Swimming at Sreepur

 

Every day at three o’clock, Sumi, a seven-year–old girl of Sreepur Village, rushes home from school eagerly wanting to visit the village pond. Keen to get there, when the actual time comes to dip her toes into the welcoming waters, Sumi doesn’t want to enter. When she finally gets in, she makes sure not to let go of her swimming instructor’s hand. Every day Mousumi and her friends Rimon, Sajal and Rani all have similar experiences which, seen from afar, provoke a number of emotions.

Currently, more than 70 children are learning to swim in the village, a programme which started at the beginning of July and is aimed at reducing the number of deaths by drowning. Every day in rural Bangladesh 46 children will die from drowning which amounts to 17,000 per year. Most of the children of Sreepur Village come from the rural riverine area where death by drowning is extremely common.

So, with these statistics it is clear to see why The Sreepur Village started the #SwimSafe programme. Teaming up with CIPRB (Centre for Injury Prevention and Research Bangladesh)  The Sreepur Village funds qualified swimming instructors to teach the mothers and children of the village how to swim, a scheme which runs for two months this summer and again next year.

The swimming lessons are held in the pond, which is sectioned off by using natural bamboo. Using these local resources one can mimic, at low cost, a swimming pool with two sections. One is a low fenced-off platform which creates an artificial water depth of 40-60cm used to gain the children’s confidence and get them accustomed to water. The other section, 12.5 meters in depth and also with a boundary fence, is used to test their swimming and floating abilities.

We asked Sumi and her mother Josna what they thought about the swimming programme:

Sumi said, “I love to learn to swim. Even though I am afraid of the water, it is not very deep and I can even stand up in it. It is great having swimming teachers to help us and the best bit is I can also splash around with my friends – we all have fun together.”

Sumi’s Mother Josna explained that ‘Meghna’ (one of the mighty rivers of Bangladesh) is next to her house and almost every year there are floods. She said, “I never got the chance to teach my children how to swim. I was preoccupied with my family issues. However, here in The Sreepur Village my children have been given the opportunity to learn how to swim. This is such a worthy cause as three years ago, a daughter of one of my relatives fell into the water, she was lucky to survive but one day I will go back to my rural community to live and because of The Sreepur Village and CIPRB my children would have learned the essential skills to swim and not drown.”

From CIPRB and working with us are two female swimming instructors, Jhumur and Monika, both dedicating their time to teach the children how to swim. Monika explained that through a 21 step- process, the children are instructed to be positive in the water, to develop swimming and floating abilities. She said, “We also teach the children how to rescue somebody who is drowning and to identify life-threatening water dangers. All of the children are performing well. They are learning to swim fast. We are very proud of them and it is our pleasure to teach them life-saving techniques.”

Learning is fun!

All of the mothers of The Sreepur Village are required to participate in our education programme. When mothers are admitted here we assess their previous educational qualifications and we arrange proper schooling for them. Mothers start up from literacy class and study up to secondary school certificate. Indeed, even some of our mothers continue to higher studies. A large portion of our mothers are admitted to the Bangladesh Open University; here they do not have to study hard like the general curriculum institutes and they have enough time for life skills lessons.

 

Rubina is a little different to our mothers and she attends regular school with our older girls. Rubina, a single mother, came to us four months ago with her seven-month-old child. She is now in grade eight and loves going to school with other girls. Yesterday, when she was returning from the school, we caught her on camera wearing her school uniforms! Let’s make a noble wish for her better future!

 

Help us to educate mothers like Rubina to enable them to provide a better life for themselves and their children

Leaders of Sreepur…

You will remember our last update about the Leader Mothers at Sreepur, and we are excited to share with you our newest Leaders! Every six months we ‘recruit’ new Leader Mothers for the village – the candidates go through a rigorous and competitive evaluation to win a place as a Leader.

At Sreepur Village we are incredibly fortunate to have many strong and encouraging women who want to give their time to support and lead the other mothers, both those that are new to the Village and those who have been with us for longer.

The role of our Leaders is to provide this support network for all of our mothers, and to encourage others who want to be the next Leaders to put themselves forward.

We distinguish our Leaders by their green Saris or green Salwar Kamiz. It is also a symbol of their empowerment and makes them easy for mothers seeking guidance or support to find.

Each Leader is assigned to a different area of Sreepur, where they provide support to the clinic, big dining, school, special children, halfway house, mothers, children and most importantly our training programs. Our Leaders play a vital role in our Village.

