A father’s unyielding spirit: Masud’s stall

Masud, a father with no wife, is raising his only disabled son alone. With support from Abul Khair Welfare Organization he received a donation to strengthen his chotpoti business and secure a stable future. His resilience inspires us all.

A household with one pair of hands

A single parent caring for a disabled child has less of everything than any other household we work with: less time, less mobility, and far fewer hours in which paid work is even possible. Masud cannot take day labor that would keep him away from home, which rules out most of the work available here.

Why the stall

A chotpoti stall fits around a child. It can be set up and closed down quickly, it needs no premises, and it earns on the days it trades rather than at the end of a month. Strengthening a business Masud was already running was a far better use of a grant than starting something new that would have taken him away from his son.

What the grant covered

Equipment and working capital: the things that let a small food business trade at a scale that actually earns. As with all our livelihood grants it was one-off and outright, with nothing to repay.

Why we publish this

Because it is a fair test of the program. Masud's household will not become wealthy, and we would not claim it. What has changed is that its income is now regular and its own, which for a father in his position is the difference that matters.

Why this counts as a livelihood grant

Because what was missing was working capital, not effort or skill. Masud was already trading; what he could not do was hold enough stock or equipment to earn at a scale that supported the household. A one-off grant against exactly that gap is the whole design of the program, and it is why the grants are given outright rather than lent.

Disability and household income

Caring for a disabled child in a rural household falls almost entirely on the family, and in a single-parent household it falls on one person. There is no respite care to buy and very little formal support to apply for. What that means in practice is that the parent's earning capacity is capped by how far and how long they can be away from home, and no amount of willingness changes it.

Our own objectives include vocational training for disabled people so that self-employment becomes possible, and that work has not started. Until it does, supporting the household's existing trade is the most useful thing we can do for a family in Masud's position, and we would rather say that plainly than describe a small grant as more than it is.

His story is published here with his agreement.