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Healing the Woes with a Great Success
You’d nothing but to
admire Sheuli Rani Devi if you met her. Not for her looks. But for her
disposition. For her luminous confidence glittered on her cheeks. Her second
name could well have been Shobita (a glittering sun).
But the village where
she lives in is a tiny place. A place out of the reach of any well-off
community or town. Poverty is scattered in and around her locality. The
scenario throws two questions first: How would she survive? Wouldn’t she
perish of scarcity, without having her basic needs mitigated?
Survive she did, and
how. Indeed, she returned to tell the tale and taught us many a lesson we
could use to fight the poverty pandemic.
She was married to
Niranjan Devanath when she was only sixteen. Due to strain of poverty her
father settled her marriage early. Many days had been passed. Scarcity of
food bestowed on her with decayed health. At the very beginning of their
married life the financial condition of her husband was very harsh. A
shanty, tin-roofed room, which they had to live in, symbolized the sharp
claws of poverty. The condition was so miserable that in rainy days water
used to roll down inside the room, which was surrounded by walls made of
bamboo. To ameliorate the condition, her husband and herself struggled very
hard.
Sheuli studied upto SSC
level while her husband read upto class eight only. Before marriage she was
a teacher in a BRAC NFPE school, now a teacher in a Proshika school. She
took NFPE training from BRAC for 16 days and from Proshika for 14 days. She
was in ASA for seven years also. But their financial problems remained
unsolved. It was too difficult for them to bear all the expenses of the
family with the little income of them both. Sheuli wanted to make the family
financially solvent. Seeing the successful activities of BEES groups around
her locality and the services of BEES, she was interested to be a member.
One day she met BEES’ Field Organizer Mr. Rubel. He described her the system
of BEES group in details. She became convinced that she would gain a lot by
being involved in such a group. She discussed about the matter with her
husband. He encouraged her to be involved in BEES group.
So, to have capital,
she enlisted her name in “Laxmipur Mohila Samiti” of Narayanpur under
Narsingdi district. Later, since she had an educational background and was
experienced, she was selected a leader of the group. She has been continuing
her membership of the group for the last four years and received loans from
the organization for four times. She started tant (loom) business
with the credits that BEES provided. At first she took Tk. 3,000 and bought
a hand pit loom with that money for making gaamchhaa (a light towel).
Next year she received Tk. 5,000 as credit from BEES. She decided to expand
her business with the money and bought looms and materials to weave cloths
with that money. To purchase a loom, she had to pay Tk. 800 to Tk. 900. For
the third time, she took Tk. 6,000 as a loan and invested the amount in the
same business. From the profit of her own and her husband’s business, they
bought a cow for Tk. 10,000. She added Tk. 500 from her savings too. Before
being a member of BEES she had 10 looms, but she could not use all of them
because the workshop was very tiny and worn-out. About 7 to 8 months back
she spent Tk. 3,000 from the profit of her business to mend and make the
workshop newly. Yet the workshop needs to be expanded more. Finally almost
five weeks ago she has drawn her fourth loan of Tk. 8,000 from BEES. This
time she intends to invest this money to purchase a land along with the
investment in her business to expand it.
Sheuli Rani never goes
to haat (weekly village market). Lacking experience in commercial
activities, she cannot have the courage to deal with the marketing
procedures. That is why she has to depend on her husband. Both husband and
wife discuss each other about their business policy. But only her husband
goes to the market to purchase the business materials or to sell the
produced goods. Her husband himself has a small business of wholesale
garments. The marketing area is confined in two places – Baburhaat and
Sheikher Char. When he buys the raw materials from Baburhaat then he sells
the produced goods in Sheikher Char. Contrary wise, while buying raw
materials from Sheikher Char, he sells the products in Baburhaat. But, as to
his own business, he buys wholesale garments from Baburhaat and sells them
at different places.
Sheuli Rani is an
active and spirited woman. In her working days, she spends three hours from 10 a.m. to
1p.m., at Proshika School. Then after lunch she spends her time with her
workshop supervision and management. Sometimes she herself does work with
handlooms in her workshop. There are eight male and one female workers in
the workshop. She has to pay Tk. 50/- per worker daily.
Sheuli does
professional occupation and business simultaneously and thus becomes an
active participant in the moneyline of her family budget. She earns monthly
Tk. 800 from her teachership at the NFPE school of Proshika, and
Tk. 100 from giving the training to the group members of Proshika Samiti. To
assess her family life status making a scrutiny on the periods before and
after her involvement in BEES group, we find that she could earn little from
her own professional occupation. Her husband was also a loser in his
business. Together they could earn only Tk. 5,275. Then they had to spend
niggardly almost all they earned. They spent Tk. 5,256 monthly in those days
of abject poverty. They had no habit of savings. The income of the present
period has increased. Savings during this period also have increased
significantly. Now they earn Tk. 8,200 per month and spend Tk. 6,350 for
household expenditure. It could be the result of the habit of savings that
has developed from the savings practice as a member of BEES group. Her
weekly savings in the group are in total Tk. 2,100.
After becoming a
member of a BEES group she bought a cow with Tk. 10,000. Now she has a calf
and in total 29 hens, cocks and chickens. She gets four eggs daily. Selling
the eggs she gets Tk. 150 in a month. She is now aware of how to rear
poultry and livestock well. For her poultry and cow she gets vaccines and
medicine from nearby veterinary hospital and from Proshika. Being a BEES
member now she gets the food security. Now no longer she has to live from
hand to mouth. Now all her family can take meals thrice a day. Previously
they could not avail protein. Now they eat fish daily and meat once in a
week. Her shanty room has, so to say, become a spacious house built of
tin-roofs and walls. She now rents a room to Proshika NFPE school at Tk. 200
per month, and there she herself is a teacher. From her sound income she
bought a wall-clock, a showcase and a bed. Adding to this all, an awareness
of having a happy future through more investment of savings has been
improved too.
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