This Tuesday we had a chance to sit down with our new leaders and asked them to talk to us about their role and time at Sreepur…

Shirina is the Leader of the tailoring section:
“I am here from a remote area. I suffered a lot in the early part of my widowhood period. Early on, I could not communicate with people. I didn’t know how to talk to others and it was very difficult for me to meet people. Since coming to Sreepur Village though I have become socialised and am now even the the leader of many other women. Nobody will believe it but until I came to Sreepur I had never I learn how to eat in front of others! The post of Leader has given me dignity and is a real honour.
Before coming to Sreepur I had only ever reached up to grade eight at school, but I am now preparing for my Secondary School Certificate. When I leave Sreepur I want to open up my own business, and Sreepur has given me the skills and confidence to be able to do it.”

Hasila is the Leader of Middle Boys House:
“I think, here every mother has individual freedom. Like me, all of them can consider their future, plan independently, and receive the support that they need to make their plans a reality. My future plan pushes me to be a Leader! I love this role! When the mothers, children and staff call me Leader-Didi (mother), I feel deeply honoured. I want to begin work in an official job, one that will help me reach my goals and I know that I will be able to achieve them with what I have learned since coming to Sreepur.”

 

Munia is the Leader of our Clinic:
“When first I came here, I saw all of the didi (mothers) wearing their green clothes; they set them apart from the other mothers in their green Saris and Salwar Kamiz. It’s attracted me a lot! I asked one of them, why they are different from us. Didi replied we are specially empowered to help others!
Since then I have had a small dream to be a Leader and to wear the green dress. I love wearing my green clothes, they help me to be determined.
I have suffered a lot in my life and being in a position where I am respected and able to help others who are only beginning their journey has helped me feel that one day I will be able to stand on my own feet.”

Every one of our mothers is empowered by this role in their own way, but all of them use their role to support and encourage others in the Village. They are proof of the considerable perseverance that all of our mothers have inside of them.

 

If you want to help empower more women like Shirina, Hasila and Munia you can make a donation, buy one of the products handmade by our mothers or buy a gift that gives

Eid-ul-Fitr

We are sorry for our delay in sharing our Eid celebrations with you but we’ve all been having such a wonderful time.

Eid-ul-Fitr is the most significant religious, social and cultural festival in Bangladesh, and the entire Muslim nation celebrates this day with due fervour and gravity.

The Sreepur Village celebrates this important festival every year, and this year was no exception and all of the mothers and children took part in the celebrations. A three-day long programme, full of religious solemnity, lots of sports, singing, dancing and joyful celebrations. We spoke to Swapna and her son Sumon, who celebrated their first Eid at Sreepur Village this year, and wanted to share their story with you…

“This was a very special Eid day for me. Before coming to Sreepur, I had never had a joyful Eid. I was born in a poverty-stricken family, and although we were together to celebrate my siblings and I never had a special Eid celebration like so many others had. My parents were unable to give us new dressed for Eid, and for three of our Eid celebrations we didn’t even have enough food for us all to eat that day. Having enough food to eat to celebrate Eid was a dream, a luxury, to us. When I met my husband, our Eid celebrations did not become any more joyful. He was as an unfortunate man as my father, a poor peasant day-labourer. After our marriage, it took him three years to give me a Shari (Bengali traditional clothing for women). My children also suffered a lot because of our lack of money, and we felt terrible that we could not give them all of the things we wanted to bless them with. It hurt me a lot. However, this Eid, I experienced a huge change in my life.  My children get new clothes and delicious Eid dishes. I also get a new Sari. Basically, at this place (Sreepur Village), is where my children have become happy. I was worried when I chose to come to Sreepur, but each day I know that I made the right decision. Before I came here, I never thought that Eid would be a day of joy or celebration for me.  My next hope is that I will be able to give my children new dresses that I have paid for myself by bringing in my own income.”

“Gracious! These three Eid days at Sreepur were astonishing for me! I got my new outfit three days before Eid. I didn’t show it to anyone before the Eid prayer and was so excited to wear it. All of my friends Hridoy, Hakim, Samuel, Saikot and all of us went to Mosque for Eid Prayer. Then we eat Semai (special dishes for Eid). Before the Eid day I coloured my hands with henna. The entire Village had great fun with lots of sports, fancy dress and with singing and dancing. All aunties (mothers) joined in. On Eid day, I also go for a trip out of the Village with my mother and sister and we ate beef for lunch. On the final day of Eid the aunties performed songs and dances, and in the evening the prizes were given to the winners of various sports and cultural events. I won an award for the sack-race! Lots of us received various awards from Michael mama (uncle (project director).  I never had a celebration or day like this in my life before we came to Sreepur, and I will never forget how special this Eid has been.”

To make other mothers and their childen’s Eid special why not donate to us here