Vulnerabilities were widespread even before the death of Zahid Hussain for the family of Hameeda Bano, a widow who is in her early sixties as her husband was unable to earn enough for their essential daily needs.

Zahid Hussain was unable to sustain a cardiac arrest who was in his mid-forties in the month of August nearly eleven years ago leaving behind a family with no resources and coping capacities to face the coming hardships and marginalization.

“Before my husband died, at least we had what we needed; but in a short period of time the situation of my family had changed completely and that made us suffer the most,” says Sameena Begum during a visit of UWT (Pak) project team.

Ummah Welfare Trust (Pak) social protection team registered Hameeda Bano under widow sponsorship project for Pakistan in 2015 for allowing her to pay for her family basic needs with ease and in a dignified manner and provide her access to social protection coverage.

“We go for days without food,” she said, “but at that time, anything was plenty for us after the economic collapse resulting from my husband death had forced us to go from eating three meals a day to just two,” says Hameeda Bano.

Her only daughter got married while her elder son is working as an electrician to financially support her family, her remaining two younger sons are completing their education with ease as they have no worries regarding their schooling fees and stationery having the monthly stipend under widow sponsorship on their back.

“We faced economic problems as I was not able to make enough and we did not have any other source of income and we were in dire need of help,’’ said Hameeda Bano as she received her monthly stipend under UWT (Pak) widows sponsorship project for Pakistan.