Helper | Salma's Second Chance
"Salma gave me work, dignity and a place where everyone feels like family - after everything I had been through, that means the world."
Quraisha's story is one of extraordinary resilience. Born and raised in Rataul, she grew up in a household where her father cut wood for a living. Sixteen years ago, the family did not even have a permanent home - they lived in a jhuggi (makeshift shelter) that was later set on fire by unknown persons. They persisted.
Quraisha received her education at a madrasa. She was married at seventeen. After two years and two daughters - Sana and Ikra - her husband died from an electric shock, just 23 days after Ikra was born. Her in-laws turned her out of the house four months after observing iddat (the waiting period). A second marriage lasted barely a month before she received a talaq over the phone. While still in iddat, her parents were in a car accident - her mother was injured, her father died.
Quraisha raised her daughters through manual labour. A liver infection eventually slowed her down. Then Salma Public School offered her work - looking after small children - and it changed everything. Principal Sheeba Ma'am understood her difficulties and gave her a chance. Today both her daughters study at Salma. Quraisha pays rent, has no home of her own, and has been with Salma two years. "Since I joined," she writes, "everyone here feels like family."