Be the Change!

Moni Aktar is from Chittagong. She has two brothers and three sisters. Her father, Mohammad Idris, is a day-laborer and her mother, Mosammat Ayesha, is a homemaker. She dropped out of school due to poverty after finishing grade 3. Later, with the support of the ‘Basic Education for Hard to Reach Urban Working Children (BEHTRUWC)’ project she completed grade 5 but had to stop again as she needed to help with house chores. She joined the STAR project and became a beautician. Challenging social constructs, she is now the bread-earner in her family.

Hailing from Satkhira, Proshanto Kumar Das is the only son of Tulsi Rani and Shwapan Kumar Das.  Both are day laborers. He lost his left leg in a tragic accident while in grade 8. After a year’s gap, he resumed education in grade 9 though he had to walk three kilometers each day with a crutch to go school. But he failed his SSC exam due to one subject . He joined the STAR project and became a tailor and a dress maker. He also gave an improvement exam and completed his SSC exam and is now studying in college. BRAC provided support to attach an artificial limb. Through determination he proved that disability is not a barrier to move forward in life.

Khadija Khatun comes from Rajshahi. Her mother, Nasima Begum is a homemaker. Listed as ‘extreme poor’, she had received assistance to purchase a cow through BRAC’s Targeting the Ultra Poor (TUP) program. Her father Mr. Abdul Khalek is a truck garage worker. She has a younger brother. Khadija went to school under the ‘Basic Education for Hard to Reach Urban Working Children (BEHTRUWC)’ project. She dropped out after completing Grade 5 due to poverty and started to work as a domestic help to financially assist her family. She joined the STAR project and breaking the notions of gender prototype, she became a motor cycle mechanic. She was also able to resume her studies and is now in grade 9.

Mohammed Shakil Hossain is the eldest among two brothers Mohammed Shakil Hossain is the eldest among two brothers. His father Zahir Hossain is a labour in a garments factory and his mother Mossamat Behula is a home maker. His family came to Dhaka, loosing their home and property due to erosion of the river Brahmaputra. He completed grade 5 under the ‘Basic Education for Hard to Reach Urban Working Children (BEHTRUWC)’ project but could not continue in search of earnings. He joined STAR and is now a mobile phone servicing shop owner in Tangail. ‘All is never lost when you have skills’, he wisely states.

‘I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul’