Resham Jan’s life is hell, help her

Utterly disappointed with all institutions and individuals who could help her, Resham Jan, an old widow, is crushed under loads of worries and tensions. Resham Jan is a graduate and once she served as a nurse too in a hospital. She belongs to Rawalakot and lived there with her four sons, out of whom two were married. Then there was the devastating earthquake of 2005 that made life miserable to the extreme for her. She lost two of her two married sons along with their families in the earthquake. Both the living sons were mentally retarded and one of them died recently in a hospital after he fell seriously ill and was operated upon. Her 20-year-old daughter who gave birth to a baby girl only three days ago is herself emaciated and cannot feed the baby properly. There are no words to adequately narrate the misery of this old and educated woman. In these days of soaring prices, she has to feed his mentally retarded son, her daughter and her three days old baby. Let alone wholesome food for the mother and the newborn, she cannot even arrange simple food to fill their stomachs. The newborn is suffering from high fever and there is no medicine available. They are forced to live in a single room, which she got on rent for Rs1,500 per month (the rent has not been paid for two months). They live there in hot and sultry weather, which must be very uncomfortable for the newborn. She cannot even dream of a room-cooler to bring some comfort to the baby. Poverty is writ large in the single room crowded by so many. All she has in that single room house is a floor mat; two single beds (charpoys), a chair and two polythene bags stuffed with their clothes. There is intense and almost unbearable hot weather. A very old pedestal fan is useless, as it cannot bring any cool breeze. Surprisingly even in such uncomfortable atmosphere the mentally retard child of Resham Jan was sleeping as if unaffected by the sultry weather.According to the woman, she lost her husband in 1987 who had been working in Libya. She alleged that brothers of her husband made him disappear to grab the piece of land in his name. The woman has no resources at all to sustain those who depend on her. No wonder, she had to resort to begging. She makes both ends meet through collecting alms. “What can I do if not beg to support my family? I can’t see my dependents going hungry,” said Resham Jan with tears rolling down her cheeks. The widow is living in Dhoke Chaudhrian opposite Soan Bus terminal where she has rented a house. She has also applied for funds from Benazir Income Support Programme but to no avail. “I have visited many government offices. I went to the Prime Minister’s House and Aiwan-e-Sadr as well but I was told that the prime minister and the president have no time to see me. Whichever the government office I visited they told that nothing could be done about me. I visit many places and offices and ask them to employ me as a nurse but they say that you are too old for that,” said Resham Jan. “Once I decided to start work as a nurse in the locality but could not work because of my poor health. My liver has got severe problem and they say that there are stones in my spleen. Most of the time I have fever. Even then I have to run from pillar to post for my family,” she said. The Pakistan Baitul Mal gave her Rs25,000 for the treatment of her mentally retarded child who expired in the hospital after he was operated upon. After that she has received nothing as assistance. She said that prior to that she lived somewhere else where her mentally retarded son was severely beaten, as she could not pay the rent. The woman has two daughters, both of them married. Her one daughter is married in her relatives. According to her, her daughter is beaten by her in-laws for not bringing any dowry. Her second daughter prepares paper toys that her husband sells. Due to pregnancy, she was not in a condition to work so she has nothing at home to sustain herself and the conceived baby. In a bitter and hard-hitting tone, the old woman asked the government: “Don’t my daughters deserve anything from the Jahez Fund.” The in-laws of her daughter were forcing the woman to keep her daughter along with her but she refused saying that it was not possible to sustain her. The woman and her children need immediate assistance of either government or some God-fearing person or maybe some philanthropists. She can be contacted at mobile number 0334-5358289.

Courtesy http://www.thenews.com.pk/print1.asp?id=186279