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Helena
Climbs up the Stairs of Establishment
“Now he cares for me. He consults with me before taking any
decision. But situations were not like this. I had no voice in my family,”
this is the way
Helena
recalls her past, smilingly.
Mst. Helena Begum, age 35, inhabitant of Gilarchala
village of Gazipur
district was a poor lady eight years ago. Her husband earned a little by
selling vegetables. Their monthly income was only Tk. 1,500. They were
hopeless about their future because poverty was their regular guest.
Helena goes on, “One day I
met an official of BEES. He informed me about their services. I spent few
sleepless nights, thinking what to do. I was in dilemma, whether I should
tell it to my husband or not! I discussed it with some of my neighbors but
they couldn’t give me any suggestion. Then I talked to my husband. He
encouraged me. He said that if I could manage some loan, he could start a
grocery shop.” That was the beginning for Helena Begum. She got involved
with BEES. At first she received a loan of Tk. 3,000 with which her husband
started a business of raw materials. Next year she received Tk. 4,000 as
credit from BEES and bought a cow by Tk.6,000. She added Tk. 2,000 from her
savings. In this way every year she took loan from BEES, expanded her
husband’s business and bought more cows and began to rear them. She got
financial help unto Tk. 22,000 from BEES. She already sold five cows worth
Tk. 40,000. Now she possesses six cows. Helena says, “Now I have my own
income. I’m helping my husband to run the family. I’m cultivating vegetables
in front of my house, rearing cattle and poultry and selling them to
market.” Being attached with BEES for eight years, the scenario has
completely changed. Helena’s family has become well-known in the village.
Her husband is also doing well in his business. Now he possesses a large
grocery shop. Now their yearly income is nearly about one lac.
“In my early life I had to go through a lot of sufferings,
so I don’t want my children to go through the same. I’m determined to
educate them properly. My daughter Nazma Akter is a student of class six and
my son Al Amin is in class three,”
Helena
states. Now Helena is the name of a successful lady in her village. It is
her perseverance, self-confidence, patience and hard labor, with which she
earned this success. “Eight years ago, nobody considered me important, not
even my husband. But now I’m enjoying equal right in the family. My
neighbors also often come to me for different types of suggestions. I feel
secured financially and socially,” she says.
She also informs that BEES’ activities are really
praiseworthy because they are giving advice on health, hygiene, sanitation
and nutrition etc. She says, “It is BEES which helped us to know about
hygiene practices i.e. hand washing with ash or soap after defecation, use
of sandal during defecation, washing hands before meal. BEES also let us
know about equal right of men and women, voting rights of women etc.”
Helena Begum informs
her future plan. She wants to extend her live-stock project. She often gives
advice to her neighbors, “Take help from BEES. They will give you financial
support and advice. If you are determined and hardworking, success will
knock at your door.”
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An
Example of Self-reliance
‘A person is an
architect of his own destiny’. Mst. Fazila Begum from Chakbhola Kha village of Shibganj
upazila under Bogra district believes it from the deep of her heart. Now she
is highly trained, economically solvent and empowered in her own family as
well as in the society that have made her an outstanding model to be
followed by other distressed women who have even little positive dream upon
their lives to get rid of severe poverty. But some help is needed to foster
one’s dream to make into success. Fazila Begum has materialized her desire
into practice with the help of BEES’ poverty alleviation program and her
foresight and perseverance to develop her family from pragmatic
perspectives.
Being a member of a
poor family, Fazila Begum experienced the dark hand of poverty from her very
childhood. Her father was a petty farmer and found it very difficult to
maintain a large family containing eight members. Her father arranged her
marriage when she was only fourteen with a stranger without her consent
thinking that it would lower his financial burden. Her father’s desire
proved to be ineffective because his son-in-law was an idle person and
disliked working. So they had to live in her parents’ house. Then the time
was very miserable for her. Her husband was not in a position to manage even
food for her. As a young woman, she could not satisfy her own demand, not
even a good shari. She had to restrain herself from all types of amusement.
In the meantime, she gave birth to a son that aggravated the situation very
badly. Her family fell into a sea of miserable distress. That was the time
she felt the necessity to join the BEES program to decorate her inner desire
in the way of achieving outstanding success. Now she is at the age of
thirty-eight. At present she believes herself as a successful entrepreneur
and she unhesitantly confesses that BEES is the organization that encouraged
her to be self-reliant and helped to materialize it in practice.
