Lovely Akhtar, walking to her homeShort, thin with attractive features perfectly describe a Bangladeshi maid named Lovely Akhtar. With her shining eyes which hold lots of dreams she welcomed me with a perfect smile on her face to peek into her reality.
Being a Muslim and belonging to a conservative background. At first, she was a bit hesitant about talking about her life but as we began talking she felt at ease to let her heart out. Lovely Akhtar had come to Dubai about 2 years ago, with a desire to fulfil all the dreams that she and her family shared.
I saw tears trickling down her face when she said "I had come to Dubai as I have a very large and poor family to support back home. We are five sisters with no brother and our father is too old to support us."
Lovely tells me that they do not own a house in their country. Her entire family stays in a small cottage which is not very comfortable for all of them. She had saved money with lots of difficulty just to come to Dubai. Now her aim is to build a comfortable house for her family and save enough money to go back home and get her younger sister married.
picture credit: Nafisa Zaki
"I have to build a house and organize two weddings, but both of these are a very costly deal and I don’t even have a proper work."
Lovely just works for 2 hours as a house maid for which she earns AED 400. But the entire amount is spent in the house rent and food. A very little of about AED 50 is save per month to send home which is not enough according to her.
Talking about her living conditions she said "I share my room with 5 more girls. Our room is very small and has three beds; two of us share a bed each. This gives us a very little space to move around. It’s a very old house and looks like it would break any minute. But there is no better option than this because most of the house rents are sky rocketing."
picture credit: Nafisa Zaki
Even while she was talking about her cruel present that she was living. She had a biog smile on her face when she talked about her desire to get married. "I have to marry soon now, when I collect enough money I will go back home and meet the guy my mother has seen and get married to him. My sister says he looks very good. That is why I want to go home as soon as I can."
Looking at her smile I could sense the excitement building up inside her that told me how much she wants to see the guy. But the worst part is that she cannot go until she has enough money to build up a home especially when she doesn't have a proper job.
"It hurts when I realize I cannot go home soon and I cannot afford to go even for a month, I miss everything about home, the sweets and the special dishes that my mother cooks, my sisters, my nephews and all the fun we used to have, I would like to go home as soon as I can." She says.
At the end of the day she is always left alone dreaming about the unknown guy and her family but she shares all her miseries with her best friend Ayesha. While talking to me she lets out a very important point. "I cannot call home often because I have no money and no job but my mother does not understand this. She thinks everyone in Dubai has a job. She asks me whether I have a boyfriend and am roaming around with him because I do not send her enough money too."
Apart from everything that she has to go through. It is her mother's suspicion on her which irritates her. But apart from everything she has good views about her experience in Dubai "In Dubai I have a good time with my friend, we go out to the market together and talk a lot about things. She makes my stay in here worthwhile and not all that lonely."
As I part from her she has the same smile on her face but deep inside only I know what she is facing in reality.
Lovely Akhtar walking away.
picture credit: Nafisa Zaki
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