HYDERABAD, March 7: Slochna, an aged woman in her 50s, is worried that she would lose a day’s earning and that too on the International Women’s Day.

She would not be able to earn her livelihood on Saturday by preparing mats while women would be observing their Day all over the world.

She prepares mats along with her children on the footpath along the old deputy commissioner house on Miran Mohammad Shah road, leading to the press club.

Local authorities on Friday asked them to keep their work closed and do not occupy the footpath as the chief minister is due in the city on Saturday.

The route, however, is normally blocked on different occasions as rallies and protesters pass through it to approach the press club to register their protest. On such occasions the authorities ask these workers to keep their work suspended.

Bespectacled Slochna’s husband died 18 years ago but she kept working in the said business. She has 10 children who supplement her efforts and they earn around Rs200 to Rs300 after selling a few mats.

She is not aware of the importance of the International Women’s Day as her primary concern has always been how to earn a better livelihood with her sons and daughters.

“We don’t have access to safe drinking water what to talk of sewerage and drainage system in our residential area that is located behind the building of the Sindh High Court, Hyderabad circuit bench,” she said.

She has got her cataract surgeries (eye surgeries) done thanks to the free of cost surgeries performed by a hospital adjacent to her workplace.

Slochna and her family work 10 hours a day to eke out a living regardless of hot and humid summer of Hyderabad to prepare mats of different sizes. A 10x10 mat earns them Rs1000 which is then distributed among other labourers besides meetings cost of inputs.

“I don’t know the meaning of International Women’s Day and why it is observed. Nobody approaches for offering any kind of help or any such occasion,” she remarked.

Meagre income resources force the family not to purchase new clothes for the children even on their religious festivals.

Her family cannot afford to purchase mutton and has to make do on vegetable food items. “I don’t know the cost of per kilogram of mutton”, she said. Her entire family only eat breakfast and then dinner as they save money by not eating in afternoon.

Its not only Slochna but several other women of her community could be seen engaged in preparing mats on both sides of the Miran Mohammad Shah road.Although they are faced with poverty and poor living conditions they do not curse their destiny.

“I do hope that after me, my children must have quality life. I have almost passed my life but they still have a long way to go. So I always look towards God to turn the things around for them so that they could pass a dignified life without facing any misery,” remarked Slochna as she looked towards the skies.