Saima is a hard working student who studies in the ninth grade. She belongs to a family of six, which includes her parents, Alamgir Hossain and Soni. They all live in a tiny 8’x8’ hut in block C of Geneva Camp. All of them get by on the income of her brother, who earns about $58 per month as a butcher. Like all camp residents, Saima and her family face a multitude of problems. She wishes she had the power to erase all of them for everyone around her.
Fourteen year old Saima is much like other girls her age. She likes to watch television programs and enjoys skipping with her friends. She is also a nature lover who likes to plant trees and shrubs. She would like more people to come and visit Bangladesh because it is a naturally beautiful country. The challenges of not having access to education are all too familiar to Saima, so after
finishing her studies, she would like to educate other people for free. She desires to study toward an M.B.A degree so she can work and help others around her.
THE AVERAGE COST PER YEAR OF SAIMA’S EDUCATION FROM NOW UNTIL NINE YEARS LATER WHEN SHE FINISHES HER M.B.A, IS $1,027. HELP SAIMA GET HER MBA 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 …
Saima’s family of six subsists on less than $2 per day. Without support from OBAT Helpers, how much could her family be expected to sacrifice so that Saima can go to school? But Saima is one of the lucky children in the camps because she has been able to go to school at all. She can dream of making a life better than what she has experienced.
Many children in the Urdu-speaking camps are not so fortunate. For their family to survive, these children have to seek employment even before they turn ten. One of OBAT’s most popular new programs provides education for working children. From 7:00-9:00 each morning kids aged 10-12 are taught to read and given a healthy breakfast. At least they won’t grow up illiterate. With a scholarship from OBAT and with her own hard work, Saima can dream of something better, for herself and for her beautiful country Bangladesh.
