Sadia Akhter lives with her siblings and parents, Mohammed Monu and Razwana, in Geneva Camp. Her father works in a shop that sells biryani (a rice dish) and earns about $77 a month. Razwana has played a very important role in her children’s lives, and Sadia feels that it is because of her mother’s
encouragement and positive attitude that she can get through her problems with ease.
Sadia greatly admires the Bengali social reformer and feminist from a century ago, Begum Rokeya,
because she worked hard to provide women’s education. Sadia too would like to develop the education system … if she had the resources. She likes to listen to music, watch cricket matches, and play a local game known as “kanamachi,” a popular game for Bangladeshi children.
Sadia thinks it’s very important to respect her teachers. She says: “by respecting them, you can learn a lot and build your life.” She plans to become an English teacher and intends to put an end to the practice of dowry in her community.
THE AVERAGE COST PER YEAR OF SADIA’S EDUCATION FROM NOW UNTIL EIGHT YEARS LATER WHEN SHE FINISHES HER MASTERS IN ENGLISH, IS $931. HELP SADIA GET HER DEGREE AND BRIGHTEN HER FUTURE. YOU CAN FUND ANY NUMBER OF YEARS YOU WISH TO. YOUR SUPPORT WILL MEAN THE WORLD TO HER AS WITHOUT IT, SHE CANNOT DREAM ABOUT AN EDUCATION AND WILL CONTINUE TO LIVE A LIFE OF POVERTY.
You should know …
For poor families in South Asia, dowry is part of marriages. When a young daughter like Sadia has a
marriage arranged, her family provides the groom’s family with money to pay for now being responsible
for the daughter’s care and expenses. But if the groom and his family are unsatisfied with the dowry,
they take it out on the bride. Every year many young women in Bangladesh are battered, disfigured, or
killed in dowry-related crimes. The education Sadia receives from OBAT Schools allow her to imagine
choosing her own future, and not to be constricted and vulnerable to tradition-bound practices such as
dowry.
