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Johura Begum
President of Malochi Padma Mohala Forum,
Malochi Ghat, Harirampur, Bangladesh |
Living on the edge
In 2004 Johura and her family had reached crisis point. She and her husband couldn’t afford to send their children to school, nor feed them properly. So she joined a CCDB ‘forum’
''The forum gave me a loan to buy a goat. Now it has had two kids and I have bought another goat. I have now got some chickens too. By selling the eggs and goats milk, I have been able to buy some land to plant vegetables.'
Before, Johura and her husband had to rely on only his unreliable income as a day labourer. Now, it doesn’t matter when he doesn’t get work for a day. They have also managed to keep some savings.
Johura has become empowered and is now president of the Forum. And for her children, life is much more promising. They drink milk every day and go to school.
They live on the edge of the Padma (Ganges) which is eroding fast. Each year up to 0.5 km is swept away by the river.
''The forum gave me a loan to buy a goat. Now it has had two kids and I have bought another goat. I have now got some chickens too. By selling the eggs and goats milk, I have been able to buy some land to plant vegetables.'
Before, Johura and her husband had to rely on only his unreliable income as a day labourer. Now, it doesn’t matter when he doesn’t get work for a day. They have also managed to keep some savings.
Johura has become empowered and is now president of the Forum. And for her children, life is much more promising. They drink milk every day and go to school.
They live on the edge of the Padma (Ganges) which is eroding fast. Each year up to 0.5 km is swept away by the river.
'In the last bad floods, in 2004, half our house was flooded. We had to live on the roof with our chickens. It may happen again one day, we just don’t know.'
Johura one day hopes to save enough so that they can buy a new piece of land further away.
'About 10 years ago, you would have had to take a rest on your way to the river bank because it stretched out so much further into the river – it was about 4 kms away. Now it’s about 30 metres from my house.'
'As the river has eroded, many many people have moved into our village. Before, there was only 10 –15 families here in this little para (small village). We had a binding tie with each other and knew each other very well. We were all friends, but as people moved away because of the erosion and other people moved in, that relationship was broken.'
'Because people have lost their land, everyone has become poorer. Those that have to move end up having to ask relatives and friends for help to live or buy new land. There are some that can afford new land, but most can’t.'
'It’s now very difficult to make friendships – it takes years to make good friends. Before, the few families here all grew up together and we knew each other so well. But now we don’t, so we are too shy for example to go and ask a neighbour for a duck or a chicken. We used to have more space too for rearing animals, but now we don’t and that’s a problem.'
'In the last bad floods, in 2004, half our house was flooded. We had to live on the roof with our chickens. It may happen again one day, we just don’t know.'
'Just in case it happens again, we keep spare kerosene oil and pressed rice on a platform.'
'We haven’t got enough money to buy a new place yet we have got some savings. It’s not just not enough to buy a piece of land further away, yet.'
'I think the river erosion here is getting worse gradually and putting us at greater risk. The current is definitely stronger, so strong that land can sometimes just disappear while you are talking. But we don’t really know why. We are so scared in the rainy season that our house will suddenly just disappear.'
'If the bad floods come again, we will build a platform of bamboo as a safe place for the family and our possessions. It is too difficult to raise the house enough because we are in such a low lying area.'
'About 10 years ago, you would have had to take a rest on your way to the river bank because it stretched out so much further into the river – it was about 4 kms away. Now it’s about 30 metres from my house.'
'As the river has eroded, many many people have moved into our village. Before, there was only 10 –15 families here in this little para (small village). We had a binding tie with each other and knew each other very well. We were all friends, but as people moved away because of the erosion and other people moved in, that relationship was broken.'
'Because people have lost their land, everyone has become poorer. Those that have to move end up having to ask relatives and friends for help to live or buy new land. There are some that can afford new land, but most can’t.'
'It’s now very difficult to make friendships – it takes years to make good friends. Before, the few families here all grew up together and we knew each other so well. But now we don’t, so we are too shy for example to go and ask a neighbour for a duck or a chicken. We used to have more space too for rearing animals, but now we don’t and that’s a problem.'
'In the last bad floods, in 2004, half our house was flooded. We had to live on the roof with our chickens. It may happen again one day, we just don’t know.'
'Just in case it happens again, we keep spare kerosene oil and pressed rice on a platform.'
'We haven’t got enough money to buy a new place yet we have got some savings. It’s not just not enough to buy a piece of land further away, yet.'
'I think the river erosion here is getting worse gradually and putting us at greater risk. The current is definitely stronger, so strong that land can sometimes just disappear while you are talking. But we don’t really know why. We are so scared in the rainy season that our house will suddenly just disappear.'
'If the bad floods come again, we will build a platform of bamboo as a safe place for the family and our possessions. It is too difficult to raise the house enough because we are in such a low lying area.'
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| Johura Begum |
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