Training Helps Khadija to Attain Financial Stability

Khadija married Dulal Mia who is a bus driver by profession. They have two sons. Their elder son Nahidul Islam attended only class eight and now he’s working in a company in Dhaka and younger son Jahidul Islam is attending class seven.

Before getting connected with the Capacity Building of Farmers Family (CBFF) project of ADRA Bangladesh, they were suffering a lot with their family. Their family comprised of four members and they had a small house made of a tin sheet for dwelling. Since the income of her husband was very little, she couldn’t maintain her family with ease. Sometimes, they had to spend a day only having two meals. They had to struggle for attaining three meals a day. Moreover, Khadija and her family members weren’t aware of health and hygiene. Even she didn’t know about women's rights. She couldn’t contribute to her family financially as she got no skill to attain a job.

Back in 2015, the CBFF project of ADRA Bangladesh organized a community meeting at Mehergoan for group formation. They discussed the project activities. Khadija attended the meeting and she liked the activities of the project. She thought if she could involve with the CBFF project, she could get rid of the worst situation and do something better for her family. She enrolled in the group and started attending every session, meeting, and training.

As per the group policy, all the members of the group had to deposit Tk. 20 per week intending to raise group funds and the group members would get the opportunity to take a loan from the fund. Khadija started to deposit money to the group fund. One day CBFF project staff were talking to organize tailoring training for developing the skill of group members. Khadija showed her interest to get the training and enlisted her name for the training program. She accomplished the training by attending a 42 days course having strong perseverance. She received a sewing machine from the project. That encouraged her profusely and she started a new journey in her life.

She was sewing mostly the dresses for women and girls. At the beginning of her journey, she was able to earn a little amount of money. She was utilizing that money for maintaining the daily expenses of her family. Later, she took Tk. 5,000 as a loan from the group fund intending to start a small cloth business. She was earning Tk.1,500 from the business and Tk. 3,000 from sewing dresses per month.

Khadija received another training on Livestock Vaccination from the project. She started working as a vaccinator in her local community. She was collecting vaccines from the Upazila Livestock office.

Now, she gives the vaccine to hens and ducks in the community and her working area has been expanded to 5 more villages where she has been able to vaccinate around 2500 hens and ducks. She takes Tk. 2 per hen and Tk. 5 per duck and earning around Tk. 7,000 per month.

At present, Khadija is the second earning member of her family. Her husband Dulal Mia is staying in Dhaka and continuing his driving job. Every month he sends money. Now, Khadija is maintaining her family with ease and enjoying a happy life.

“I’m very grateful to ADRA for their great effort in changing my life. If ADRA didn’t provide their support, I would never be able to pass through the hurdles in my life,” Khadija showed her gratitude to ADRA.