Luck was on her side as she had escaped death twice before, but the devastating Rana Plaza building collapse in Savar did not spare her.
Death had trailed Fahima since 2009. In that year she survived the onslaught of cyclone Aila at her village home in Barguna.
She came to Dhaka and quickly got a job at Tazreen Garments.
By sheer luck she dodged death a second time as she left the job just three days before the factory caught fire leaving 112 people dead and scores injured.
Then Fahima took a job at New Weave Bottoms, housed on the second floor of Rana Plaza. This time her fate was sealed and she died in the building collapse.
Fahima came from Badarkhali of Barguna district. She was fifth of the six children of Abdul Aziz.
She lived with her elder brother Siddiqur Rahman at Savar.
Siddiqur told the Dhaka Tribune: “Fahima was unmarried and we were trying to give her in marriage.
“I asked Fahima not to go to work as the cracks developed in the building. But she told me that the authorities told her to go; otherwise they would dock her salary,” he said.
He said he heard about the news of the collapse at 9:25am.
“I searched for her at the Adhor Chandra School ground and nearby medical hospitals but I did not find her anywhere.
“Eventually I found Fahima at the Jurain graveyard on May 8, when she was carried for burial as an unidentified corpse,” he said.