Mehedi Hasan and Farhana Islam Popy got married in 2018 after three years of courtship. They raised a family in about three years.
The eldest of the daughters is now three years and a half old. The youngest is only eight months old.
Mehedi, 31 years old, also helped his parents, who live in Patuakhali.
Both the families plunged into distress when Mehedi, a reporter of the Dhaka Times, was hit with bullets on July 18 when he was covering clashes at Jatrabari in Dhaka during the student protests that sought reforms in civil service job reservations.
The protests, which the students had held since July 1, flared into a mass uprising towards the end of the month, finally overthrowing the Awami League government on August 5.
鈥榃e didn鈥檛 have much money. But, we were happy,鈥� Popy said on September 24.
Mehedi called her at around 4:00pm that day, asking her not to call him unless it was an emergency because the area was tense as gunshots were fired all around. 鈥業鈥檒l get back home at night.鈥�
An unnamed person, however, called her from Mehedi鈥檚 mobile before the maghrib prayers to tell her that Mehedi had been wounded. Mehedi was pronounced dead when he was taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital.
鈥業 don鈥檛 know how I could cope. I have two children to rear. I need a job. But, I have only completed secondary schooling,鈥� Popy, 26 years old, said.
The couple lived in a house at Keraniganj rented for Tk 5,000 a month. But, the landlord has asked her to leave by this month as the rent has not been paid for four months.
鈥業鈥檒l move to live with my parents,鈥� Popy said as her in-laws are not willing to support her. Her parents live also in a rented house at Keraniganj.
鈥楳y in-laws want me to move to Barishal. But, if I go there, I can鈥檛 provide my daughters with a good education,鈥� Popy said.
Popy鈥檚 parents are dependent on their eldest son, who has his own family to look after. Her father has been paralysed for three years. Her mother is a homemaker. And, her younger brother is a Class VIII student.
She has been at odds with her in-laws over the share of money 鈥� Tk 1 million in savings certificate and Tk 50,000 in cash from the Awami League government and Tk 200,000 from the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami.
She has already given Tk 75,000 to her father-in-law, but he wants an equal share.
鈥業 don鈥檛 want to cash in the savings certificates. I need them for my daughters. I don鈥檛 have any savings but this, or any landed property,鈥� she said.
Her father-in-law Mosharaf Hossain, who has suffered strokes four times and now has two sons, said that his wife was ill. He has two more sons.
鈥業 have grown old. I鈥檓 not well off. Who will take care of my family?鈥� he said.
Mosharaf received Tk 100,000 from the National Press Club as Mehedi鈥檚 father, but he kept it all for himself.
The Directorate General of Health Services on September 24 came up with a preliminary list of 708 having died in the protests and subsequent uprising. The figure, however, could rise.