Community Development

Priyanka started with a single sewing machine gifted by a local NGO after the war. She began tailoring school uniforms for neighbours in her village. Her work was reliable and her prices fair, so word spread. After two years, she saved enough to buy a second machine and hired a young woman from her village as an assistant. Today she employs two assistants and takes orders via WhatsApp. She also teaches basic sewing to teenage girls on Saturdays for a small fee. Her advice: "Start with what people need today, not with a big dream. The dream comes later, once you have proven you can deliver."

After the war, Rajan and 12 other fishermen in Mullaitivu had lost their boats and equipment. Individually, none could afford to restart. Together, they formed a cooperative, pooled their savings, and secured a small grant from a diaspora organisation to buy a fibreglass boat and nets. They now fish collectively, share catches proportionally, and have built an informal savings fund. The cooperative also negotiates directly with buyers in Colombo, cutting out middlemen and getting better prices. They recently bought a second boat. Rajan's advice: "Alone we struggled. Together we survive. The sea is the same — it is our approach that changed."

Kavitha is a widow with three school-age children. She was known in her neighbourhood for her excellent cooking. A friend suggested she start selling meals. She began with 5 lunch packets per day, delivered by her eldest son on a bicycle. She marketed through a WhatsApp group her friend created. Within three months, she was making 20 packets per day. She now earns enough to cover school fees and save a little each month. She uses Google Sheets on her phone to track orders and costs. Her advice: "I was afraid to charge for something I did for love. But feeding my children requires money, and there is dignity in earning it through my skill."

Muthu and five other women in Vadamarachchi formed a small group to process palmyra products — toddy, jaggery, fruit fibre, and woven leaf products. They share a processing space and sell through a local shop and via WhatsApp. A diaspora contact helped them set up a simple Facebook page showcasing their products to Tamil communities abroad. They recently received their first international order — a diaspora customer in Canada wanting authentic palmyra jaggery shipped to Toronto. Muthu says: "The palmyra tree gave our grandmothers a living. It can give us one too, if we find new ways to reach people who miss the taste of home."

Lakshmi was a school teacher in Batticaloa who was displaced during the war and lost her position. Rather than give up teaching, she turned to her phone. She started a WhatsApp-based tutoring service for O/L mathematics students across the Eastern Province. She began with just 3 students, sending voice notes explaining problems and photos of worked solutions. Word spread through parent networks. She now has 25 regular students, each paying LKR 2,000 per month — giving her a steady income of LKR 50,000 monthly. She uses Google Meet for group sessions twice a week and WhatsApp for daily homework help and doubt-clearing. She creates short handwritten solution videos on her phone and shares them in her student WhatsApp groups. Her startup cost was effectively zero — just her existing phone and internet connection. Her advice: "I lost my classroom but not my knowledge. My phone became my new classroom. If you know something well, there are people who need to learn it. Distance is no longer an excuse."