Abu Dhabi: Every day at 12pm, Kohinur Begum cannot help bursting into tears.
“This is the time he used to call me every day. It was his lunch break,” she says, and breaks down into fresh sobs.
Begum, 29, a clerk from Bangladesh, was referring to her 38-year-old husband Joynal Kabiraz, who was one of those killed in the tragic road accident on the Abu Dhabi-Al Ain Road on February 4.
Although she was in Dubai at the time, Begum was unaware of her husband’s fate until the day after the accident (Tuesday).
“I got a call from my sister-in-law on Tuesday saying that reporters had visited our house. She said that my husband’s name was listed on a television news channel as one of the victims. It was only then that it hit me why my husband had not picked up his phone the night before. He had already died,” Begum said.
“I am trying to be strong for the sake of our children. But my heart is always restless. I can barely hold myself together,” the bereaved widow told Gulf News, trying hard to control her emotions.
According to Begum, Kabiraz had joined his company as a painter and maintenance worker about three years ago. She followed him to Dubai a year later, and began working as a clerk at a general trading company in Dubai.
“We had accumulated a lot of debt in Bangladesh trying to earn a living for our family. My husband then decided he would work in the UAE to help settle this debt, and I joined him to help,” Begum said
Together, they earned about Dh1,100 per month, and sent back more than half their earnings to settle their debt and support the family.
“We both live in workers’ accommodations in different locations, so I did not see him every day. But we spoke over the phone all the time. Every two months, we would also spend the day together, and this is what we looked forward to,” Begum said.
The couple had been married for 12 years, and have three daughters aged 12, seven and three. Begum said the girls live with their paternal grandparents in Ramkantapur village, which is in the Rajbari district of Bangladesh, four hours away from the capital city.
“They were inconsolable when they first saw the news on television and, having found out after them, I did not know how to calm them. These days I tell them that they still have a mother. I tell them that I will be both mother and father to them,” she said.
Begum will accompany her husband’s body to Dhaka on Tuesday, and he will be buried in their village.
Although she is worried about how she will support her family afterwards, the widow says she will somehow make do.
“I will come back to Dubai after the funeral. As a family, maybe we will eat less food now, or eat less fish and more rice because rice is cheaper. I will raise my children as best as I can, and try to provide them an education and get them settled,” she said.
