I’m Moyna. My father is not a nice man. My father got married with so many women, and finally got married with my mother.

My father never worked, and my mother supported the family by working as a housekeeper. When my younger sister was still in my mother’s womb, my father left my mother and moved away. My mother had four children, and was in difficult situation, so I was taken care at my grandmother’s home. After I’ve became an adult, I was going to get married with a man who worked at a bank. However, my family was too poor and could not prepare and bring 50,000 taka for the wedding, so I had to cancel the engagement. I could not handle my situation and dived into a railroad track which made one of my leg crushed by a train.

My home is in a slum by the railroad track. One day, when I was crossing the railroad track, I fell and got hit by a train and lost one of my leg.

After I lost one leg, I felt as if I lost everything. I thought I couldn’t do anything anymore and felt useless. At that time, I met Aysha who worked at the carpet workshop. She has lost both of her legs. Aysha commuted to the carpet workshop, and lived self-supported. As I saw her way of living, I thought that I would like to work at the carpet workshop myself. I’ve started working at the carpet workshop since 2007. At first, I was saying, “I can’t do it!” or “I’m not going to be able to do this!” all the time. However, the people around me encouraged me, and now I am able to weave Kilim, able to go buy vegetables at a market, able to prepare my own food, and could do everything by myself.
In order for my younger sister not to be in debt that we are from the slum, I pay for my sister’s educational expenses. She is now a college student. I am proud that I am able to have my younger sister study at school.