Nepali expatriate Arati was a single mother and a school dropout, coming to Dubai changed her fortune

Nepali expatriate Arati was a single mother and a school dropout, coming to Dubai changed her fortune

27-year-old Dubai expat Arati Rai believes that when someone else has faith in you, it’s easier for your dreams to come true. But for Rai, dreaming didn't come easy with life's struggles stacking up against her from a very young age. Rai, originally from Nepal, was born in Meghalaya, India where her parents were expats. Life was going well until the family had to make a sudden return to their home country. Rai was in Grade 8. Her father had been in an accident that rendered him too weak to work, and Rai had to drop out of school. She got married at this point, and soon had a baby girl. However, the marriage didn’t last and the couple separated seven days after the baby was born. A single mum at 16, with her father unable to earn money, Rai had no choice but to start working. It fell on the teenager to support her parents, siblings and now, a daughter. So when her baby was just six months old, Rai decided to look for work but there were not many options. “I started working in construction sites, doing various works, for the income of the house,” Rai said. It