Rohitha another of my neighbors though he looks 15 is actually 20. His father has died and his mother now takes care of the land about 4 acres along with his little sister who is about 9. She takes care of the paddy land that has been cultivated, and they have mature coconut trees along their property, and I buy all their coconuts as well as most of the paddy they grow, as I don't grow enough to meet my demand. In a sense economically they are dependant on me as the mother also does paid labor on my land to plant my paddy seedlings and prepare seed beds for planting.
As agriculture cannot support themselves alone, Rohitha works in Wattala a suburb of Colombo in a Vanasapathi Oil producing place, where oil is exported to India under duty free conditions. He works in the section that makes the tin cans to which the oil is poured and packed for export. He comes home for 2 days every month.
As I dont have electricity my two boys go to his place in the evening to watch some TV and help out the mother with heavy lifting when necessary.
