'We'll be left without a home'

A family’s desperate money decisions in Sri Lanka.

Drawing of a family in Sri Lanka
[Jawahir Al-Naimi and Muaz Kory/Al Jazeera]
[Jawahir Al-Naimi and Muaz Kory/Al Jazeera]

What’s your money worth? A new series from the front line of the cost-of-living crisis, where people who have been hit hard share their monthly expenses.

Names: Mohamed Rizwie (husband) & Fathima Maryam (wife)

Ages: 41 & 39

Occupations: Taxi driver & former domestic worker (now unemployed)

Live with: Their four children: sons Abdul Razzak (8) and Abdur Rahman (3), and daughters Eeman (6) and Sarah (1)

Live in: A 50.5sq m (544sq ft) house down a narrow street in Narahenpita, a suburb of Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka.

Monthly household income: 25,850 Sri Lankan rupees ($70) [Minimum monthly income needed by a family in Colombo - $201, according to Sri Lanka’s department of census and statistics]

Total expenses for the month: 31,629 Sri Lankan rupees ($86)

Source: Al Jazeera