At 50, Rahima Khatun’s life is a haunting tale of pain and survival. Once a village woman with a happy, well-ordered life in Bangladesh, her world crumbled when she was wrongfully imprisoned. Decades in jail for a crime she didn’t commit left her broken, and even after her release, the weight of her past followed her like a shadow. Neither her family nor society stood by her. In the twilight of her years, Rahima survives alone, scraping by on less than $2 a day, working from dawn to dusk in a lentil factory.
With tired hands and frail bodies, Rahima presses on, but the loneliness weighs heavier than the labor. “I didn’t realize I would be this alone at this point in my life,” she told me with a bittersweet smile. “I once had a happy life until one single moment shattered everything. All I want now is to be with my family—to live with them until I die.”
Her resilience is a testament to the light she still carries despite the curse of her past. Yet her unspoken wish remains—the longing for the warmth of her loved ones in her final days.
