Sri Lanka: Widows of War

101 East examines the plight of thousands of widows struggling to survive in post-war Sri Lanka


When a barrage of artillery slammed into Sivalingam Maheswary's town in Sri Lanka's northeast, her husband and son were among those killed.

Sivalingam was one of the few survivors, but she lost her right arm in the shelling on the frontline of the country's civil war.

The guns have since fallen silent but 90,000 widows like Sivalingam are now struggling to earn enough to feed themselves and their children. The number of widows is almost as high as the death toll caused by the decades-long war.