Begging for son's schooling

Last Sunday afternoon, neatly dressed 12-year-old boy with books in hand was crossing busy Shaheed Dr Zikrul Huq Road in Nilphamari's Saidpur municipality.

He was accompanied by his 52-year-old mother Jobeda Bibi. The duo had just spent Tk 480 on grammar and essay books, as well as some guides which the son requires for school. It would have been nothing unusual, just an average sort of a daily chore faced by any average family, except that Jobeda is a visually impaired who lives a gruelling life of begging in order to support her son's education.

The boy was helping his mother cross the road, guiding her back towards the Saidpur railway station platform so she could rest. The vicinity of the railway station is her usual begging territory.

Jobeda, from a distant village in Domar upazila, wasn't born blind. “My parents married me to a vegetable vendor in a local market,” she tells of her life. “We had a son and a daughter. Then, ten years ago I was in a road accident and I lost my eyesight. That's when the bad days started.”

Her husband fled, leaving the now visually impaired woman in a hopeless situation to care for their two children. “I looked for work in the village,” says Jobeda, “but nobody chose me because I'm blind. Finding no alternative I migrated to Saidpur town with my children and started to beg.”

Five years ago with money saved from the meagre alms she receives, Jobeda managed to arrange her daughter's marriage to cycle van puller, from Polasbari Araji Ikathola village. She then sent her son to live with them, so he could study in a school there.

 “I'm leading a miserable life,” she says, almost in tears. “I'm doing that to give my son the chance to live a reputable one, and for no other reason. Allah must be with me since I have nobody else.” Holding her hand, the boy says he is trying to fulfil his mother's dream, adding that he is really proud of her for making such an extraordinary effort to turn the impossible into the possible, for him.

Each night Jobeda sleeps on the station platform and at dawn she once again starts to seek out alms. In shabby clothes she looks the part. Few could guess she harbours such a noble dream for her son's future.

On an average day Jobeda can earn about Tk 80, from which she arranges a small portion of food for herself. The remainder she sends to her daughter, about Tk 400 each weekend, to pay for her son's schooling and living expenses, which her daughter sincerely does.

Her son currently studies in class six at Poroshmoni High School. He has quite a few years ahead of him before he can finish school. And in the meantime there are always more expenses.

“The school has asked me to come with a new uniform, bag and shoes,” says the boy. “I told my mother about it; but I know that she will go without sufficient food to arrange the money for that. She never leaves me with any requirement unfulfilled.”