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Jegatha’s 3-year-old daughter was scared of the chickens at first.

Roshni would bury her face in the folds of her mother’s skirt as the chickens fluttered out of their coop. They’d fall over each other, pushing closer to the seed Jegatha had scattered.

Although the noise and activity can be frightening to a young girl, the 30 chickens mean more to Roshni than she realizes. They represent hope for the future. Without them, she would have ended up in a government-run children’s home.

Jegatha’s husband disappeared nearly three years ago—abducted, most likely—as a result of the ongoing conflict on Sri Lanka’s east coast between a rebel group and the government. Jegatha was left alone. With no trade or education, she wondered how she could possibly raise a newborn without the support of her husband.

She also has no chance for remarriage.

“In Sri Lanka, the culture expects that women will only be married once, although men can be remarried multiple times,” Samaritan’s Purse country director Carter Hemphill said.

In the face of financial woes and with few options for the future, Jegatha had spoken with government officials about placing Roshni in a children’s home. She was not earning enough to provide for daughter’s basic needs and school fees.

Samaritan’s Purse staff found out about Jegatha’s plight, and wanted to help. We provided her with a brood of chickens, along with the animal care and business training she needed to earn a living from selling eggs.

The chickens will start producing eggs in a few months, and Jegatha now is hopeful about the future.

“I have faith in God,” she said, “that somehow God will give me guidance in what to do next.”