Maha’s karak..Maha’s story

This is the story of Maha. And this is the story of a brave young woman who has removed all societal boundaries to earn a living.

I thank my colleague radio and television host Fayez Alsada for posting this story on his Instagram account and for how he through social media promoted what she is doing to earn a living. 

Like hundreds of other people who received the broadcast about Maha, I was very much touched and impressed. So I decided to call Maha and listen to her story.

The broadcast AlSada filmed shows Maha sitting on a street and selling food and drinks she makes at home to earn a living. 

When asked by him what her dream was, she said her only dream was to have a kiosk where she can sell more products.

Over a glass of Karak, Maha and I met and her karak was certainly more tasty than the fancy coffee shop we had our karak in.

We started talking about what she does for a living and why she does that. And every word she said made me respect her more and more for her courage.

Young people complain today about not having a place in the workforce and I can never disagree that they have all the right to be frustrated about being jobless but I also believe that when there is a will there is a way.

Maha’s income doesn’t exceed BD 180 a month since she is divorced and jobless and the government does assist people in such situations through an allocated budget for these cases but that can never be sufficient to rent a place, eat and survive. 

So Maha decides she needs to survive, rents a car and works as a driver in the morning dropping children to their schools.

In the afternoon she prepares her karak, some deserts and fresh juices and sits somewhere and sells them. When rain falls, HER income stops.

In some cases unfortunately she faces problems with people who do not accept the culture of a young woman trying to making a living by doing something decent and she is therefore harassed.

But in general Maha now has the reputation of building a life from the streets, something I am personally very proud of.

There are many Mahas in Bahrain and like any other country we also have issues that need to be tackled. But we have also become a country that is now culturally accepting women in jobs women weren’t accepted in. Today we see Bahraini women as airline stewardesses, chefs, pilots.

Decades ago some jobs used to be seen as taboos for women but that’s not the case anymore.

Now going back to Maha, this young hard-working young woman, I am writing this piece to encourage readers to support people like Maha..The market is always dominated by big names and thousands of dinars are spent every day benefiting huge bakeries and juice caterers. Supporting home cooks and buying from them spreads the culture of social responsibility. This does not mean boycotting well established businesses because the growth of our economy is based on that but giving even a small share to productive people at home enables them to earn an income and survive. 

My dear Maha. You are an inspiration to Bahraini youth and many doors will be opened to you. I salute parents who bring up generations like Maha. Mahas are the people capable of making a change, changing all unacceptable perceptions we have had for decades.