The Success of a Struggling Woman

There is one proverb that says: “When poverty comes in at the door, love/friendship flies out of the window” and no one could understand better this proverb than Swapna.

With 32 years, right now Swapna lives in a village called Nilua which is part of the Daulatpur sub-district and also the Manikganj district.

“I decided at the age of 17 that I wanted to get married to Jobbar Ali, and all I can say is that starting our lives together was not easy. Soon after getting married, my father in-law stopped supporting us financially, and the struggle became more as Jobbar did not have any job, but we decided that we will move forward. We believe in the Muslim religion and we tried to overcome the struggle by looking for jobs and different opportunities,” adds Swapna while she remembers the difficulties they faced before.

Soon Jobbar got a job as a daily laborer. But with his low income the family was struggling so much and many problems came along with this situation. They had to do something or they will be suffering so much.

“Under these circumstances, I came to know about ADRA Bangladesh and the group they were forming in our area and how they were supporting others specially the vulnerable families and very quickly I was admitted in the group and started receiving support,” says Swapna.

ADRA project staff soon visited this family and advised them to utilize the unused land for vegetable cultivation.

With the seeds that ADRA Bangladesh provided Swapna was able to grow vegetables and to sell them to support her family. As part of the program ADRA Bangladesh through the group’s decision strategy gave them a baby goat.

“Receiving the baby goat gave us confidence that we could do more to improve our lives, but when our goat started growing and gave birth to three baby goats and all of them died we were very disappointed.” Swapna shares, “But we decided to try again and not to give up, and when our goat gave birth to three more baby goats and all of them survived we were filled with hope and expectations about our future”.

Soon Swapna became the owner of 11 goats, and according to the rules of the group she gave one goat for the support of other family who were also part of this group and through this, they could help others who were also in vulnerable conditions.

The life of Swapna and her family has been changed and she is a successful member of the group. With a smile on her face she adds: “I have sold six goats bought a cow and recently I got a calf, at the present I am earning one thousand and eight hundred taka by selling milk and vegetables to the local market, my husband got a job in Dhaka and we could finally bring peace to our family. We are very grateful to ADRA Bangladesh for helping us in the most crucial moments.”