Mother struggling to make ends meet finds silver lining in loan programme

ZARQA — “Living to please others is the story of my life, and it seems that I am destined to keep doing so,” Malak Bader Salameh said closing her eyes as if to hold back tears.

The 40-year-old lives in a third-floor apartment in a working class area in Zarqa Governorate, some 22km northeast of Amman.

Everything about her neighbourhood is narrow: narrow streets, pavements, doorways and stairs. For Salameh, too, the chance for a decent living once seemed narrow.

A holder of a diploma in English, she is married and a mother of four, with two boys and two girls aged between 10 and 18. 

Salameh used to work from home, selling clothes to support her husband, but their meagre income was barely enough to live on. 

In a constant reminder of her poverty, nothing she had was hers, the house is her parents’, the second-hand furniture was bought through loans from relatives or friends; even when she managed to sells goods from her home, half of her profit went to her sister’s husband.

“Still,” Salameh said, “I always welcome each new day with a smile, believing in a simple truth: there is always hope that things can be better.”

Her hope eventually paid off when a friend introduced her to the Savings and Loans Programme (SLP) of Care International in Jordan.

Signing up for courses, Salameh ended up studying flower arrangement, sewing and cooking. 

However, her experience of buying and selling, borne out of the necessity to feed her family, made her realise her real aptitude was for financial management and marketing courses.

“I know where my strength lies — in selling and buying, and making profits,” said Salameh told The Jordan Times in a recent interview.

“At a time when I was crushed and my circumstances were overwhelming me, SLP saved me,” she said.

She recalled that after her marriage, she worked for two years as a manager of a nursery. After giving birth to her first two children, however, her husband, who is a medical equipment technician, decided that she should stay at home to care for the children 

“With this decision, we knew that financially we would suffer even further,” said Salameh, looking at her wedding ring.

With the monthly loan instalments and the food they needed to put on the table, they struggled to make ends meet.

But now, after a year-long involvement with the programme, Salameh is not only doing much better financially, but has found a new job.

“I have a new job: a teacher to war-traumatised children and it is close by my home. They chose me from among many others,” she said excitedly. 

“What I am doing, I am doing it for my family. They come first,” added Salameh,

That, she said, is a mother’s job.

“I’m sure I’m not doing it perfectly, but at least I’m doing everything possible for my children.”