Mother from Egypt lives as man for 43 years to serve her family
'I worked in hard labor and cleaning shoes to begging in the streets in order to earn a living'
They say one has to be an ideal woman to become an ideal mother but sometimes it happens conversely. Meet Sisa Abu Daooh, 64, an Egyptian single mother who spent 43 years ‘living as a man’ in order to work and raise her daughter. And guess what, the lady has been honored as the "ideal mother" in Cairo.
A report says Houda received the "woman breadwinner" award for being so hard-working to provide for her family.
She found herself in a financial predicament when her husband died while she was also pregnant. What made matters worse was that she lived in a society that raised eyebrows on working women.
Instead of choosing to become a beggar for the rest of her life, she actually disguised herself as a man, validating it with wearing loose and taking on jobs from construction and bricks to polishing shoes.
Faced with a lifetime of begging on the streets, she disguised herself as a man by wearing loose, full length robes and took on manual jobs making bricks, working in construction and polishing shoes.
Describing this situation, Houda said, "I preferred working in hard labor like lifting bricks and cement bags and cleaning shoes to begging in the streets in order to earn a living for myself and for my daughter and her children," she said.
She now works mostly polishing shoes, and is happy to learn that this earns her a decent pay.
"So as to protect myself from men and the harshness of their looks and being targeted by them due to traditions, I decided to be a man ... and dressed in their clothes and worked alongside them in other villages where no one knows me."
Houda not only sustained an initially difficult situation but also became responsible for the entire family’s financial status to help her daughter Houda whose husband fell ill and was unable to work.
Admiring whatever that was bestowed on her, Houda praised her mother for working so hard and highlighted that she still gets up at 6am every morning and goes to work.
The story was originally in The Times of India.
A report says Houda received the "woman breadwinner" award for being so hard-working to provide for her family.
She found herself in a financial predicament when her husband died while she was also pregnant. What made matters worse was that she lived in a society that raised eyebrows on working women.
Instead of choosing to become a beggar for the rest of her life, she actually disguised herself as a man, validating it with wearing loose and taking on jobs from construction and bricks to polishing shoes.
Faced with a lifetime of begging on the streets, she disguised herself as a man by wearing loose, full length robes and took on manual jobs making bricks, working in construction and polishing shoes.
Describing this situation, Houda said, "I preferred working in hard labor like lifting bricks and cement bags and cleaning shoes to begging in the streets in order to earn a living for myself and for my daughter and her children," she said.
She now works mostly polishing shoes, and is happy to learn that this earns her a decent pay.
"So as to protect myself from men and the harshness of their looks and being targeted by them due to traditions, I decided to be a man ... and dressed in their clothes and worked alongside them in other villages where no one knows me."
Houda not only sustained an initially difficult situation but also became responsible for the entire family’s financial status to help her daughter Houda whose husband fell ill and was unable to work.
Admiring whatever that was bestowed on her, Houda praised her mother for working so hard and highlighted that she still gets up at 6am every morning and goes to work.
The story was originally in The Times of India.