Even before Pakistan was created, generations of poor laborers have been working on the footpath of Meeran Mohammed Shah Road in Hyderabad, Sindh to create household items.
With wives, husbands and children at work, they prepare mats, chairs and home decoration items that end up in well off households in major cities of Pakistan.
This family tradition makes everyone employed in the industry, including young children and the elderly – who could not find employment elsewhere.
Most of them cannot afford proper housing and so end up sleeping in public places. Despite putting in hours of hard labor, inflation has made their journey difficult. Craftswoman, Meena says she’s been doing this type of work – making mats and home items for 30 years.
“This work is like sewing clothes. We set up a shop here and customers come.” “We work very hard for our wages, but its still hard to make ends meet,” she says. Within their families, all men and women do the same business. Their hand-made goods are also being sold to Mithi, Umerkot, Sukkur, Rohri and other cities of Pakistan.
They urged the government to provide some form of assistance to help them improve their lives.