My name is Ranjani Gunawardana and a mother of two. In 2014 Caritas Anuradhapura-Sethsaviya came to our village and formed a SHG. I came to know that Sethsaviya was educating the locals to cultivate their home gardens without using poisonous agro-chemicals. However by then I was not a member and simply staying at home, as a housewife.
Later I got the membership of SHG and I was convinced that it was possible to cultivate a home garden while staying at home easily.
Meanwhile Sethsaviya conducted training on organic farming techniques which we did not know before.
I started doing multi-cropping farming and I have a variety of vegetables and green leaves in my garden now.
Caritas Sethsaviya also told us the importance of consuming a nutritionally balanced diet including organic vegetable and fruits, as there are many Kidney patients in our area.Then we realized what we could do to avert this situation.
Now we enjoy a good meal with vegetables from my home garden. I get a weekly income of Rs. 1500.00 by selling leaves and we have raised a CBO fund of more than Rs. 600,000.00 which we utilize to take loans for our agricultural activities. It is a great strength for us.
In addition Sethsaviya made us familiarized with the cultivation of indigenous brands of paddy and today we have a collection of traditional rice varieties cultivated. I also rear milk cows. We educate my children, help others and lead a happy life from the income I derive from these sources.
I wish and pray that with the blessings of God they would be able to help others too.
