Margaret Devadason, former director for MCC India, started the project when she was still working at the MCC office. Once she retired the group decided to meet at her house, one hour out of Kolkata.
Aktari, who is 30 year old, worked with the group since the beginning 13 years ago. Once she got married she could not meet with the group because she had to work at home.
Aktari met her husband, Sahil, at her neighbourhood and she liked him and her mom gave him permission for visiting. After a while they got to know each other and her mother though he was a good option for her. She comes from a poor Muslim family; therefore her family decided who she would marry to. Her father, who worked in construction, died when she was a teenager and she had four sisters and four brothers, one of them died few years ago.
Aktari does not remember how to read or write. She attended to Class 4 (grade 4) but she did not practice the reading and writing so she thinks she forgot it.
Her husband worked for a while but in the last years he just drinks every day. He is drunk most of the time. They live in a tiled house, one bedroom. Their house is 4x3 mts.
They live two hours by bus from Kolkata. Having nothing for feeding her kids, she came back to Margaret’s house for help. Here she received support and now is working again. At this point she is the only provider in her house. She pays 250 rupees (6 dollars) per month for her oldest son, Faisul Rehman, 6 years old, to attend to the school in class 1. The rest of the money is for food. Her sister helps her making more food so she can share with Aktari. But her sister lives ½ hour from her house. Her bothers also have helped her giving clothing for her kids in special occasions, like festivals (Easter, Christmas). When she comes to work on Thursdays her sons stay with the mother in love. This is the only support she receives from her husband family. Her youngest son, Ali Rehman is 3 years old. She had surgery after the last child. She did not want to have more kids. Her health is very poor at this time. Margaret said she has lost many pounds in the last weeks because she does not eat properly. She feed her kids first and there is not much left for her. Her only dream is to educate her kids; she said she does want any thing for her. And she has to accept her situation and continue with this kind of life. The only possibility is that her husband abandons her but in that case nobody of her family will accept her back because that will be a disgrace for them. So no good end here.
Interview by Isabel
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