This Tuesday our club heard from Tanyss Munro, a founder of Start with Mothers, formerly known as the Amarok Society. Start with Mothers has been working since 2007 to teach mothers in the slums of Bangladesh and through them the children in their neighborhoods to give them a quality education. This in turn gives them the knowledge and ability to make decisions that give them, their families and their neighborhood a better life. They are able to find work more easily, can start their own businesses, have the knowledge to stand up for themselves and others against child marriages, the selling of children as slave labor, the tricks of loan sharks and other forms of exploitation. Each year, they daily educate twenty-five mothers who each in turn teach five children from their neighborhood what they themselves have learned that day. Since its inception, Start with Mothers has resulted in four hundred University grads from this neighborhood, as well as many, many more high school grads. The women from their school have started up Co-ops of many different kinds, providing employment and income for many other women from their community. They also help each other out when they need it by collecting food to give out, helping others apply for government aid and explaining to others their legal rights. This in turn has resulted in better living conditions for everyone in their local area. Tanyss told us that Start with Mothers is now working with Rotary clubs in Kampala, Uganda, looking to start another school in Uganda. They are currently working on raising funds for this school. We would like to thank Tanyss for telling us more about this project which our club has supported for many years. |
