I have managed to keep myself safe from the humiliation of begging from door to door

“I had a happy family with my two sons and two daughters while my husband used to cultivate his own land”-said Joynob Bibi (70) while recalling her happy moments in the past. She is now living with her husband in Arardah village of Fulshara UP under Chougacha Upazila of Jessore district. The sudden ailment of her husband forced them to sell the land and her children’s education was stopped. She had to beg for arranging food for the children and her sick husband. She spends 30 years in this way and never have any old age allowance of the government. She used to beg in other village so that nobody could recognize her. Her elder son had died and younger son is a rickshaw puller in Dhaka and cannot afford to help his parents. The girls have their own family and there is no one to look after Joynob and her husband. She had to face the humiliation of begging from door to door. One day she heard that JCF is providing old age allowance in her area for the elderly people as a part of the intervention Development Programme for Elderly People. She went to the project office without wasting any time and informed her helplessness to the concerned staff. Now she is receiving Tk. 500 in every month for the almost one year and stopped begging. She is managing somehow with this allowance and the hens and ducks she raises in the house. She concluded that though at the dusk of the life she has managed to keep herself safe from the humiliation of begging from door to door.