Thanikasalam Sivasekaram, 40, lives in his native place Nedunkerny, with his wife and two children. He lost his left leg in 1999 during the war. Later, Sivasekaram was at the Government rehabilitation centre and was reunited with his family only in 2010. During his absence, his wife was affected psychologically and became sick. There was also a pressing need to earn an income to sustain his family, which was struggling after the war.
Without much options left, he started rearing goats and cows. With little help from his wife he worked hard, all day and night to earn a sufficient income.
Though he gained experience in rearing cows and increased milk production, he did not have the proper storage and temperature control system, which posed a huge problem. He incurred losses when he was not able to sell the milk on time. Also, to sell milk, the long travel time compounded with his physical disability left him with no time to take care of his wife or kids. This led to Sivasekaram become disturbed and demotivated.
At this point of time, he decided to approach LBR.
“I went to LBR Wellness Center to fix my limb to my leg. They were kind enough do what I wanted and more”.
Now, Sivasekaram is able perform all the tasks himself without much support from others. But LBR did not stop there! Seeing his determination and commitment towards dairy farming, LBR partnered with OMI to provide him with refrigerators to store the milk. The partners also helped him enhance his dairy farm by providing grass cutting machines.
Sivasekaram now earns around Rs. 50,000/- per month through dairy farming and is highly excited about his business. Now he spends more time with his family and is also repaying the loan received to start the dairy farm. He is also saving some money so that he can purchase more cross-bred cows.
“I never thought I will earn such income through dairy. I started it so that I can feed my family three times a day. But now, I can comfortably take care of my wife’s medical needs and also make sure my kids are well educated. LBR and OMI changed my life and made an entrepreneur out of me”. LBR continues to recognise, indulge, empower and inspire a change in lives….sustainable change!