“We had a great marriage; he was a man who loved me. He never showed his love, but I always knew he cared about us.

I got married at a very young age. My husband was a fisherman and I was a housewife. And when our two daughters were born, our family was finally complete. But, our happiness was short-lived.

One day, he went fishing and collapsed all of a sudden. When we rushed him to the local government hospital, they said that there was something wrong in his body and he would need a long term treatment. That’s when our new routine began – he would work whenever he would be feeling better and I looked after my daughters and helped him with the business. Few years later, he was bedridden and I had to take loans for his treatment. There was hardly any income because he could no longer work and I had to take care of the entire family. It was the toughest phase of my life – I was exhausted but I didn’t quit. I continued everything I could for my family. And during that time, he taught me everything he could about the business. He prepared us for a life without him – he made sure we could survive. His illness lasted for 6 years and I was by his side through it all.

When he passed away, we were devasted. But I knew I had to go on. I was prepared to take on the world by myself. I started selling seafood, managed to save some money, pay off the loans and got both my daughters married. Time went by really quick since. It has been 15 years now and I am still getting used to the fact that I have to live the rest of my life all alone.”

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