I sincerely thank all of my friends, my blog readers and all the wonderful and generous people who responded our appeal and contributed for Phuljan’s treatment, ultimately giving a new life to that family and offering new prospect to the two little kids who were striving hard to find a treatment possibility for their ailing mother.
So far we have collected 171 Euros which is already 21 Euros more than the minimum amount needed for her treatment. It is, of course, very good that we have been able to raise little extra amount which will be of immense use for the family. For the sake of transparency, the contributors’ name and the amount donated have been mentioned below:
Silver Lining Creation (Charity fund) - €55.00
RISTO IMPONEN: €30.00
MD MIAH (& friends): €25.00
Veli-Matti Vähäkivijärvi: €25.00
KOKKONEN TIINA: €15.00
SARAJÄRVI ANNE ELISA: €10.00
MR. MANOJ BARTAULA: €6.00
JOHANSSON MARIA: €5.00
Total: €171.00 (Equivalent to 17100 Tk)
As the family doesn’t have any bank account, the money has already been transferred to Mr Hasinur Rahman’s local bank account and it will take upto a week to be deposited into the account. Currently I am doing a research fieldwork in another part of Bangladesh (in Kurigram) which is almost 5 hours drive from the village of that family. However, I am in contact with Mr Hasinur who is working in that particular area. The family has been already informed that they are going to receive financial assistance for Phuljan’s treatment and, reportedly, the news was a very pleasant surprise for them. Consultation with the doctors is going to be start soon.
On the first of November, I am going to visit that family and the money we have raised will be provided to the family on the same day. There will be local representatives, NGO workers and at least one community health worker present during the handover and, afterwards, we are planning that we will form a treatment assistance committee so that the family can receive other support during the treatment process and facilitate post-operation care as well.
I once again thank all of you who provided the money on time and made this charity possible. I understand that raising money is not an easy task, but due to generous people like you it has been possible. One of the donors donated all the money she had in her account just leaving 0.40 cents in there. Some people could not donate money, but gave us solidarity by sending messages and joining the facebook group. Some even went on to say that they burst into tears after reading the story on my blog and informed that they have been praying for the family. All these meant a lot to us.
Please note that we have formally closed donation request for this case now, so, now onwards don’t send any amount without properly contacting us in advance. All bank account information provided earlier has been removed not to make confusion. However, once again BIG THANKS to all of you and I will be available with further updates after November the 1st. Good luck to all of you!
I’m not a journalist, but sometimes you confront situations where you cannot stay without reporting or letting know others what you have seen and experienced.
Yesterday, in very northern part of Bangladesh, near Indian-Bangladesh border, in an area called Panchagarh, I met a 12 years old girl in a regular microfinance group meeting that microfinance institutions organize to collect loan repayment from their client. The girl was there to represent her mother and, not having any money to pay, she was there to request for a deferment of the payback schedule.
I was surprised by the presence of such a little girl in that meeting of the oldies. Through the help of my translator, I asked her that why she was there instead of her mother. She briefly replied, “She is sick.” The girl did not say anything more. She swabbed her dry leaps and moved away from there. When she was already gone, the other women told us about the family of that girl and the difficulties they are having after their father died nine months ago and, to worst, the only guardian they have left, their mother, is also suffering from cancer.
I explained the situation to the programme manager of that area from the NGO I’m working with. He, Mr. Hasinur, a very compassionate personal, agreed to visit the family with me and have more detailed information of the problem. This morning we took a motorbike and went to visit the family to their home.
In a corner of a village, we reached a little home made of straws. We saw that yesterday’s little girl in front of her house. After cooking some porridge for her ailing mother, she was getting prepared to go to school. Her fourteen years brother Sodiful, had already left home early in the morning, as usual, to work as a laborer somewhere in the city.
Till two years ago, Phuljan Rahman, 35, had a happy family. They had always been poor, but things were getting better as her husband, Abdul, was a laborious man. They had two kids who used to go to school; they owned a house, a little land, a cow and a couple of goats. Their little happy world started crumbling down when Abdul was diagnosed of brain cancer two years ago. They did everything possible to save him. They sold all of their lands, the house, cattle everything. They got help from a few (poor) relatives they had, the neighbors raised fund and she got some loan from microfinance companies. From all those activities they collected almost 150000 Tk (1500 Euros) and all money was spent for Abdul’s unsuccessful treatment.
After her husband’s death, Phuljan herself started working as a laborer, but kids continued to go to school. However, after few months, she herself became sick. When she went to the doctor, she got a reply that she has a cancerous tumor inside her stomach and that should be removed as early as possible. This was, obviously, another big shock to the family.
Phuljan tried her best to get some money for her treatment, but it wasn’t possible. All the assets of the family had been sold for her husband’s treatment and nobody gives her loan because she is not credit-worthy anymore. Neighbors and relatives also turn their head and don’t want to keep contact with her. Government has categorized her as a ‘vulnerable poor’ and all what she gets from the government is a few kgs of wheat grains every month. There isn’t any free medical help available. Fourteen years old Sodiful left his school and started working as a laborer hoping that he will be able to save little by little from his earning and one day will be able to treat her mother. His earning is so low (50-60 cents/day) that his dream is almost impossible to achieve.
Many of Phuljan’s dreams have already been shattered, but still she has one dream left. She wants to survive not for herself, but for her kids’ future. She wants to get cured, start working as a laborer and wants Sodiful back to school again.
