Destiny would have sealed their fate otherwise, as has been the case for many of their peer. Not anymore. Time has changed. And it’s a welcome change. A change takes place for good.
Even in recent past many young women of Jessore’s sprawling regions alongside the Indo-Bangla border used to fall easy prey to human traffickers. In desperate bid to avail a better livelihood abroad those women, many of whom of tender age, used to return home tormented, devastated both physically and mentally. Those dejected young lives with their dreams shattered would carry on that agony throughout rest of their life.
In the process, many of those trafficking victims used to find the doors of their paternal lodge as well as in-laws’ house shut behind their back. Not anymore.
Thanks to establishment of a training centre at remote bordering village of Basatpur that many of these vulnerable women are now finding some alternate ways of leading a better life. No longer they consider the risky move of crossing the border and put their lives at the mercy of destiny. By graduating themselves in the skills of tailoring and stitching from this training centre, the brave women of Basatpur now give shape to their respective fates.
Through this training centre not only they learn the skills but also have started applying the just-learnt skills in making apparels and knick-knacks that have also found some market linkage and access courtesy some external supports.
It all started with The City Bank Limited believing to the idea of such a centre imparting trainings to poor rural women and then agreeing to spend its corporate social responsibility (CSR) fund to this noble venture which was a part of CSR advocacy initiative of Management and Resources Development Initiative (MRDI) and Manusher Jonno Foundation (MJF).
Now interested women of the village are receiving training from this centre to develop their skills in tailoring and stitching and exploring all possibilities of generating income for their respective families.
Women of Basatpur have set up an association to work together to make the change for themselves. The association – Basatpur Mohila O Shishu Unnayan Sangstha – (Basatpur Women and Children Development Association) is registered with the Department of Women and Children Affairs. Once the initial financials and managerial supports are exhausted, the members of this association should be able to run the show – creating yet another example of sustainability.
