Letter from Parvin in Dhaka, Bangladesh

Parvin in her garden.

July 2022

Parvin, Dhaka, Bangladesh 

Dear members of the Rotary Club of Alliston,

I am excited to write about myself and my family and other things. Hope, all of the Club members is well. My days are going busy with my daily activities. I have to take responsibility for my children. My younger son Rahat studies in science group. As a student of science group, he needs to work hard for his exams. Chemistry and Biology are little harder to him but he is working hard to overcome and complete his syllabus. I have to manage his tuition fees and other related cost for education.  I cannot teach him science but can guide him properly that he completes his homework.

There is a community library in Amarok School that is little far from our school. We had to go there physically to collect books from the library. Then we requested our teacher to develop a system that books are available for reading and don’t have to walk. Our teacher talked to that teacher of Amarok School and now the librarian comes to our school with new books and receives the previous book. We have found an interesting science book full of examples, experiments and colorful pictures. It is really a fun to read that book which makes me satisfying. I took the book at my home for my son. After reading the book, he became very happy. He said, “It’s so easy to understand through pictures and simple description by steps”. We have learnt about measurement, force, pressure, energy, population & environment and such other things from the book. Every lesson starts with a story related to the topic. After reading the science book my younger son and elder son jointly did a “Candle Experiment “. The experiment is really exciting for them and me. The experiment matched a lesson of his test book that would make it easier for his test. We need such type of easier science books for practical learning opportunity of micro-school children.

Parvin and other mothers making handicrafts to earn income.

Now I would like to share about mothers’ Income Generating Activities of our school. Some mothers are involved with different type of handicrafts works and earn money which they are able to help their family. Ranu is a new mother of our school, has come from Vola now lives in our slum. Her husband left her with 3 children. They are 4, 6 and 9 years old. Ranu had to suffer a lot in this situation. She was fallen in troubles to manage the house rent, food and others costs. Little earning from the odd job as housemaid was not enough for her. Then our friend Tania shared with us in school about her family. After hearing her sadness, Majeda proposed to help her and include her in the handicrafts group. The group make rubber band for mask with cotton and arrange training by a skillful mother of that group. Now she is doing this work and can earn additional money sitting home during her free time. Her elder daughter (Mim) helps her to do the work. Majeda teaches Mim. Now the family is having 3 meals a day and looking for a better opportunity.

You know I grow vegetables; besides gardening I have started a rearing chicken in boxes. I have saved some money from my vegetables selling. My elder son sells some vegetables in local market and bought some small chickens for rearing. Now they are growing up and will be saleable in 15 days. At present I have 10 chickens in my small farm. It takes 35 days to be matured and saleable. I could sell them by 150 taka per kg and expecting a profit of 1000 taka from the work.

Parvin feeding her chickens

My micro school is going well. The children are enjoying their lesson as I teach them with lots of activities and learning materials. When they sing a song along, it makes me so happy. Total 5 students in my micro school they are Rahat, Robiul, Moyna, Bristi and Fahim. Among them Rahat and Moyna are good at performing drama and role-play. Sometimes they do role play of a story-based to make fun and simplify learning with my guidance.

As you know there are six seasons in our country and this is the rainy season. In the rainy season we face communication and hygiene problem because our drainage system is not perfect. Every year waterlogging happens for a long time. In this year it starts earlier and already we are in deep trouble. We can’t go out freely to do our necessary work. We have to walk through dirty water with bad smell. Sometimes the toilet lids overflowed and mixed up with water. We can’t solve the problem but we can discuss the issue with our local Counsellor that he develops a good sewerage system before the next election otherwise we will not vote for him.

Thank you for your support to educate us, our children and our community.

With love,

Parvin