Shahana Begum fights poverty

“Being poor and being a mother of two children is not a nice feeling. My husband is a rikshaw puller and also sometimes works as a day labourer. Since I have my own family, every day I wished for some financial help and a way out so that I can leave poverty behind and give my family two proper meals a day and a house to live in. The local service provider trained me in livestock rearing and the Cross-border project provided me three goats and some capital which helped me to start my fight against being poor”, says Shahana Begum, a beneficiary of the Cross-border TATI&MD project.

Shahana is telling about her goats

Shahana, mother of two sons Shahin of 10 years old and Sajon of 6, is a member of the livestock beneficiary group ‘Bakul’. The group received training on goat rearing from the local service provider in livestock, Md. Jabbar. Together with the goats, they also received BDT1,500 as working capital to provide for shelter, some feed and treatment of the goats. With the technical support of the local service provider, and the facilitation of the project team at the Melandaha area office, the project beneficiaries get regular advice and guidance to look after their goats. According to Field Facilitator of Cross-border project Mr. Fazlur Rahman, "Success always depends on hard work and determination. Shahana is the one who deserves success".

Thirty years old Shahana is a hard working woman and has clear ideas on marketing her goats. She is planning to sell her goats during Eid-Ul-Azha, the second largest religious festival in Bangladesh, where they sacrifice livestock.  She expects to get almost double the price than any other time of the year. Normally a goat sells at a price of BDT 4000-5000 but during Eid-Ul-Azha due to the high demand the market price goes up to BDT 6000-7000.

She is sending her sons to school and is determined to continue their education. She explains: “During our weekly group meeting we discuss our problems with our goats, but we also discuss other things in our life such as our health and that of our kids and the food we need to stay healthy, our role as women and the problems we face and how to handle these. We also talk about the need for education for our kidsbut also for us, what to do to prevent damage in case of flooding of our compounds, and much more. Now I am much more aware than before about many problems and feel I am able to ensure a better life for my children. In the future I would like to buy some land for my own house and may be also buy a cow.”