Diarist 53's husband had worked successfully for 5 years in Singapore but lost the job because of new stringent skill requirements. He came home and ran a tea-shop, but ran it poorly because he couldn't control customer credit. So he borrowed and went to Saudi Arabia about 18 months before we took his wife on as our Diarist 53.
Diarist 53, like her husband, is educated. She runs the home, part of the now divided home of her husband's family in a pleasant area just outside Torgaon. One daughter is married, and she was bringing up another daughter and a son, both in school. They own no farmland but they have a vegetable plot, she raises cows for sale for the Eid festival, and some poultry, and does some dressmaking for their own use (school clothes) and to sell. Everyone's health is OK, though her husband has high blood pressure.
All seemed well, but it turns out that, without telling her, her husband contracted heavy loans to get to Saudi Arabia. The creditors chased her and she struggled to repay them. By mid 2018 her husband was earning and remitting less, and in May 2019 he suddenly returned from Saudi. His working conditions were bad and he was there illegally so it became impossible to stay.
He wanted to start a shop again, but Diarist 53 borrowed to get an e-rickshaw for him to drive. Then in October 2019 he fell ill and was hospitalized in Dhaka. He recovered but in the Covid outbreak was unable to drive the rickshaw. The schoolboy son took a part-time job to help out and a brother in Singapore helped. Diarist 53 looked for work and did some part-time cooking for building workers. They took some relief goods.
By late 2021 her husband was able to resume rickshaw work. She had her phone stolen. Then in late 2024 her own father died and she inherited some land which she sold and invested in buying land locally. In February 2025 her son had a motorbike accident but recovered.
