A Slum Kid Chasing for Her Dream

“I want to be a doctor; and I’ll treat the poor who doesn’t have the money to get better treatment…” a low voice was heard around the house. It was someone dreaming about helping people. Mahmuda Akter Sima, a student of CSCDP center who reads in class IV, was expressing her dream with her parents. She is 11 years old and currently lives in a rented house at Chalantika slum in Mirpur, Dhaka.

Her father Md. Abbas is a cook by profession and her mother Shahnaj is a housemaid who works for three families daily. Even before Sima was born life brought challenges to her parents. After losing their belongings due to river erosion, they decided to travel to Dhaka and look for better opportunities for their lives. “The catastrophic river took away everything from me,” Abbas said having a deep agony. “I came to Dhaka with much hardship and I could hardly manage two meals for my family,” he added.

Sima is the intelligent and slick girl in her class and she is eager to be a doctor. “I want to stand beside the helpless people, I’ve seen the hardship, I can realize their griefs,” said Sima pointing out the people who are living in their slum. Despite being very young and a slum girl, her dreams are big and who knows whether her dream comes true or not!

“I know there is a lot of money needed to get the medical degree. I do not know if my parents can afford to pay for my studies. Yet I will not be defeated from my determination,” said Sima with a dazzling willpower in her eyes. People live with dreams; and this girl is not the exception.

Living in a slum is always a challenge and Sima decides every day to go to school overcoming all her surrounding hurdles, and dreaming that someday her life will be changed and she will become a doctor. “I want to make my family financially stable. I want to live in a better place than the slum and continue my studies,” said Sima having her lofty dreams.

Sima has got excellent drawing skill. Besides, she always helps her mother in house chores like cooking, collecting water and cleaning. This striving girl has become famous among her friend groups and in her locality. Everybody admires her for humble, friendly and polite manners.