“I was born in Hassanabdal. I have just one more sister who is married. Our parents divorced when we were very young. My father had married again so he divorced my mother. She also remarried some time later and moved to a village in Haripur. My sister and I went to live with my maternal grandmother, who brought us up and educated us. I could only study till matric though.

We still get to see our mother every now and then, but we never saw our father again.

One of my uncles lives here in Islamabad. He is a guard at a private security company. We are very close with his children. One of his daughters works as a salesgirl in various departmental shops.

I lived with my younger uncle and his wife in Hassanabdal. They were very nice to me and took care of me, but I was kind of by myself when my sister got married. We had a hard time making ends meet and I could also not get further education.

So, I told my cousin here in Islamabad to look for a job for me. She got me a job at Safa Gold Mall as a sales girl. I worked there for nine months and earned between Rs9,000 and Rs12,000 a month. But the mall was too far from where my uncle’s house is and half the salary used to go towards conveyance.

Now I work in a garments shop in F-10 and earn about Rs18,000 a month. My colleagues are very cooperative and the working environment is also good. I only wish there was one more woman in our team of about 20. Otherwise I do not have any problems here. Most of the customers are very nice; only some are rude. But that is fine and is to be expected when you work in a market.

I will work at least till I get married. It is better that I can support myself. I spend all my salary on myself. Even if you do not have an education, you can still make a living for yourself and not depend on others if you are determined enough.”

Published in Dawn, June 9th, 2018