With firm decision: This capital fruit vendor proves women can do anything

Unsupported by family, widow Yasmeen Kanwal runs a business to take care of her family

ISLAMABAD: When life was handing out ‘lemons’, a sheltered widow and mother of four saw it as an opportunity to make ends meet for her family.

The 40-year-old Yasmeen Kanwal now sets up a pushcart in Sector F-11/2 to sell fruit.

But her journey is neither easy nor is it far from complete.

Speaking to The Express Tribune, Kanwal narrates how her day starts at 4am every day.

She gets up before dawn to cleans the house and prepare breakfast for her four children before sending them off to school. She then goes to the wholesale fruit market to purchase fresh produce to sell on her cart before returning home in the evening to prepare dinner.

Even as the sun goes to sleep, she stays awake making sure if her children  — three daughters and a son  — have completed the homework assigned to them at the government-run school they study in.

But it was not always like this.

Times suddenly changed when her husband fell ill and died of kidney failure four years ago, the widow said.

“He was a loving and caring husband so much so that I did not even know about the local markets since he took care of my every need and provided all necessities of life at home,” she recalled.

With no financial or moral support from anywhere, she started working as a housemaid, cleaning up different homes to run her own home.

But the returns were too few for her make ends meet.

“It was the hardest time for me, whatever I was given to eat, I used to bring it home to feed my kids. But it was never enough for the five of us,” she whimpered.

“But my children are patient, they never asked for more or asked anyone for it outside [the home] they did not tell anyone what we were going through.”

Then someone suggested that she should try her hand at a business, selling fruit perhaps.

Initially, she was sceptical about the idea since it is a field dominated by men. But the responsibility of her four children compelled her to explore this avenue as well and took the plunge.

The move paid off and enhanced her earnings.

But it did not sit too well with her family. Instead of helping and appreciating her for managing to take care of her family singlehandedly, her relatives apparently took offence and now seldom speak to her.

Their attitude, though, does not seem to have fazed her.

“My relatives do not like this work, but I do not bother much about what people say now,” she says as she beams with pride in being able to earn a respectable living. But she concedes that because of her work, she runs into some undesirables who pass lewd comments such as “are you quoting the rates for fruit’s or your own”.

“If I do something which is morally or legally wrong, then you can even kill me,” she exclaims before adding defiantly, “I am running my home after completing a day of hard work and labour and I will continue to do so for the sake of my children’s future.”

“I want them [children] to study. I do not want them to suffer for even basic necessities due to the lack of an education.”

While she says she has never taken the time to calculate how much money she makes in a month, she says that she has been able to pay off all of her liabilities including the substantial Rs8,000 in rent apart from affording the education and travel of her children and other daily expenses.

The diligent fruit vendor had also caught the attention of UAE Ambassador Hamad Alzaabi recently after a young student architect and member of the provincial youth assembly Jalal Sherazi snapped her pictures and shared them on the social media.

After seeing the viral post, Ambassador Alzaabi visited her and bought all the fruits from her, calling her ‘a great example of Pakistani women’.

The post did more than just bring a one-time windfall.

Kanwal noted that it made people appreciate her more and her sales increased as well, even gaining her some regular female customers.

Some people have also offered to help her financially.

“Women should not consider themselves to be weak,” she advises, “They can do anything if they take a firm decision.”

“Whatever the circumstances are, they should not just weep and sit at home. They should start their own work and give their children a good education. That is the best thing they can give to their children.” 

Published in The Express Tribune, March 8^th, 2018.