In the narrow, winding veins of Haji Ghulam Zakarya Goth, history is often written in the dust of migration. Sixteen years ago, a tractor-trolley driver left the parched lands of Badin, seeking a way to feed his growing family. He settled in a “Pacci Abadi” in Haji Ghulam Zakarya Goth, but for his youngest daughter, Rahima, the city was less a land of opportunity and more a puzzle of survival.
Today, at just 16, Rahima lives in a rented two-room house that shelters eleven souls. The domestic economy is a fragile tightrope: a Rs. 10,000 monthly rent that covers water, and an electric bill that fluctuates wildly between Rs. 200 and Rs. 1,000. Life is lived on the margins of Mehran Town’s vacant plots, where Rahima’s mother scours the controversial land for scrap wood to fuel the family’s cooking fire.
Finding a Thread of Hope
Space is the ultimate luxury in Rahima’s world. Her two married brothers and their four children occupy the two available rooms, leaving Rahima to find sleep beneath the stars in the courtyard (sehan). Yet, it is within this same cramped courtyard that a transformation took place.
Through a chain of neighborhood friendships—stretching from an Amna Shamima Foundation (ASF) staffer to Rahima’s sister-in-law—Rahima discovered a path out of stagnation. Driven by a lifelong fondness for needlework, she waited a full month for admission into the ASF embroidery classes. That four-month course was merely the beginning. Soon, her curiosity pivoted toward a six-month “Personal Grooming” course, a decision that would turn her small corner of the courtyard into a bustling enterprise.
A Business Born in the Sehan
Rahima may be illiterate, but she has mastered the language of entrepreneurship. She carved out a sliver of space in one of the occupied rooms to practice her beauty parlor skills. What began as a modest hobby has flourished into a professional service where she now charges Rs. 2,000 per client.
During the frantic energy of festivals and weddings, Rahima’s workload became so heavy that she had to hire and train a friend, operating on a 50/50 profit-sharing model. Between her parlor and her intricate embroidery work—for which she earns Rs. 1,500 per kurta—the young woman has become a primary pillar of her household.
The Changing Tide
The impact of her success is most visible on her father’s face. The man who once migrated in desperation now watches his daughter contribute significantly to the household expenses. “He is very happy with that,” she says simply.
Rahima’s story is a testament to the fact that empowerment doesn’t always require a traditional classroom. Through vocational training, she has rewritten her destiny from an illiterate girl with no space to a business owner providing for her family. In the quiet of the Karachi night, as she prepares to sleep in the sehan, she does so with the satisfaction of a daughter who has turned her “fondness” into a future.