Mrs. Pom, a vegetable seller from a neighboring village, shared her story of grief with me. I wept as I listened to her speak about her son, who lost his soul to drug addiction two years ago. Her pain did not end there—just two months later, she also lost her beloved husband.

Her son successfully graduated from high school in 2021, when the world was still close to the struggles of COVID-19.

He longed to pursue his dream through higher education. His mother even said she was willing to sacrifice a few of her cows if it meant her son could get in.

But along the way, he lost hope. At the age of 30, he ended up working in a sweatshop. Surrounded by the wrong crowd, he fell into drug addiction.

In just two years of addiction, his mother lost eight pieces of farmland trying to save him.

Finally, in 2023, the young man came to his senses. Kneeling at his mother’s feet, he wept and promised to leave drugs behind and stay home with her.

But only five days later—weak from withdrawal and refusing to eat—the boy passed away. His soul left this world, leaving his mother in grief.