Category: Our Stories

Today is International Day of the Girl. Here at The Hunger Project, we’re celebrating the unscripted and unstoppable girls who are ending hunger around the world.

Meet Bonani

In the Bagherhat District of Bangladesh, Bonani is a young girl who attends high school. 

In many parts of Bangladesh, girls are denied an education. Continuing beyond primary school to high school is limited to those families who can afford it. Many families like Bonani’s often make a choice between sending their girls to school or marrying them off at a young age. Early marriage is often seen as the right decision. As a result, many girls are pulled out of school and never return.   

Even for those girls like Bonani, who do get to continue their studies, there are other barriers. Where Bonani lives, there were no toilets at schools for girls to use. This meant that she would have to stay home when she was menstruating. At other times she developed bladder issues from not being able to use a toilet all day at school. Because of this, she missed one week per month of schooling. 

“Boys get many advantages, why not girls? We are all created equal. Girls need more support when they go through physical and mental changes,” Bonani says. 

 The Hunger Project runs programs such as Safe Schools for Girls in rural communities in Bangladesh. Safe Schools for Girls increases girls’ attendance in school including by getting toilets for girls installed. To date, more than 30,000 students have participated in the program.  

“I joined a group in my school because I like to learn things and spread awareness among others. I like social activities such as dancing and acting, and I also learned that girls like me could have a say. So now I advocate for girls’ toilets and changerooms to be installed in schools, and for boys to stop harassing girls, especially on the way to and from school.”  

Today, Bonani is a proud advocate for getting girls’ toilets installed in local schools. She is also an active member of her school community, advocating to stop harassment and child marriage and encouraging her peers to stay in school.   

“It would be better to get married at 30, after getting an education and a job. I like to help other people and society. In the future I want to serve my country through social work or becoming a doctor,” she says. 

Donate to programs like Safe Schools for Girls here.

In Bangladesh, boys are typically valued more than girls. Girls are often pulled out of school at a young age to be married off. They aren’t able to earn an income for themselves or have a say in family decisions. They are made to look after their siblings and families, do the household chores and other manual labour instead.  

After being forced to marry at 15 years old (three years before the legal age of 18), Razia was denied an education and was forced to stay at home and provide for her new husband and start a family. No one protested her marriage. Like other girls her age who were being married, Razia soon gave birth to a boy and a girl.   

“I thought child marriage was my fate,” she says. 

She couldn’t see a way to break out of the cycle of poverty and stop her own daughter from becoming a victim of child marriage just like she had been. 

The Hunger Project runs programs such as Women’s Leadership Workshops in rural communities in Bangladesh. These workshops empower women with knowledge and skills they can use to develop their own businesses to transform their situation, lift their families out of poverty, and enable other women in their village to do the same. 

After receiving training from The Hunger Project, Razia began a new enterprise from home — sewing — which has brought in an income. She also started a women’s self-help group to help other women save money to reinvest in their families on important things like education.  

Razia now works from home earning her own income. As she earned more income, her confidence grew. She looked to use her newfound influence to shift the perspective on local issues close to her heart, and now protests against child marriage in her village.  

“I’ve learned how to raise poultry and livestock and sew. Because of this, I now have enough savings to easily support the health and education of my children. I’ve also been able to send my own daughter to The Hunger Project’s Youth Leadership Training. Now she collaborates with other young people around here to create a harmonious society free from child marriage.  

In addition, I’ve set up my own compost plant to produce organic fertiliser for my home garden. I’ve now encouraged 20 other women in my neighbourhood to set up their own organic compost plants too.” 

The women’s group have written a list of children who have dropped out of school in the village. They are working to support them to return to studying.   

“Now, I work to protest against child marriage and make people aware of its consequences,” Razia says.  

Kaushalya is a council President in Uttarakhand. After training with The Hunger Project, she is now leveraging public office to refocus attention on the issue of preserving the forests.  

“In the mountains, forests are a lifeline for women. The wood from the forest is what we use to build our houses and for firewood. The fodder for our cattle also comes from the forest. We formed a collective of 30 women and decided to revive the forest council elections. We look after the forest like our own children.” 

Deforestation and climate change are endangering the forests. Kaushalya passionately speaks about access to forest resources, equity, and justice. She is setting up forest councils to protect the forest for generations to come. This is her story:

Video credit: The Hunger Project India, Black Ticket Films.

Abigail is a 27-year-old entrepreneur from Boti in the eastern region of Ghana. Abigail is a local fashion designer and also the producer of a local soft drink made from a hibiscus plant called Sobolo.

Abigail started her business after she received a microfinance loan from The Hunger Project. She now currently employs 5 people who service customers from 6 different communities around the local THP Epicentre. Abigail’s story has become an inspiration for many in her community.

As a fashion designer, she uses social media to research designs and utilises WhatsApp to connect with customers in the wider community. Her designs can be seen on show in the images below.

It is her dream to expand her businesses to enable her to employ more people in her community.

[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id=”6″ gal_title=”Abigail Tei album”]

 

Esme lives in a small, rural village in Eastern Malawi with her four children. She is a farmer and the sole breadwinner of her family. Esme’s family live in a one-bedroom dung hut – and that’s how she thought it would be for the rest of their lives.

Then, in 2012, everything changed for Esme.

After participating in The Hunger Project’s unique Vision, Commitment, Action workshop, Esme created a vision of building a new, bigger, safer home for her family – a dream so many of us can relate to.

Her first actions towards her vision included applying for a loan through The Hunger Project’s microfinance program and attending training on improved, modern farming techniques.

As a result, she was able to yield more than enough crops from her farm to feed her family and have enough left over to sell so that she could buy bricks for her new home, and pay for schooling for her children.

“My farming is a key source of income as it allows me to support my children’s education. I’m confident that I can send my children to school because I’m a farmer,” Esme said.

It took 3 years, but Esme was persistent, resilient and resolutely committed to her vision. By 2015, she was able to start construction on her new dream home and 2 years later Esme added a tin roof to the house. This tin roof was proof to her and others that she had made it! (Thatched roofs are common but leak in the rainy season). She even saved up enough money to install solar panels on her roof and run a small AM/FM radio through the power. Her dream home was now a reality.

She didn’t stop there. Not content with her dream home, and being able to feed her family and send her 4 children to school, Esme wanted to develop herself: she decided to get an education. She successfully balanced her farm work, family life and school work to graduate and is now looking to start a career as an accountant. 

“If you work hard in school you can become a professional, and when you are educated you make better decisions,” Esme said.

Now living as a successful, single woman, Esme has had a number of male suitors asking for her hand in marriage. Being an educated, financially independent woman, she has happily refused them all!

“I am grateful to The Hunger Project because I’m able to live free from hunger. My children have gone to school and I am now educated,” she said.

Take action for women like Esme

1. Share Esme’s story on social media
2. Join us in Malawi to learn from women like Esme
3. Support people like Esme with a one-off or monthly donation