not be able to rebuild their home and workshop
in their original place as this is within 100 metres of
the sea and the local government has suggested that it
may ban people from living so close to the ocean in case
another tsunami occurs.
As she spoke to Kinkini Manjula from ECLOF, Siriyalatha
was very apologetic about her inability to repay her loan
at the moment. However, she was firm in saying that she
would never let down either ECLOF or the women's society
through whom the loan was obtained and whose president,
Ms Violet de Mel, had always encouraged her and introduced
ECLOF to her in the first place.
The eight members of the Molpe Society of Moratuwa who
now cannot repay their loans because of the tsunami have
asked the society for extra time; the society in turn has
appealed to ECLOF to give them the time necessary to deal
with this difficult situation. The clients' faith in ECLOF
remains: “We are sure ECLOF will understand our fate and
bear with us and give us some sort of relief in our repayment
schedule until things are sorted out and we are able to
earn a livelihood.”
Shanthi Siriyalatha (left), accompanied by her son, gives
ECLOF loan officer Kinkini
Manjula details of the destruction caused to her home and livelihood by last
December’s tsunami.
The wreckage of one family's home and business premises
after the tsunami had done its worst.
