MULTAN, Feb 11: Born without arms, Shama Riffat (38), is a symbol of matchless courage and resolve as she does everything from daily household chores to as delicate a work as embroidery with her feet.

She lives with her parents in a small house in the Pak Gate of the walled Multan city. She is the eldest of the three sisters and a brother.

Her father Riffat Husain runs a small general store ‘Siddiqi Di Hatti’ at Khuni Burj intersection of the old Multan city. Among Husain’s children, Shama was the only born handicap. His another daughter lost one of her arms in an accident. Shama’s two sister are married while her only brother assists father at his shop.

In the winding and narrow streets of Pak Gate in Qazian locality, this correspondent met the woman after embarrassing inquiries. Shama’s inherent ailment is her identity. ‘Oh! you are inquiring about Shama Baji,’ a resident of the locality said. ‘Yes, people in the mohalla whether old or young call me Shama Baji,’ she told proudly.

She gives lessons of the Holy Quran and teaches Urdu to children from the neighbourhood at her home. She imparts education to children without remunerations. ‘I want to serve people,’ she adds.

The woman larger than life, Shama broke into laughter when asked about the difficulties she had been facing while working. ‘What do you assume the tough job in your daily routine,’ she said she pressed trousers of her brothers and wash heavy blankets on her own.

One wonders at the will with which she makes thread passing though the eye of the needle while sewing clothes or doing embroidery on a piece of cloth. Not strange to see her adjusting the spectacles with one of her feet.

Shama’s father, apart from running a shop, works the business of repacking henna (mehndi) in cones and boxes on a small scale. In fact, Shama is the woman behind the business. She and her niece Rani packs liquid henna in cones and boxes and the products therefore carries their names. However, she loves to expand the business, saying ‘I always have an upper hand’, ‘thanks God, I don’t have to beg for alms’.

She said she wanted to purchase an automatic henna filling machine to enhance the supplies. Establishing a boutique is yet another dream she had to become more self-sufficient. She also wanted to get the girls in neighbourhood employed, she said, adding she had not that much resources. However, the woman was determined that she would return the loan in installments, if the government ever offered her Qarz-i-Hasna (a loan without interest).

Her father was all praise for his eldest daughter, claiming ‘thanks God, she is more than normal, she is mentally fit’. He said Shama was an outstanding student but could not continue her studies after primary.

‘She often returned with injuries as she fell jostling at the end of the day in school and could not stand on her feet on her own’, he said. However, ‘she became adept in Urdu by reading books at home’, he said proudly.

Shama owes all she has good in her to her parents and teachers, insisting zindagi zinda dili ka naam hai.