I had put out a word to everyone I knew, asking to help me find a job, any job. The factory I worked at had fired all non-essential personnel due to the Coronavirus. I as well as many others were out of work. Over the coming weeks, I searched far and wide but had not an ounce of luck finding a job.
One evening, I was called by Mr. Amini. There had been an accident, and a woman with a broken jaw in the hospital needed a companion. She was paying $70 a night. Mr. Amini asked if I wanted to take the job. As I had exhausted all other options, I said yes without hesitation.
After collecting a few of my things, I headed to the hospital. It was utter chaos, the hospital crowded and the employees overworked! The woman was in a separate ward from COVID-19 patients, which was the only reason I was allowed to see her.
I caught the virus the very first night there, probably from using the public washrooms. I ended up being hospitalized at the very place I was looking for work, adding insult to injury at this point.
It had been a few years since my husband, Abdollah, passed away. With me being hospitalized, my children were all alone, although they were often alone with me constantly working or looking for a job.
I couldn’t muster the energy to check on my kids. In my delirium, I told a nurse that I had no one and that my kids were all alone at home. The next day, the nurse came to my side and told me that she had found someone to care for my children and that I just needed to focus on recovering.
After two weeks, I had recovered and I went home. What I saw then, I still cannot believe. My children had new clothes, the first time in two years. The fridge was full of food, even my kids’ favorite snacks that I could never afford to buy. My children were each holding a doll tightly against their small bodies, peacefully asleep.
God bless MAP. Working three shifts, I could barely put enough food on the table. Now, in my absence, they fulfilled so many of my children’s wishes. God bless them.