DHAKA, Sept 10, 2024 (BSS) - A poor village girl of Chattagram who dreamt of a plain living started facing waves of agonies from her teens. She always wanted relief, but it was a far cry for her.
 
Shamsun Nehar once used to visit the doors of people for some money or some rice to meet her family’s basic needs. She began her cursed life with begging.  She was even forced to mortgage her house. But unfortunately her husband died before paying back the money of mortgage.
 
Even, just five years ago Shamshun Nehar used to run her family by begging. She spent the whole day travelling to different places to pay for the treatment of her sick husband and the expenses of the family. Now, she has started business to run her family with dignity.
 
Nehar said she was born in a poor family at Geramara village in Mirsarai upazila of Chattogram district. But she was forced to marry when she was only 16. Her husband Ali Mia was a day labourer. Scars of poverty continued to hit their family. It was becoming almost impossible for Ali Mia to feed six people with a daughter and three sons.
 
After the death of her husband, Nehar started working as a domestic help in other families. But it was not sufficient to mitigate their basic demand. And finally, she started begging from village to village.
 
In the meantime, while begging at Katagang village, she met an employee of a local NGO named Md Shafir. She was informed about the Samriddhi Programme implemented by the NGO with the financial support of Palli-Karma-Sahayak Foundation (PKSF).
 
Nehar said, “I was forced to begging after the death of my husband. Treatment of my husband and education of my children were going on through begging. One day, I met an officer of an NGO in Valukia area. I told him about my sufferings. If you help me a little I won't beg anymore.”
 
“Just after few days, they gave me Taka one lakh. They gave me two cows worth Taka 50,000 and built a shop of Taka 20,000 for me. Of the rest amount they bought products for the shop. Now I’m selling different products of Taka 700 to Taka 1000 every day. I’ve sent my son Belal abroad by selling a cow. Now I’m living with dignity. It has been possible only for the NGO,” said Shamsunnahar.
 
NGO official Abdur Rahman said, “I met with the woman in 2017 at Bhalukia village in Korerhat union of Mirsarai upazila. I saw her plight of sufferings. She told me that she did not want to continue begging. If she got some help she would left begging and would do any type of work. So that, we helped the woman. Now she is a role model of other women in the district.”