DanChurchAid
Bangladesh
Not giving in
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| Bharati Rani |
Bharati joined her RDRS group over 10 years ago, after the Teesta had destroyed two acres of ancestral land and left the family in poverty. She cannot recall how many loans she received, and always paid back on time, investing the profits in educating their sons’ futures. In her opinion, “Life will not give me anything if I surrender. We have suffered a lot, but we always hope for the future.”
These days, the couple make a wide range of bamboo products and sell them around the villages. There is plenty of demand for their products – tables, chairs, toys and other household items, so they do not even bother with a stall at the market place. Their children, Sanjay Kumar, a commercial student, and Dhananjay Kumar, in Class VIII, help their parents when they can. “Even so, we can’t meet the demand at the start of the dry season”, says Bharati while working in the yard. “We need to expand but we can only do that when we have a place of our own, somewhere we can build up our stocks for the peak season, giving us larger profits.” Poverty and environmental disasters do not inhibit ambition, it seems.
Following their business plan, they recently bought another piece of land in Singerdabi, 15 kilometres away from the river, where they are hoping to settle down, and establish their business. “After building our house, we’re going to apply for an Enterprise Loan from RDRS. Then, when we employ others, we could even send our products to the city, although I’m not sure how to do that.”
Bharati and Binod are quite sure they can succeed in this venture, but agree with Nazmul Huda, the local RDRS branch manager, that the most important thing they’ve done is to educate their children. As their son Sanjoy puts it, “When I complete my course, there will be no problem in the future”.
By RDRS , DanChurchAid partner in Bangladesh
