Champa Mallick from Shyamnagar, Satkhira
Muslima Khatun (30) lives at Keoratali village in Dhumghat Ishripur Union of Sathira. Her husband Abed Ali Gazi (38) is a day laborer by profession. She has two kids. The little income her husbands was never enough to maintain her family expenses including education cost of her kids. She thinks it is her fate and will never change. However, one day she finds out that some women near her house are trying to form an organization being facilitated and encouraged by BARCIK. She became interested to join with them and become members of the newly formed women organization. She participated in different meetings and discussions and learnt various things including the way to become economically solvent through taking different initiatives. She also learns that BARCIK is facilitating the women who are interested to get involved in income generating activities, to form a group and become member of the group as well. From then on he participated in every discussion and from these discussions she continued to gain ideas on various topics.
In such a discussion, she learns women also can work together with their husband to make themselves economically solvent. She became encouraged to do something that could earn her cash to support her husband. Thus, she planned to farm different vegetable and spinaches in her homestead land and shared her idea with BARCIK. Seeing her interest BARCIK provided her seeds and other materials including technical supports. She then farmed vegetable and spinaches in her small amount of lands. However, farming vegetable by making proper use of her small lands she discovers that she does not need to buy vegetable in the market and could save the cash which she would spend for vegetable. She also was able to meet the nutritional needs of his family as well as sell the surplus in the market.
This journey to become economically solvent make her confident to take some other initiatives which could pave her way to earn additional cash staying at home and after doing all household works. Thus, consulting with her husband she started rearing livestock. She bought some local breed chickens and ducks from her village and kept them. She also consulted with the other members of the organization on how she could get supports and expand the livestock rearing. However, the president of women organization in her village helped her to access to loan from a private organization. With the loans she bought goats. With her utmost care her livestock also started to increase.
Today including successfully farming vegetable and spinaches in an environment friendly way Muslima Khatun continues to raise goats, ducks, chickens and pigeons one by one. She is now able to support her family and buy necessary things for her family members with her income. Now she believes and has the confidence that one can change their life and livelihood status if sincerely substantial initiative is taken. She also believes that an enterprising woman can become a faithful partner in a family. She said, ‘both men and women need to do something to improve a world.’ ‘But the most important thing is to have an attitude get involved in income generating activities with different initiatives. Because development is never possible without substantial initiatives’-she added.
Translated by Silvanus Lamin
