From Issue #283 (27 January 06 - 02 February 06) |
TABLE OF CONTENTS
 Ten years ago she was a familiar face around Darbar Marg and Thamel. You could see her clutching her infant daughter and four other kids, begging every other passer-by for a rupee or two.
Sabila Khatun left her village in Malangwa VDC in Sarlahi district for a better life in Kathmandu with her family of five children and husband in 1994. The landless Khatun family had nothing left in the village and the capital was their last refuge. But the city was not an easy place to adjust in, as they soon learned. Sabila’s husband tried to get a job but months of failure forced him into alcoholism and pushed Sabila to the streets to beg.
Her children were her main concern. Fortunately for her, a few foreigners took pity and put them in schools. When her children started going to school they in turn pressured their mother to giving up begging.
One day, when Sabila’s purse was full with Rs 300 from a tourist, she decided enough was enough and that she would give up begging and go into business.
She went to a shop and bought a few moneybags, the kind with Buddhist designs on the front that you hang from your shoulders. With these wares to sell, Sabila started her new life.
It has been almost seven years since she gave up begging. Life hasn’t been easy and there have been other tests. Her husband returned to Sarlahi, got caught in a robbery scam and later married another woman. All this has only made Sabila, now 36, stronger. “My only concern is to make sure my children receive a proper education,” she says.
Today, with the help of a few good foreign friends, her children attend private schools while Sabila sells woollen gloves, caps, socks, embroidered pillow and cushion cases and cigarettes in Tridevi Marg. The competition is tough, but she isn’t giving up easily. “Times are bad, but you have to do what you have to do,” she says, proud that at least she makes her living doing an honest day’s work.
(Alok Tumbahangphey) |
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