nable to hold back her tears, Sharifan, 52, says, “We don’t have much to eat. Bread and tea are all we have. No one in our family earns enough to be able to provide basic necessities for us all.”

Sharifan and her family break their fast with very little to eat that is nourishing. Families like theirs live in roof-torn muddy huts; only Sharifan’s situation is particularly dire.

Sharifan and her husband, Sawan, live in the Sahib Khan Chang village located 12 kilometres southwest of Badin city on the Badin-Karachi road. The village comprises over a dozen households. The most terrible tragedy has befallen this family. There are 13 physically disabled children in the family.

Sawan Chang, 61, tells The News on Sunday, “My two sons and three daughters are disabled. Three sons of my elder son, Abdul Karim, and three daughters of my daughter, Malookan, are also disabled. Three children of my brother also have the same problem.”

When asked what type of disability his children suffer from, he replies, “These children grow normally till the age of three or four years. Then, they become ill and end up in bed. Within a few days of illness, their legs and arms become weak and their bodies limp.”

Sharifan starts her day by bathing her children. The fragile mother carries each one of them. After bathing them she brings them back into the hut. She laments, “How can I ask my husband, son or a male member of the family to take my disabled girls to the toilet? “ She says, “my husband feeds the children and looks after them all day as I work at the fields. I return in the evening.”

As a farm labourer, she earns Rs 3,000-4,000 per month. Her husband is a daily wage worker. Sometimes he does not get work. He has also had asthma for a long time and is unable to work long hours at a stretch.

Iftar in this remote poverty-stricken part of the country radically differs from what one sees in most cities. As the sun sets, families like Sawan and Sharifan’s break their fast with a glass of water, praying that they should get the assistance they need for their children.

Sawan says, “My father had 10 acres of agricultural land. It was transferred in my name after his death in 2010. However, a local landlord has occupied it forcibly and I have lost the only source of income generation for my poverty-stricken family of disabled children.”

“I can’t appeal to the court or police to get my land back because he (the offending landlord) is an influential person. Who will support someone like me? So I keep silent,” he adds.

Chawan Kumar, a human rights activist, says that the government should help the low-income family of Sawan Chang. “The condition afflicting the children should be investigated. Proper treatment should be provided for the disabled children. There is an urgent need to establish what disease is causing the problem. There should be an effort to get Sawan his land back.”

The village lacks some of the basic facilities like schools. Nobody in the village is educated. The villagers drink contaminated water from a nearby pond. When it rains the connection with the rest of the district is lost.

The village was badly hit in the recent flood. Almost every hut was damaged. No rescue team visited the village to help its poor residents and the houses remained under water for nearly a month.

Sawan says, “electricity is available in some nearby villages around a kilometre away from our village. However, we live in darkness because we are poor and can’t afford to pay for the electricity. We need light for our children. But for disabled children even electricity is limited help.“

This village doesn’t have a proper mosque. Instead, the villagers have reserved a corner in each hut where they worship five times a day and pray for prosperity.

Sajjad Ali, a teacher in a nearby village, wants non-governmental welfare agencies to look into this matter. “The government always takes notice after catastrophes have ruined lives of great numbers of people. I think the financially stable people who hold a soft corner for the poor should help this family.”

Iftar in the remote village is vastly different from what we see in the cities. As the sun sets, families like Sawan and Sharifan’s break their fast with a glass of contaminated water, praying that they should receive the assistance they need for their children.

The writer is a researcher and freelance journalist based in Badin. He can be reached at abbaskhaskheli110@gmail.com