Sumina : The Woman Who Refused to Let Poverty Win

"When people in the village call me 'Police Apa' and come to me with their problems, trusting me to solve them, it just makes my day," says Sumina.

For her, that title means far more than a uniform. It means she is someone her community turns to; someone whose word carries weight.

She grew up in an Indigenous community in Dinajpur, where poverty was the only thing that never seemed to run out. Her husband's income rose and fell with the seasons, and raising two sons on uncertain days became a battle she fought without pause. But she didn't stop, determined to protect her family and keep her children in school.

In 2011, Bishwajit was enrolled as a sponsored child with World Vision Bangladesh, and for the first time, support reached her family on schedule, month after month. Sumina didn't just wait for help. She went looking for it. She joined a Child Education Centre as a learning assistant, teaching the very children she once feared for.

When the centre closed in 2017, she found her way to the Union Parishad's safety net programme. The next year, she was appointed village police staff. 

"This job changed my life," she says, and added, "I learned what respect truly means. Now even family decisions are made with my opinion."

In 2023, she received twenty ducks through World Vision's Economic development program. Sumina turned them into a livestock venture, reclaimed mortgaged land, and bought her husband a van. The house that once ran on uncertainty now runs on abundance. Her son Bishwajit is now in Grade 10, continuing his education with a dream of building a bright future and becoming someone his mother can be proud of. For Sumina, his journey is perhaps the most beautiful reward for all the struggles she endured.

In her village police uniform, Sumina now walks the same lanes she once struggled through, but as someone people look up to. To her neighbors still finding their footing, she has one message: 

"If I could change my life, you can change yours too, no matter where you begin. Believe in yourself, take that first step, and start today. Because once you discover what you are capable of, you will never want to stop."

For Sumina, the greatest change was never the uniform or the income. It was discovering she had the power to choose her own future and the voice to help her neighbors find theirs, too.

Story By Lipy Mary Rodrigues
Communication Specialist – Impact Storytelling, World Vision Bangladesh