Yalda
My name is Yalda and I’m 32 years old. I’m married and have 4 children.
I am working in a factory in Sialkot where I stitch five soccer balls
per day and earn 200 Rupees per day ($2.50 USD). I get four days of
holiday a month and I earn approximately 5000 to 5500 Rupee ($62-68
USD) monthly. With this income survival is very difficult because I
have to pay the rent and other expenses such as general house hold
expenses, children’s school fees, utility bills, health treatment etc.
My two sons are elder and they go to school. There is a school fee of
300.00 Rupee per month for each child. I get concession for not paying
the full fee for one child because I can’t pay the fee for both. My two
girls are twins they are 4 years old. I couldn’t admit them into school
until recently, due to not having enough money. We do not eat 3 times a
day. In 24 hours we eat only twice. Meals consist of vegetables. Meat
or chicken is not cooked in our home at all. When guests come to our
home, we take goods on credit in order to serve them. I live in a one
room house which costs 1000 Rupees per month ($12 USD) and 500 Rupee
per month ($6 USD) for the electricity bill. If my salary was only
10,000 Rupees per month ($124 USD) then our condition may change little
bit.

Ghazala
My name is Ghazala and I work at a sports apparel factory that produces
for adidas, Puma, Wilson and other brands sold in the United States. I
have been married for 30 years. After coming back from the factory each
night I must cook food for my family. Sometimes I have no money to cook
the food. Fruits and cloths are very expensive and when my children
needed them, I could not fulfill their wishes and it upsets me greatly.
When their clothes tore they had to carry on wearing them. I faced more
difficulty when I couldn’t pay their school fees. Due to this, my
children were treated badly and dishonored in school. School
administers sometimes sent my children back home to fetch their school
fees. I have to work because my husband’s income doesn’t fulfill the
all necessities at home. I do not save a single rupee from my salary.
When my children were married, I had to take out a loan and I am still
paying it back from my salary. We also have credit at the grocery store
and the shopkeeper regularly asks for money. I am still trying to pay
back my debts through a community saving scheme.

The story of Babra comes to ILRF through the
Association of Network for Community Empowerment (ANCE). ANCE has been
a partner of ILRF’s for over 10 years. ANCE is a non profit, non
governmental organization founded in 1996 and based in Lahore-Pakistan.
ANCE aspires to create a just society by working for community
empowerment with optimum participation of the local community. ANCE is
working for the promotion and protection of human rights, including the
rights of children and in this regard conducts research, education,
skills development, advocacy, awareness raising and outreach
activities. Its projects include the elimination of child labor,
education, health, environment and women empowerment.