A small business owner and homemaker reflects on work and family life during COVID

English transcript | نسخة عربية

Nationality: Indian
Occupation: Entrepreneur
Date of interview: 12 August 2020
Language of interview: English

Zahra is an entrepreneur, a maths tutor, and mother of twin 13-year old boys. She has been in Kuwait for 15 years since leaving Kerala, India, when she got married. Three years ago, she started an online dress shop. And around two years ago, she and three friends started their own boutique in Kuwait, tailoring all kinds of dresses. It was very successful, but when COVID hit, no one could go out, no one could shop and the rental for their store and their tailor’s salary could not be covered, so the business had to be shut down. However, Zahra said that she learned so much from the experience that she doesn’t consider it a loss of her investment. She figures that on a practical level, her loss is what she would have paid for an MBA, so this first business is her MBA.

In December, she remembers they would read in the morning papers about the virus in China, but never imagined it would come here. She and her family had booked tickets to travel in March after exams were over, but then February brought Corona to Kuwait and by March things were shutting down. They booked tickets again in June to travel to Turkey, not anticipating the travel restrictions. But then things got serious, a full government lockdown was enforced, and she lost her business. Her husband was still working and getting a salary so she said they were blessed to be able to afford their flat and expenses. They didn’t worry about food because when they knew there would be a lockdown, they and their friends went to the market and bought bulk groceries so that they would have plenty of supplies to cover them for an extended period of time.

Their unemployed bachelor neighbors used to work in laundries but now roam around all day and she feels sad for them. She and her husband donate financially to their community volunteer programs for those less fortunate. They are too afraid of the virus to volunteer.

The inability to meet up with and visit friends has been stressful, as everyone stays indoors. For months, Zahra would only step outside within her building to get sunlight with her kids, always wearing masks and gloves, always afraid when another person passed by. Once the lockdown ended and her husband started working, she went out a bit more, trying hard not to get anxious. She washes all her groceries, her clothes, and is very careful. During lockdown, she somehow managed her stress by learning to cook many new things and talking on the phone all day with family and friends. Although Zahra says she is a housewife, she is spending her time indoors buying and selling shares and teaching high school maths online as well. Zahra says that the time stuck inside with the family was pretty stressful for the first two months. She feels like she was the one guilty of screaming or getting upset with everyone in the beginning, but her family was nice about it. The boys were doing online schooling and meeting up with friends virtually through the games they all played online. Mostly, she feels the Indian schools transitioned to online fairly well and her children adapted smoothly. Now she only waits for the time to visit her parents and relatives back home, and this is the first and most important goal.

“I learned from this crisis is, nothing is, nothing is, you know, nothing is certain. Because uncertainty, this is, I think always I tell my husband that this is a time of uncertainty. Even we wake up on the next morning, you can say that, ‘oh, I am alive’. That is... in my point of view. ...[It] made me think that, we think that if we have money, we can do, we have everything. But that is not true. There is times the money can do nothing.”

In the clip above, Zahra recounts how her small business failed because of COVID, and why she has taken it in her stride.

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