From the very
beginning, she had no property except eight poultry. They had to live from
hand to mouth. Later on her father gave her ten decimals of land and advised
to make her life meaningful on the basis of this piece of land. This piece
of land brought her additional thinking because she had no money to
cultivate it. She sought advice from her cousin, Amina, who described her
how she was benefited taking loan from BEES and also advised her to be
enrolled with BEES for getting a loan. Hearing this, Fazila felt an inner
sprit that gave rise to a new desire to glorify her life. She promptly took
decision to be enrolled in BEES Samiti as she heard about several examples
of BEES’ successful members. She along with her cousin went to Kamrun Apa,
who with the consent of all the members of the Samiti arranged all the means
to make her member. The members in the BEES Samiti listened to her painful
story and assured her of all kinds of help. At first, she received a loan
amounting to five hundred taka in 1995 from the Samiti for the purpose of
cultivation. She successfully utilized the money in potato and paddy
cultivation and gained a lot. After paying back the money, she took loan for
second time and bought a sewing machine. This brought a radical change in
her life. Then she could earn enough money to bear the educational expenses
of her son and to manage the other family demands. At this stage, fortune
forwarded its good hand to her. In 1997, she received a loan of two thousand
taka worth to purchase a cow. She took loan for three times in order to
purchase cow which led her to take the profession of livestock rearing. She
also took loan in 1998 and 2001 for purchasing a van and one ‘bigha’ of land
respectively. From 1995 to 2002, she took loan for eight times and each time
she tried to procure a new property. She successfully paid back the entire
loan in installment. Now she is the owner of four cows, one ‘bigha’and ten
decimals of land, a sewing machine etc. She achieved the property with her
uninterrupted perseverance and mental strength.
When you have nothing
in your life, what drives you ahead? Dreams, hopes, aspirations etc. That’s
what gave Fazila the sprit to thrive ahead with the support and advice of
BEES. Her son completed Diploma in Agriculture and her daughter is
continuing her study in a Polytechnic Institute with the loan from BEES. Her
son is now engaged in teaching profession and contributes a lot for her
family. Nowadays, her monthly income is near to six thousand taka which is
four thousand taka more compared to her previous income before joining the
BEES.
Now she leads a
standard life. Her monthly expenditure has exceeded from fifteen hundred and
seventy five taka to forty five hundred taka and now she can spend more on
health care, education and for other household activities. In the sphere of
education, health care, clothing and other household affair she spends one
thousand, one hundred, five hundred and twenty three hundred respectively as
well as saves two thousand taka per month.
Nowadays, she doesn’t
believe in the traditional saying “Be it today or tomorrow, we’ll have to
get our daughter married, so why not now.” She gives much emphasis on
emancipation of women economically, socially and culturally. All these
ideological revolution happened into her mind through the training and
orientation program in BEES Samiti. She believes that women are not any more
the animals to be kept within the four walls. They have the role in social
development being efficient human resources of the country. BEES provides
not only financial support through its credit program but also creates an
atmosphere where every member is aware of health, nutrition, rights etc.
“BEES with its highly qualified professionals provided me training on
sewing, poultry and livestock rearing, handicraft, vegetable cultivation”,
says Fazila Begum. She also expresses her gratitude to BEES for its support
services like promoting adult education, distributing high yielding variety
crop seed and saplings, encouraging gardening and tree plantation, promoting
health care services, ensuring consciousness about the importance of
education, cleanliness, rights and duties in the society. She has achieved
all these knowledge through participating in the weekly sessions in BEES
Samiti. Co-operative behavior of the teachers and Apas in the Samiti
followed her path to reach at the present position.
In our society, women
are given little scope for dreaming of a better future. Even under these
circumstances, if any woman dares to dream of a better life, she has to
fight against several obstacles in the society. Mst. Fazila Begum is the
best example of gathering courage. She encourages her daughter and neighbors
to be revolutionary. She believes that the concept-freedom is not
ascribable, it is achievement oriented. For this, women should be diligent
and hard working. She no more believes in superstition, early marriage,
dowry system etc. She encourages women through campaigning modernized vision
and believes that there is no difference between man and woman and both have
equal right. She promotes consciousness among the villagers about tree
plantation, cleanliness and about the basic rights of women.
With the grace of BEES,
now she is empowered in her family as well as in the society. Before joining
the BEES Samiti, she used to be oppressed in her family. Her thinking was
not valued by her husband and she was beaten for several times even for a
silly mistake. Then she deemed herself as a valueless beast in the society.
But now, with her perseverance and great endeavor, she enjoys a pleasing
atmosphere both in the family and society where everyone respects her, gives
value to her decisions. People try to follow her advice and she can
contribute something for the well being of the society.
The story is at the end
point. But the experience that Fazila Begum has achieved will never end. She
is looking forward to welcoming further achievement in her life remaining
involved with the poverty alleviation program of BEES.
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