Interview 16 – We Work for our Children

Can you tell me about your background

My name is Fouzia, I am a mother and a wife, I help my husband because his health isn’t good, he used to work in construction and had a work accident, I help him with these ewes and help his mom that you can see on the wheelchair.

Who runs the household economy?

We work for our children. Everything we do is for them. We don’t really earn money for ourselves — it’s all for supporting our families and raising our children. Even baking bread is hard

These women are a foundation for us, the community, and for their families

Are you part of a cooperative?

No one puts themselves in our place. No one really helps us. They talk about cooperatives and associations, but we don’t see any real impact

They (trade unions, government) only come during elections. They give papers, make promises, then disappear. Nothing changes for us

How do you manage a living on your salary?

We don’t have stable income in the household. We just try to help however we can. Everything is difficult — even basic things. But still its the women who knows what’s spent and what’s not and make plans for the family so we are of course involved in everything concerning the household

During Ramadan, people don’t even have money to eat. Aid goes to people who already have money, not to those who really need it.

We have to travel around 20 km just to reach a hospital

On way of living and support by institutions

There are problems with schools. There aren’t enough proper schools or access to education. We feel completely abandoned by the state.