Woman makes living by riding motorcycle-rickshaw in Rahim Yar Khan

RAHIM YAR KHAN: As soon as dawn breaks in Sadiqabad, Rubina gets her motorcycle-rickshaw ready, not just to drop her children to school but to also go around the streets picking and dropping people – a means through which she has been putting bread to the table in her house since her husband’s demise.

While talking to Geo News, Rubina, 33, says there was nothing for her to be ashamed of as she had taken to the right way to earn a living.

Initially, people would look down upon her for taking up riding a motorcycle-rickshaw, she says, but things got better with time. “I did not lose spirit.”

The vehicle she uses to transport people was initially a mere motorbike that she turned into a rickshaw.

However, riding the rickshaw is not the only job Rubina works to make ends meet. She also works as a domestic help at different houses. She took up the job even before her husband Farooq Ahmed’s demise, when he was diagnosed with hepatitis B two years back.

Rubina says they needed money for his treatment as Farooq’s earning as an electrician was not enough for his medicines as well as their bread and butter. But the money was still not enough and due to lack of treatment, her husband succumbed to the diseases at the age of 40.

Nevertheless, Rubina continued to work. The woman could not back out in despair as she wishes to provide her children with a better life.

In their small house in Abid Colony, Rubina starts her day by first dropping her two daughters and son, along with other children from the neighbourhood, to school. After which she drives her motor-cycle rickshaw towards the bazaar side where she takes up rides for the day.

The woman believes the cause of her children’s education is what keeps her going.