Ashik's Everlasting Smile

There is nothing that can snatch Ashik's smiles from his face anymore. His smile endures from the morning to night, from the playground to his school and from the field to home. He no longer needs to suffer from hunger now. He now enjoys the opportunity of going to school and playing with his friends. 



Little Ashik, 7, is happy that he knows that his dreams are going to come true, as his elder brother Biplob's dream came true. Very recently Biplob has passed the Secondary School Certificate Examination with good result. His second brother, Bipul, is also doing good results in Grade 4. 



This was quite unthinkable for their father Anel as his sons are the first three in their family to ever step foot at school. All of this has become possible from Anel's willingness to think differently and adapt to the new.



Anel is a member of the Mahali community, one of the indigenous groups living in the north part of Bangladesh. Traditionally this small ethnic group survives on day labor during the harvesting season, besides running their traditional family business of preparing Bamboo handicrafts to sell at the local market for the remaining six months. But their business is at high risk now. 



"We have to buy the bamboo with high price so cannot sell at customer friendly prices. So, competing with the low cost plastic products in the market, our traditional handicrafts are losing the demand," says Anel. 



So during those unendurable six months, like other families of the Mahali community, Anel also struggled to manage two simple meals in a day. He could hardly feed his three children with rice for meals. So Ashik along with all members of the family remained hungry, frustrated, and vulnerable for the long six months. 



“It so happened that the last dry season we had to sacrifice one meal of the day for three or four days to save some money to pay the tuition fees of my elder son. I was afraid of how to manage his SSC registration fees [Secondary School Certificate Examination]. It is God's grace that He sent World Vision for my family, for whom my son has pass the examination with good result,” says Anel. 



Their vulnerable situation was changed after Ashik was enrolled in WV's Sponsorship program. As a member of Chatra Mahalipara Adebasi Handicraft Summit, Anel received handicrafts training and input support from World Vision (Pirganj Area Development Programme). 



In the handicraft training, Anel has learned to prepare various new items like flowers, decorations, and bamboo baskets, which are in high demand at the market. After he completed the training, World Vision gifted him eleven bamboo pieces as capital. So instead of making the traditional and limited bamboo goods, he now prepares baskets and low-cost goods that are profitable during rainy season when there are no jobs for day laborers. 



By selling those products he earned 3,000TK (about $39 USD). He paid 2,000 Tk from it to Biplob's registration fess and invested 1000 TK to buy bamboo again. Following this process, his income level has increased. 

Besides receiving handicraft training, Anel was trained on raising livestock and doing home gardening, which has helped to meet the demands of nutrition for the family.



"I feel proud now as I can make my family decisions wisely. And I am happy that I can share my opinion in the meeting and my community people also count my advice, after all they started to respect me."

Anel also attended Capacity Building Training from WV, where he came to learn about making family decisions, building social leadership, well management, and attended many sessions on health issues.



Anel says, "I feel proud now as I can make my family decisions wisely. And I am happy that I can share my opinion in the meeting and my community people also count my advice, after all they started to respect me." 



Anel does not need to sit at home jobless for six long months like before. The vegetables from his home-street gardening can provide his children with enough nutrition at meals. Anel believes that he will be able to make his sons highly educated and one day they will become important officers.



As the elder son of the family, Biplob helps his father in the field besides his study. He dreams to be a lecturer of History as it is his favourite subject. He is well aware about his dignity as he says, "I want my community people to enjoy all rights as a Bangladeshi citizen deserves. We are still unaccepted, neglected by the local Bangali community in some extent. So my thought is to make a respectable place for my Mahali community after being a teacher.” He adds, “At the same time I will work hard to make my brothers educated, whether I need to do day labor beside my study I do not fear." 



Anel and Biplob are working hard to break down the level of poverty. They know that the days are not so far as World Vision is guiding them as a faithful friend to keep Ashik's smile everlasting.

Ashik (right) and a friend in the rice paddy.