Confidence makes Jaheda self-reliant -The Asian Age

"I was totally helpless and even I didn't eat three meals a day because of poverty. But today, I along with my husband and three children live in Dhaka city happily. And all these have become possible by dint of hard work and confidence," said Jaheda Begum, a housemaid by profession who works in city's West Tejturibazar.

Jaheda works at eight flats of five houses in the area on contractual basis. She takes one hour on an average in every flat to complete household chores. Starting at 6 am, she continues her job till 1 pm-2 pm. Then Jaheda returns home and makes food for her family and eat with members.

Hailing from Kendua upazila of Netrokona district, Jaheda lives at a slum of Karwanbazar rail gate area. Her two sons aged 14 and 8 respectively work at a grocery shops in the area and only daughter is three-year old. Her husband Kalon Mia is a construction worker.

Jaheda said just six years ago when they lived at their village home in Kendua, her husband worked at Dhaka, but he didn't earn enough money to run the family of four  members. At that time, her two sons used to go to local school. But she had stopped them going to school due to money constraints and sent elder son Kamal to his father in Dhaka.

Unfortunately, her husband Kalon Mia fell sick and returned to village home with his son. Jaheda's family then fell in a deep financial crisis. At that time, they had to take only one meal a day, Jaheda recalled. "How miserable those days were,"'Jaheda broke into tears remembering the past days. Jaheda informed that

she currently earns a total of Tk 11,000 from her job as a housemaid. Sometimes she gets tips from the house owners. Her husband Kalon Mia earns Tk 9,000 average in a month and two sons earn Tk 6,000. Now she is happy with her family.

Jaheda said she has already deposited some money to a bank which will be used to buy a crop field at her village home. Then she will build a tin-shed house. And after that all of them except his husband and elder son will go back village home. She dreams that her only daughter will be educated.

"My husband is a gentleman. He helps me to do my job. He and his family living at the village always support me. In this case, I am very happy and all members of my family live in Dhaka with happiness," said Jaheda.

Jaheda pointed out that the fact behind her success is her confidence. She believes that if a woman wants to become self-reliant, then she must succeed. "I am confident and work hard. That's why, I'm very happy with my family," she said. -BSS