'I have nothing. Rana Plaza took my everything'

Nilufa can walk now. It has been three years since she can move about without her wheelchair. But there's still a leg brace with three belts that keeps her swollen right leg in place. When she walks, you can detect a drag but at the same time, ease in her movement – a telling sign of how long she had been walking this way perhaps. 

A decade ago, Nilufa not only had both of her functioning legs intact, but she also had a husband, a mother and a young son – all under the same roof. And she had a job. 

"I loved everything about working in Rana Plaza," said Nilufa earlier this month, sitting in a small dark room in Savar where we met, with her right leg propped up. "We were paid by the first week of the month. It was a 'relax' working environment. We could roam about [on the factory floors] during breaks," she recalled. 

But 24 April 2013 –  approximately six years on the job at the Rana Plaza building on the sixth floor – changed everything. 

The cost of surviving Rana Plaza 

After being rescued from under two dead bodies and a roof of a collapsed building, Nilufa voyaged into the unknown of body repair. Her right leg has required, thus far, 11 surgeries. 

"I was told by the doctor five years ago I still need another one to fix my vein problem," said Nilufa. "At that time, they said it would cost me Tk2.5-3 lakh." 

The surgery, she was told by the doctors, will get rid of the leg brace she wears now. 

The delay is solely due to the lack of funds. 

Nilufa also has kidney problems and "my eyesight. I have trouble seeing properly," she said. And two years ago, she was diagnosed with breast tumor. 

Since the collapse, Nilufa said she has gone and received treatment from 22 medical institutions, including Gonoshasthaya Kendra, Enam Hospital, National Institute of Kidney Diseases & Urology (NIKDU), Dhaka Medical College, Birdem, Health and Home, Centre for the Rehabilitation of the Paralysed (CRP), BDM hospital. 

In the first six months since the collapse, she remained in the hospital for treatment and medical bills were paid for by the government, from what Nilufa deciphered.

The most vigorous treatment phase, which spanned over nine months and seven surgeries, cost her Tk4.5 lakh in total. This, Nilufa said, she had to pay out of her own pockets. 

"This money came from my previous savings and the money I received as compensation," Nilufa reconfirmed over the phone on 17 April.  

Rana Plaza collapse, one of the deadliest industrial accidents in modern human history, was a watershed moment that ushered in substantial improvements in the RMG sector. However, many survivors still remain in a dire state. Photo: Bloomberg

Although Nilufa could not say how much her medical bills cost in total in the last decade, she remembers well how she received in total Tk2 lakh and 15 thousand as compensation. 

"I also had three surgeries on my leg which BRAC paid for, and one surgery which was paid for by CRP," said Nilufa.  

We could not independently verify these figures. 

One accident, crippled income and a damaged family

Currently, Nilufa lives with her only son who is fast approaching his late teen years. The mother is concerned for him. "My son, Rifat Patwary, was only five and a half years old when Rana Plaza happened. And six years later, my husband left," said Nilufa. 

When her husband (Shahid Patwary) took off, Nilufa needed not only money for her treatment but also to run her household. Nilufa was Shahid's sixth wife. 
"My husband didn't take money from me [from the Trust fund] but neither did he give me money." It was Nilufa's young son who worked odd jobs and brought in a few bucks to the house during those years. 

Shahid and Rifat Patwary share an estranged relationship. But there is also tension between the mother and son duo. 
"My son is angry with me because I could not afford his education. He passed Class 5. Beyond that, I couldn't pay. Now he blames me for his fate," she added. 

Nilufa, currently a floating cigarette and paan seller, just wants to make a decent living for her son. And build him a decent life. "I want to give my son a sense of home address," she said.  

"I started my first job in garments for Tk300 taka monthly, as a helper," recalled Nilufa, who said she came to Savar from her village town in Manikganj around the year 2000. "I can't exactly pinpoint the year. But it was a long time ago." 

She also remembers landing a job as an operator shortly after at Biswas Group. And then in 2007, she secured work at Rana Plaza as a sewing machine operator. "My previous job only paid Tk2,400. And that too after long intervals. We would receive one month's salary after three months of work. There was no certainty." 

Nilufa's switch to Samson Apparels in Rana Plaza was based on the promise that salary will be paid on time. And it was true, "we got paid in time." 

From a helper to a machine operator, Nilufa felt confident in her work and the money she brought in for her house, albeit she was barely making minimum wage. 

But her work as a cigarette and paan seller – which she started four years ago at an intersection in Savar city and requires back-breaking long hours exceeding 12 hours daily – makes her the bare minimum of an average Tk350 profit per day. 

"Now in the month of Ramadan, even less," she said. "And the harassment from police hinders business as well. They confiscate my tool and box every chance they get." 

Nilufa was around 13-14 years old when her father passed away, leaving behind seven children and a wife. 

Photo: Noor A Alam

"My mother, a farmer's wife, had to fend for a large family. My oldest brother got married before my father's demise, and got separated from the family." 

Nilufa, as the eldest daughter, felt an inherent responsibility to look after the family. And she somehow managed to work her way into RMG and start earning. 

After the collapse, Nilufa's life, like the 2,000 other survivors, came to a standstill. Nilufa's family relations suffered, her surgeries took time and her employment evaded. 

Nilufa's mother died from a brain stroke a few years ago. 

"My mother, I know this in my heart, could not bear to see my suffering and pain. That's why she died of a brain stroke," lamented Nilufa,  "I have nothing. Rana Plaza took my everything."