Two Widows with Families

​The poor in India are used to hard work. They know that their lives will be physically difficult and as day wage earners, constant work will never end. They accept this and embrace the challenge to live their life to the fullest.
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This was Hema’s world after her marriage and eventual birth of two daughters. Her husband was a bus driver and they had a good life. When her daughters were 7 and 13 years old, though, Hema’s husband had sudden onset of paralysis and died of an unknown sickness after a few days.

Hema was a housewife and the family lived in a rented room. They had no savings. Immediately after her husband’s death, they had no food and Hema went door to door asking for food. Eventually, Hema secured work as household help, cleaning and cooking, in several middle-class homes to earn a living for her girls.

COVID-19 interrupted her life again. After the state mandatory shut down eased, Hema found that the homes she worked in did not want to have workers they feared might carry additional germs. Hema and her daughters were again food insecure.

Hema came to Save Kids Trust asking for assistance, which we were able to do through our dry ration kits. She and her daughters are also one of the families who were gifted blankets for winter warmth and will be eligible for education in our women’s health initiative
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​Daksha is a 40-year-old woman. She, her husband, and her mother came to Jaipur ten years back to find daily work. They live in a rented room and eventually had 5 children (4 girls and a son). Everything was fine until her husband got a mouth ulcer that was diagnosed as cancer. He died after a few months of treatment.
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Daksha found work as a daily laborer carrying bricks at a building site. Her job is to move 100 bricks a day to the upper floor. To do this, she hand-carries several at a time up and down flights of stairs. It is a difficult and dangerous job both from the physical perspective and the fact that she works among many men.

Recently, Daksha can down with a high fever and she was unable to work. She needed to have rest for a few days. Save Kids Trust was able to give Daksha treatment for her fever and dry ration support so she could have time to rest. Daksha told Dr. Saini, our Executive Director, that she is thankful for the help during this very difficult time.

Daksha’s story is another example of a widow with children who benefit from the care SKT can offer through dry ration kits and she and her daughters will benefit from women’s health initiative.
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