Abandoned by her husband, Asma Bibi raised five children single-handedly, provided them with an education, while running her business all on her own. By Sadaf Zareen

Sometimes it is important to dream big to be successful in life, it can be more exciting than just possessing bookish knowledge. Often people remain confined to the four walls of their house because they feel that they cannot do anything in life and people will mock them. This tendency is mostly seen in women, especially in rural areas. In fact, this mentality is due to the social environment where because of lack of education women are only considered to be objects of sexual pleasure and reproduction. This is a major reason for women not even dreaming of moving forward. Education is very important for women and our society is unable to provide it.

In fact, education is an important factor for the advancement of any society. It explains the difference between right and wrong and arouses curiosity in the mind. Annals of history have tales of many educated women playing important roles in preparing social structures with enthusiasm. Despite their achievements, the present stratum of society makes fun of them. But in our society, there are many women like Asma Bibi who, despite being uneducated, have been able to make their own distinct identity. She lives in a small village in Rohtas district of Bihar, cannot read or write a single alphabet in any language but through her own initiative has become an example of women’s empowerment.

Parents of 50-year-old Asma Bibi, living in Akbarpur village, located at Dehri in Rohtas district, were illiterate too and kept their daughter away from acquiring any form of education. She was married off at an early age and had six children one after another. Her husband started spending all the household earning on liquor and used to beat her up when she would refused to give him any money. Her life continued to go on despite the problems until she got a shock one day when her eldest son went missing. Her husband had by then moved away to a city in search of a job and never returned. But she did not give up hope. She kept trying to find her son. After losing both husband and son, she took up the responsibility of improving the condition of her household and raising her remaining five children. She started doing sweeping and swabbing in houses and with that money she started buying women’s makeup items and other accessories from the city to sell in the village. Even though she could not read the name of the station, Asma Bibi used to go to Ferozabad to buy items at cheap rates. At the same time she started traveling further and further in the hope of finding her son.

Asma was keen to learn to read, whether it was in Hindi, English or Urdu. She faced ridicule for saying the words wrong but that did not discourage her. She realised the need for education and was determined to educate her children.  Along with managing the expenses of the house, she started raising money for her children’s education. She enrolled her three daughters in school and sent her two sons to a large Madrassa (Institute for Islamic Studies) in Aurangabad to receive religious education. She got the admission forms and new updates about schools and colleges. She would even ensure she found out about scholarship schemes and other government schemes to be able to provide her children with the best education.

Asma Bibi, without any support from anyone, has changed the living conditions of not only her own life but also her children’s lives for the better because of her courage, hard work and enthusiasm.

The circumstances in which they live today have changed completely from what it was earlier.  She made sure that her daughters completed their graduation. She was able to get her daughters’ married into good homes because they were well educated. Eight years later, her missing son returned home and to help him to earn a living Asma has taken a loan to send him to Saudi Arabia for work. The younger son is a Hafeez (one who recites the Holy Quran by heart). Her desire to read is still very much alive even today and she is learning to read the Quran and has also learnt Urdu from her son.

In fact, Asma Bibi today has become an example for those women who give up their dreams and lose heart by throwing away their desire of becoming someone great or of achieving knowledge. When they think of themselves as weak they allow people to exploit them both physically as well as mentally. The importance of education and the rights of women in society is not understood, which is why they consider it their fate to walk in the footsteps of inhuman laws made by men. However, with changing times this mentality of society is gradually changing. But a lot needs to be done in rural areas.

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