Kaaliyamal tries her best to repress heart-wrenching memories of days when she was abandoned by her daughters after her husband’s death. She lived on her own struggling to get through every single day until we found her.
Kaaliyamal was married off when she was very young and had five daughters with her husband. They struggled to bring up their daughters when neither she nor her husband had more than meager wages. Both were farm laborers who worked for farm owners. Her husband died young and left Kaaliyamal to raise their daughters alone. Unfortunately, two died from flu when it hit their village.
After she found her daughters husbands, all promised her that they would be back to get her. Kaaliyamal says she waited for three days with no food and water until one of the neighbors found her on the verge of unconsciousness. She remembers asking for her daughters and getting the answer that no one came back for her. She then knew that she was disowned and that her only property, the house she lived in, was also taken away from her, leaving her to live in the streets.
Kaaliyamal could not move around on her own as she grew weak and dependent on former neighbors. She had intense physical pain whenever she tried to move. She was left without clothes and other basics to protect her against the weather. When we found her she used to cover herself with her saree because of the lack of bed sheets or blankets to shield from the cold.
She is now taken care of by some students from Hope Learning Center in the evenings. She devours each meal even though she is skinny no matter how much she eats. She especially loves the food given to poor elders on special occasions by our Hope Learning Center children. She says she feels loved and cared for when they visit her during the evenings. She is very thankful to the sponsors for the monthly rationing, and also to the children who take care of her in her old age.
For only $40 per month, you can feed, clothe and comfort poor elderly people like Kaaliyamal. In fact, you could be the only person now empowered to save precious lives!
