Sri Lanka: Building Resilience, One Snack at a Time: The Story of Jayasumani Sivajothi

Oct 23, 2025 | UN Women Asia and the Pacific
UN Women Asia and the Pacific
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In Karaithivu, a coastal community in Sri Lanka’s Ampara District, the sea once brought devastation to the life of Jayasumani Sivajothi. The 2004 tsunami swept away not just homes and livelihoods but also her family’s sense of security. Financial struggles deepened when her husband returned from the Middle East without stable income, and the small three-wheeler they bought to survive only added to the weight of their debts.

But Jayasumani, now 48, refused to be defined by loss. “Resilience was my only choice,” she recalls. “I wanted to rebuild with my own hands.”

In 2011, together with her husband and daughter, she began making sweet and mixed nut products from locally available ingredients. At first, she supplied just one shop in her village. The snacks were an instant hit. Neighbours encouraged her to keep going, and soon Luxmi Products was born – built on trust, taste and the hard work of a rural woman determined to turn hardship into opportunity.