An enthusiastic LH beneficiary through RNE Livelihood – Entrepreneurship assistance – Carpentry
Katpalahan’s family in their workshop
Katpalahan is a professional carpenter, 32 years old, married, and has a child. According to his request, he was assisted with carpentry tools.
He recalled how CFCD’s assistance began to make positive changes in their life, there was a lack of harmony and discord in his family and
Certificate of items
with his relatives-in-law due to the non-availability of essential food and money, and related stress and mental agony. Those days he did not get much work due to his limited capacity, no work means no money, and the loans and related interest threat as adding salt to the wound, and he says that those were the nightmares that he wanted to forget in his life.
Now, he has the tools and other capacities to do any carpentry work, whether it is big or small, Therefore, he constantly gets work, whether it may be in his own workshop or with another person as their assistant. His tool capacity now invites even the small-scale carpenters to accompany Katpalahan as their partner for an assignment is another notable point, that gives him a flow of daily income. His uncle is also a carpenter, who gave him the multiple-use woodworking machine and gives his excess orders to Katpalahan.
It has been nearly 30 years since Katpalahan’s family-in-law moved to this land. The land was uninhabited because it was a rocky terrine soil, somehow, they managed to build a house, but they did not have their own source of water. It took nearly three decades for them to improve their land. Katplahan Married in 2016 and lived with relatives-in-law. With the Government’s housing assistance, he started to build a house on the land provided as a dowry to his wife. The Government offered LKR 10,000,000.00, but to date, it is insufficient to complete within that amount, and it is a unique standard-size house too. But, Katpalahan deviated from the unique standard house, he increased the size of the house, and he increased the height of the foundation as their land get flooded in the rainy season. Therefore, he invested further LKR 15,000,000.00, sold his wife’s jewels, which were given to her as dowry, obtained loans from the bank and from his relatives, also pawned his wife’s ‘Thali Kody’ and a few other jewels for LKR 300,000.00. He is paying Rs. 25,000.00 as loan repayment and interest (both bank and private) from his earning. Now he confidently says that there is a further Rs. 600,000.00 remaining as, yet to be settled on his loans.
He is staying in a small hut with his family (his wife and child go to his sister-in-law’s house at night for the child’s safety).
In the recent past the place heavily flooded, he said that there was 04 feet flood in his makeshift workshop at home, but he managed to move his tools, multiple-use woodworking machine, etc safely. But he could not protect nearly 10 bags of cement. They have convinced their neighbour and made him build across a wall and say that he has partially protected himself from the flood.
Katpalahan assisting another carpenter at an external working environment.
Katpalahan was born in the same period as their parents displaced from the Kurumpasiddy, which is the village very close to the Palali airport. After they moved several places, sheltered in the welfare center for 17 years before they resettled in Kopay in the year 2020/ 2021. He stopped his studies before the GCE O/L and started to work as a masonry labour. Then about 19 years he started working as a helper to a carpenter for nearly 03 years.
His workshop shed is not sufficient and not secured too, said he cannot afford to pay additional as there are other commitments. But he said with a smile that for the last few months, he is calmly catching his breath, with no mental agony, stress, or whatsoever. The business he has now is sufficient to pay against his debt & pays 25,000.00 per month and the rest to settle domestic needs. Since he delivers the order on time, he gets more orders and said that if his business goes on uninterruptedly like this, he will be able to settle all his dues in time. Unlike in 2020/ 2021, he says that they are living a normal life, like everyone else.
The status of his new house and debt can be considered as an indicator to scale the progress of his business.