Mother of 3 drives rickshaw in Faisalabad as husband forsakes family

FAISALABAD: An iron-willed woman is determined to make ends meet by driving rickshaw for hire so that her minor children, two daughters and a son, can subsist and afford their education after being deserted by their father, ARY News reported.

Shazia Naheed is a mother of three who was abandoned by her husband two years ago but instead of waiting for some charity she stood tall in the face of her circumstances and began taking to the road to make money.

Perhaps my husband thought if he abandoned us we would be begging people to help us, said Shazia, adding that on the contrary she is earning and making sure her children don’t suffer.

I worked as house help, tried being a hawker and a shopkeeper, Shazia said. But none of these enterprises could make me enough money that I could get by the day with expenses, she added.

Shazia books her rides from families whose children are school-going so she extends to them the pick-and-drop service. The women in her neighborhood also rely on her carriage to safely travel across the city for a number of errands.

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Shazia’s kids think of her as both their mother in whom they find refuge and their father who takes care of all their needs. Our mum makes sure we don’t suffer due to any need and she provides for everything on her own, says her eldest daughter.

However, she has called on the authorities and on the organizations that can aid her subsistence to arrange for her residence as the rent take’s the lion’s share of all her income in the house she’s currently settled in.