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Ponnomma stands proudly inside her new home with two of her daughters, Letcha and Nishanthini. The house, built by Oxfam partner Affected Women's Foundation in Navatkadu village, Ampara District, will be completed in January 2008. It is one of more than 600 low-cost houses being built by Oxfam partners for people living in extreme poverty indirectly affected by the tsunami. Photo: Howard Davies/Oxfam
“Our house will be completed in January. This is when the auspicious ceremony of Pongal takes place. We will have a happy celebration,” smiles the diminutive mother of eight, Ponnomma, as two of her daughters, Letcha and Nishanthini, look on.
Her new house, which is being built by Oxfam partner organisation the Affected Women’s Foundation (AWF) in the village of Navatkadu, in Ampara district, was started in July 2007 and is now built to lintel level.
Hers is one of more than 600 low-cost houses being built by Oxfam in Sri Lanka for people living in extreme poverty, in addition to more than 270 houses being built for those who lost their homes in the tsunami.
Oxfam believes that conflict mitigation and equity dictate that families living in extreme poverty but were only indirectly affected by the tsunami should stand to gain from the tsunami intervention. Many of the recipients of these low-cost houses are already benefiting from Oxfam livelihood loans but would have continued to live in sub-standard housing because the tsunami had not destroyed their original dwelling.
Ponnomma, a 54-year-old widow, who has spent her life living in cramped and flimsy shacks, was precisely the kind of person meant to benefit from this approach. “My neighbours agree that we need a house,” she says. Ponnomma and her younger children are currently living with one of her married daughters and her family until her house is completed.
“We never imagined we’d be able to move into such a house in our lifetime,” Letcha says, leaning out of the hole where a window will soon be.
AWF is building five such houses in this village, and it consulted the proposed beneficiaries before construction began. “I wanted a small kitchen, and I liked the direction the entrance was facing – it is auspicious to have it facing east,” Ponnomma explains.
Oxfam and AWF put in place a rigorous process to ensure that the right people were being identified for assistance.
“Firstly, we put posters up announcing that we’re going to be starting the housing project in this village and inviting people to apply. Then we gave applicants a questionnaire to assess who were the poorest,” says AWF field officer Usha Ananaprakasam.
As well as building these much needed homes in Navatkadu, AWF has a livelihoods program for women and has conducted a series of events aimed at raising awareness of gender issues, including domestic violence and women’s rights.
“We noticed that women were very vulnerable because they were dependent on men and they were often the victims of domestic violence,” Ananaprakasam explains. “We are hoping that by removing women’s dependence on men for their income, we can change men’s attitude towards women and so reduce the incidence of domestic violence. We encourage men to participate in our gender activities in the hope of changing their attitudes.”
For now, Ponnomma is counting down the days until she gets the keys to the house. And she is determined that it will benefit the family for years to come: she intends to sign over the ownership deeds of the house to her youngest daughter, Nishanthini.Story by Roy Probert