A 2010 survey conducted in the eastern province focused on newly resettled families revealed high level of deprivation, incomes well below the poverty line and a complete lack of assets. Many of the newly resettled families depend on farming and livestock as their main source of income. Most houses have no access to electricity or water and the lack of basic infrastructure has further compromised their wellbeing. Limited connectivity to access markets does not make it easy for them to sell their harvest and often involve gruelling long hours of long-distance walking. The provision for financial services can help these desperate families reduce their dependence on single-source income. Affordable power connections will enable them to engage in value-added activities. The article is a publication by the Centre for Poverty Analysis (CEPA). This article explains how poverty takes over peoples’ lives and the challenge of being able to continue their livelihoods, especially in the Eastern area of Sri Lanka where people have been battered and bruised by the war. The article shows the positive and negative impacts of these topics and emphasises that low-income families should be given priority when development projects take place as their needs have to be met.