“I have been weaving baskets for a living since I was eight. My mother taught me how to as the women in our family have been weaving baskets for generations. It is a good thing that I had a skill to fall back on. My husband worked as a tailor but had to stop working when he developed back problems.

I have five children. My eldest son is disabled. We could not afford his treatment or to care for him so we had him enrolled in a madressah where he lives now. My youngest son has diabetes. We do not even have our own house and have constructed a mud house on someone’s land.

I am the only breadwinner of the family. We came here because there was no market for these baskets in our native Bahawalpur. The best one could expect there was some work during wedding season.

This is hard work. It takes me two or three days to weave one basket which only goes for Rs300 to Rs500 and most of my earnings go towards buying raw materials and paying rent for the shop.

In the winters, I get cuts on my hands from weaving even if I wear gloves. I have spent my whole life weaving baskets and I customise them too with embroidery and mirror work.

The government does not care about skilled artisans. What would we have done if I did not know how to weave baskets? That is why it is important to give your daughters an education, or at least a skill, so they can take care of their families.”

Published in Dawn, November 10th, 2018