How YOU are making a difference...
 
*To preserve the integrity of the report from the field, the content has not been fully grammatically edited. English is often the third or fourth language for GHNI field staff.*
Successful Family Business
*Champion Village, Bangladesh

**Sadia nurtured her dream for 38 years to finally overcome poverty. After getting married, she was always sad and confused because her husband's family was in extreme poverty. She has three children and her husband is a day laborer, the only earning member of the family. After the flooding, their family suffered a lot and they had to rebuild their house, but her husband did not have any work opportunity. All five members of their family suffered a lot. She had witnessed poverty all of her life, making her sad all the time.

This year, Sadia observed a small group within her community creating positive change. They sat together for different discussions and shared their problems. She also learned that they are saving small amounts of money every month. All of the participants were poor, just like her, and yet they are still saving. That encouraged her a lot.

Sadia became part of the Income Generation group, saving 10 taka (about $0.12) weekly. Currently she has 460 taka saved (about $5.50).

The disastrous flood has been a learning experience for Sadia. During the flooding, they never touched their savings. Right after flood, she asked her husband to start a business. He said, "I do not have any experience and capital to do that." Sadia told him they could do it together. They decided to open a tea and snacks shop. She shared her dream with the group and the group granted them 3000 taka (nearly $35) as a loan. With that, they opened their shop. Sadia is making snacks and her husband is selling them. They work from 2:00 PM to 8:00 PM every day.

On an average, they earn 250 taka (about $3) profit every day. "My nurtured dream became reality at last," cheered Sadia. They are doing great with a stable income and they are planning to increase their business next year. They have learned that they are not doomed to suffer.

Flood Update

In the last three months, northern Bangladesh has recovered well from the tragic flooding they experienced this year. Most families are struggling to rebuild their houses and restart agriculture and other livelihood. Most of the children just finished their final exam at their school and now they are helping their parents plant the seasonal crop and vegetables.
TCD Update
Finding a clean water source is a big challenge, as the flood has submerged most of the tube wells. Our Transformational Community Development (TCD) team focused on teaching families to use safe water during difficult times. Boiling water for drinking sustained every participating family. Within two months after flooding, most of the tube wells were repaired and they are supplying safe water. There are many tube wells totally destroyed and in need of repair. There are areas with no tube well, making it an emergency need to be addressed.
Our TCD team is working hard with the children and women to establish a kitchen garden for every house. After the floods, over 80% of children planted a garden to serve domestic needs as well as provide income.
Over a month, there was a food crisis due to flooding. Our organization supplied food aid for over 1,200 families during flooding. With TCD measures in place, most of the community has overcome this situation. GHNI helped to implement this program.
The aftermath of the flood resulted in zero earnings for many families and they sold their livestock to support their families. As the floods receded, many women took small loans from the group to start new income generating activities. Over 40 women in the last two and a half months took loans and are focused on doing income generation. Some of them are taking loans for their husband to do agriculture. Children are contributing to the family income by working with their parents and kitchen gardening. Women are also part of the income of the families. They are growing economically and are self-supported.   
Though education was quite hampered by the disaster, our TCD team helped children to study in the tough times. Now, over 98% school attendance has been recorded and 100% children attended the final yearly exam. TCD is working to prevent dropouts and visiting families so that parents will enroll their children next year again. This year, all children have very good results and parents are very grateful to our TCD facilitators who increased awareness.
Visible changes are witnessed by community among TCD participants. Especially the children are doing well in this area. Helping parents, socializing with friends, and cleanliness are positive changes to be mentioned. Transformation is so great, we hope by spring 2018 this village will become a model village.
Lucky, Lawrence, and Bipul
GHNI TCD Workers
Thank you!
The transformation of the village is palpable, even despite the ravaging floods. The resilient community has received the new training and is on its way to setting the example to surrounding villages. Thank you for donating to the recovery and training in Champion Village.
*For purposes of safety, "Champion" is a pseudonym for the village being helped by this project.
**For purposes of safety and well-being, "Sadia" is a pseudonym for the individual being helped by this project.
Thank you for bringing Help & Hope to the Hidden & Hurting!

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