July 2022
Combined Rotary Mothers' School
Dhaka, Bangladesh
Dear Members of the Rotary Clubs of Strathcona, Mayfield, Urban Spirits, Whyte Avenue, Grand Prairie and Hinton,
It makes us happy to tell you about how things have been here. We enjoy our learning very well. We are learning with joy and fun and we pass a joyful time in school without any stress and sadness, we feel this time as the best time of the day.
Now we would like to share some stories of our success, struggles and overcoming. This is rainy season in our country which is a perfect time for tree plantation. A group of mothers from our school Soniya, Monju, Josna and Pakhi have planted some vegetables in the free space of the slum and on the land owner’s rooftop, like cucumber, bean, eggplant, green chili and tomato inside containers. Plants grow very fast and easily in monsoon. Our teacher had a session about vegetable cultivation & tree plantation in school. We do not care who will eat the vegetables or won the trees but happy to do the work in the free space of the slum and any rooftops.
Afsana is our young friend, intelligent but she did not get any opportunity for education in her childhood. Her father had died before her birth and she has no brother and sister. Her mother did not get married again thinking about her daughter. They used to live in the village but their livelihood was very difficult there. So, when Afsana was 7, her mother moved to Dhaka for a better livelihood. Her mother rented a room in our slum and started working as a housemaid and Afsana used to go to the landladies’ house with her mother. There days were going well but suddenly her mother died by a heart-attack leaving Afsana only 13. One landlady gave shelter of the girl and arranged her marriage in 2 years with a poor boy considering her safety and security. He was a rickshaw puller. After the marriage Afsana had to faced many new challenges which she did not understand how to overcome. She was illiterate and did not know how to handle such situation. One day Afsana and her husband quarreled with each other. Her husband was very lazy. So, he didn’t go out for work regularly. He wanted Afsana to work as maid and take responsibility to run the family but Afsana couldn’t find a better way. One day a mother of our school Josna going beside their room, listened a sound of crying from the slum house. Josna became curious to know what happened! She entered into the room and saw a young girl was crying sitting on the floor. It was none other but Afsana. Josna sat beside her and asked her about the reasons for crying. Afasan said everything to Josna, after hearing Josna shared with her about our Mother School. Afsana became surprised to know about our mother school and its work. She was very excited to visit us. Josna told her that the next day I will take you to our school; and next day Afsana went to the mothers’ school with Josna and admitted here. There was a fellow water land beside Afsana’s house. Afsana took some seeds from the school for planting vegetables by the

side of the pond. Afsana planted those seeds and had got a lot of vegetable there. Later on, she has cultivated a vegetable garden in the free space of our slum, she grows all seasonal vegetables in her garden and earning money. She shares her vegetables with many of us including Josna. Now she collects more productive seeds from the market for her vegetable garden and finally she has found a way. In that way she turns her life, now she is learning and able to contribute to her family. Now they are a happy family. She is thankful to Amarok friends and Amarok society.

Did we share with you that our school house is relocated a little far from the old location? Some new mothers have been enrolled and our learning progress has been going fast. You would be happy to know that 10 mothers of our school can write about myself, creative sentences & paragraph with any topic like on fruits, flowers, animals, about our school, and birds. We have started writing “journal” change of the life of individual mother. Once a week we practice it. Sometimes, we draw something and then we write about that. 12 mothers are very good in English, can write long sentences and 8 can write good story in Bengali. We are happy to see our learning progress and proud to remove the word ‘illiterate’ from our life.
Now we will share about a Micro-school student named Liza and her change in characteristic and life. She is 8 years old and a good girl but little lazy. She loves long sleep. Her father sells nuts going door to door and her mother is a housemaid. When her mother went out to work, she loved to stay idle and sleep, did not help her mother. In an afternoon returning home from work, Liza’s mother saw a group of children were going somewhere with pen, pencil and notebook. Liza’s mother became surprised “this is not a schooltime then where are they going”? She asked them, “Where are you going”? The children said, “in our Micro School”. She said again. “Can I go with you? The children said, yes. Liza’s mother went with them and discussed with the mother-teacher Monira and proposed her to teach Liza. This is how Liza became the student of Minira and now an active girl and learning quickly.
Some of the children are graduated from our micro-school and now in the next grades in High School. Koli is one of them. She is 16 and studying in grade 9. She teaches her siblings. Her mother is a housewife and father is a day laborer. She has 2 younger sisters. She is the eldest among them. Her father is extremely poor, could not buy learning materials for the daughter. Koli collects materials from Amarok Mother School and teaches her sisters. Once her father thought about arranging Koli’s marriage but her mother-teacher Parvin after knowing about it and stopped him. It was not easy to change the mind of her father. Our friends Soniya, Josna, Nazma had several discussions and clarified the potential risk of early motherhood and finally her father changed his mind.
We are grateful to your support for our education
With love
Sonia, Popi, Fatema, Josna, Nazma and Parvin
(Mothers of Combined Rotary Mothers' School)
"The Friendly Club"
Edmonton, AB T6L 6B6
Canada