After listening to Phuljan’s stories for almost two hours, I didn’t know what to tell and how to respond. I was completely shocked and swayed away by emotions. I have seen poverty, sufferings, hunger, death of a parent and so on, but I had never seen such a situation where after the death of a father, mother is waiting to die and two kids are struggling to meet their ends and there is absolutely no external help available. There are many sad stories in the developing world, but Phuljan’s story is identical to a horrifying chapter of a tragic novel.
Afterwards, we talked about the possible costs that would need for her treatment. She had already consulted a government hospital which was ready to give some discounts because she was categorized as hard-core poor, but anyhow, she needed to deposit 10000 Tk as an operation cost and for medicines and post-operation care, she needs at least 5000 Tk. Altogether what they need is 15000 Tk which is equivalent to 150 Euros only.
We didn’t promise anything to her, but said to her that if any help is available we will let her know. We returned to our guest house. Hasinur was also very sad. He didn’t speak that much. I could see that he is a generous man, but he also can’t do anything. The amount needed is almost equivalent to his two months salary and he has his own family to support.
We talked again about that case. We thought of various local possibilities, but nothing seemed viable. There are NGOs in every street and corner, but what they mostly do is huge seminars and big parties in star hotels. Phuljan has been the client of four microfinance NGOs for more than a decade, but now what she is getting from them is constant reminder notes and messages to ‘repay her loan as soon as possible’.
I had one option with me. The option is my friends- my friends on facebook and my friends from school. I talked to Hasinur that I can at least try once requesting my friends and if they show little generosity we will be able to collect 150 Euros within few days. If my friends skip one McDonald food or drink less beer this weekend or cut their ice-cream intake for a day, it will be possible. And I have belief on my friends that they will try their best to give a mother to already orphaned kids and give a new life to a mother who wants to survive for the future of her kids.
I sincerely request all of my friends and readers of this article to contribute as much as you can and save this family from being collapse. You can donate 1,2,5,10, 20 Euros or as much as you can.
If you have a European or American bank account, in order to minimize transfer cost, you can make a donation either by paypal or by bank transfer. (PLEASE NOTE THAT WE HAVE RAISED THE AMOUNT NEEDED FOR HER TREATMENT SO TO AVOID CONFUSION BANKING INFORMATION HAVE BEEN REMOVED FROM THIS BLOG, IF YOU NEED FURTHER INFORMATION YOU CAN REACH US BY EMAIL OR PHONE MENTIONED BELOW- THANKS FOR YOUR PROMPT RESPONSE AND SUPPORT FOR A HUMANITARIAN CAUSE)
Please write Phuljan’s treatment on reference or message section. And please send a message to me after you make a donation or just before you are making a donation. If you are not in a condition to make a donation at the moment due to some reasons, for instance, you are away from your home and you don’t have banking cards with you, it is also possible that you can make the donation later, but you should confirm the amount you want to donate. We will count you in and arrange money to temporarily substitute your donation.
In Finland, it’s also possible to submit your donation to Mr Sudip Joshi, Diak-Järvenpää, Phone: +358442089009
If you are in Asia pacific or the Middle East, you can send your donation directly to the following account,
Please be sure that the money that you will donate will be spent on the cause which has been mentioned and all the donors will get proper proof that the money they have donated has been delivered to the above mentioned beneficiary (Phuljan) and for her treatment.
We hope that you will try your best to prevent a family from being collapse and give a new future to two little kids who are far far from you in a rural Bengali village, but equally love their mom as well all do.
This week I went to a very remote island village of northern Bangladesh. I have been in villages here in Rangpur and Thakurgaon also, but they are in fact, not that much like a village. They have electricity, access to road, hospital, school etc. However, the Brahmaputra island area (known locally as Char) has many villages which are not only remote from the mainland Bangladesh, but also most disadvantaged and neglected from the so called mainland and the regime in Dhaka.
Government is scarcely present in the region. There are virtually no government services. No schools, no clinic, nothing. And this region is the home for eight hundred thousand people.
Some NGOs are working there and providing services to the people. An integrated development project called Char Development Programme (CLP) is underway and we were visiting the place to get to know about their services and programmes they are running.
Finally, we went to a school run by the local community. There were almost 30-40 students in a class. They were energetic and smart, but were badly hit by poverty and destitution like some other children in South Asia and Africa. They sang song for us, they performed an amazingly good parade and danced as well. We introduced ourselves and in turn they also introduced themselves. While they were introducing, we asked them as to what they wanted to be in the future. Most of them wanted to big engineers, the rest chose doctor, teacher, pilot, army and so on.
I really wish that these dreamers will be able to achieve their dreams. If conditions are favorable, what they are dreaming is not impossible. However, if pace of reform and progress remains like this, most of them, sadly, will end up being rickshaw pullers, laborers,petty farmers or some of them will be swept away by river which runs madly just few meters far from their homes.
It is not only a challenge of Bangladesh, but many countries in the global south will have to think and work seriously to reduce poverty from the region and offer more opportunities to their people.
The visit was kind of reflection of my childhood for me. I was lucky to be relatively well off than those kids, but I also have the same experience of studying in a small room with too many kids with insufficient study materials and infrastructure and so on.
I personally donated some money to the school so that those kids will be able to get some educational materials at least for some time. Briefly speaking, I also told them about some similarities between their life and my childhood and told them to study hard despite all unfavorable conditions they have.
They gave a long applause and said us bye bye. I'm back from that village and preparing for another field work, but those little kids are still running in my mind.
