Artisan Pprofiles
Razia Begam: The SOLO Struggle
One fine morning, Razia woke up to a dead husband in her bed. It was twenty years ago. Her life shattered. She had eight kids, and her husband was the sole bread earner of the family. She woke up to a reality where she had no means to take care of her kids or herself.
The next twenty years were a constant struggle and battle with poverty and making ends meet. It was not like; she was new to the struggle. She started working since her childhood as her parents were poor and had many kids. Somehow, she ended up again in the same reality where she was the only one trying to earn for a family of nine people with no education and skills. Living in a village far from Quetta didn’t help at all. Her embroidery skills that she learnt from her mom were still useless, if she couldn’t get her hands on the raw material from Karachi and Lahore.She started her small business of embroidery with a loan she took. She got the raw materials and started working and started getting orders from Quetta and Karachi. It helped to take care of 8 of her kids. She even managed to send two of them to school and got them educated. But
The next twenty years were a constant struggle and battle with poverty and making ends meet. It was not like; she was new to the struggle. She started working since her childhood as her parents were poor and had many kids. Somehow, she ended up again in the same reality where she was the only one trying to earn for a family of nine people with no education and skills. Living in a village far from Quetta didn’t help at all. Her embroidery skills that she learnt from her mom were still useless, if she couldn’t get her hands on the raw material from Karachi and Lahore.She started her small business of embroidery with a loan she took. She got the raw materials and started working and started getting orders from Quetta and Karachi. It helped to take care of 8 of her kids. She even managed to send two of them to school and got them educated. But
the struggle continued. She came to WoMart to change her life of continues struggle to some stability. The trainings and all the assistance from WoMart has helped her curate a special collection for WoMart launch. She can’t believe that her products will be displayed to the world to buy and she won’t have to pay a hefty amount to the middle man. There is a silver lining, after all, she sighs when she said that, her eyes full of hope.