For Rekha, a migrant from Tamil Nadu, life took a steep turn after the sudden death of her husband. A mother of three, she had settled in Koduru with her family, but the untimely death of her husband in 2020 due to Covid-19 left her financially unstable. Rekha’s children do not know that their father has passed away. “I try to be positive in front of my kids and hide my pain from them so that they don’t see the hardships I face”, she says.
Rekha could not fulfill her dreams to study because she got married at a young age, and expended herself on domestic obligations. Her husband, she says, worked day and night as a construction worker to ensure that their kids received a proper education. Being a single mother in a conservative society is not an easy life to live, but Rekha shows immense resilience and grace. “My husband’s dream and goal were to get our kids educated. He believed that with education, our kids would not have to face the severe difficulties that the two of us faced. Now I’m working hard to ensure that his wish is fulfilled”, she says.
Once fond of learning, Rekha has now found a job for herself as a teacher in a school nearby. “I could not study as much as I wanted to, but I’m working to make sure that our children do not suffer from the same fate.”
Image used is for representative purposes only.
