Julia's story

From homelessness to security

Julia is 23. She is married and has two children called Sabbir and Rabbi.

Julia and her family lost their home to “river erosion”. Living on the bank of a river says and means a lot in Bangladesh. It’s where the poorest live, having no other choice. People living on the banks are hostage to the water, everything they have and all that they know is often quite simply wrenched away by the ferocity of nature. Life on the riverbank is fragile and regularly loosing your home and livelihood is a harsh and unforgiving fact of life.

Julia’s husband, Alamgir, worked in a garment factory in the capital city, Dhaka and he sent money home for his family. Julia stayed with their children in the village. They could barely survive on the amount of money Julia’s husband could afford to send home. Living in overcrowded and unsanitary conditions Julia was unsurprisingly anxious, frustrated and fearful for her children’s health and well being. She was terrified for their future. Severe flooding in 2004 bought the situation to breaking point... All that Julia most feared came to be.

Displaced by the floods and struggling to survive, Julia couldn’t see a way out of their desperate situation, until she was invited to join a local group ran by ‘FH’ for vulnerable young mums like herself. Determined to lift her children out of harms way, Julia met with her group each week to learn basic skills and practical, lifesaving knowledge to protect her children’s health and build for their future.

She appreciated the opportunity to meet with other women in her village once a week. She appreciated being part of something that gave her hope and helped her face the future. With her group she took part in an 8-month adult literacy class and she deposited whatever meagre contribution she could regularly into the group savings fund- usually around 5p each week. Seeing her savings grow and feeling the solidarity of the group gave new hope to Julia. She pushed herself onwards and enrolled in a 3 month sewing course with FH.

Eventually, with some personal savings and a 3,000 taka ( which is about £30 ) loan from the group, Julia purchased a sewing machine and started to work as a seamstress out of her home. As work began to come in Julia dared to believe that maybe her route out of poverty was in sight. She worked really hard and quickly repaid her loan and in time established a steady income for her family

Julia and her group continued to meet weekly inspiring one another with their income generating achievements. Alongside building vocational skills and health and hygiene practices the women started to expand their influence to improving their social conditions and elected group leaders amongst them to help with this. In one of the most corrupt countries in the world Julia found herself elected as law leader- helping families to understand and protect their legal rights.

Julia hopes to continue to build on her success. She wants to expand her business and support her children through higher education- giving them the opportunities that she never had. She wants to continue leading her group and her community and continues to work hard with others to help needy families in her village.

The girl who moved, starving from the riverbank bears little resemblance to the woman Julia is today. Believing in herself, knowing that she has the capacity to make a difference, knowing that she can feed herself and her children gives her a sense of self assurance and dignity that radiates in everything she says and everything she does.