‘I can’t afford my medicine'

How a domestic worker and grandmother taking care of two children manages her monthly budget.

An illustration of a woman in a vaccine filled with a syringe on her left and some pills on her left and a building with two people looking out of the window in the background. There's also a list with flue vaccine, medicine, gas, clothing, etc all around.
[Jawahir Al-Naimi and Muaz Kory/Al Jazeera]
[Jawahir Al-Naimi and Muaz Kory/Al Jazeera]
By Jacintha Fonseka and Hassaan Shazuli
Published On 11 Jan 2023

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

Name: Jacintha Fonseka

Age: 55

Occupation: Domestic worker

Lives with: Husband Nishantha Garusinghe, 51, and granddaughters Thisuni Dinethma, 11, and Dimagi Hithmini, seven

Lives in: A 26.8sq-metre (289.3sq-foot) house in Kelaniya, a mostly working-class suburb of Sri Lanka’s executive and judicial capital, Colombo.

Monthly household income: 33,000 Sri Lankan rupees ($89.34). The minimum monthly income needed by a family in the district where they live is $162, according to Sri Lanka’s Department of Census and Statistics.

Total expenses for the month: 32,700 rupees ($88.53)

Source: Al Jazeera