::: Star Weekend Magazine :::

Making A Difference

Building Social Ladders from Scratch

Lusana Anika Masrur

In a country of proliferating non-governmental organisations (NGOs) with dependence on foreign assistance, we hear few stories of success from self-sustenance. The ones that we do hear are generally associated with initiatives led by members with affluent backgrounds. However, there are exceptions. Of the latter category, one story that stands out in a league of its own is that of Thengamara Mohila Sabuj Sangha (TMSS).

TMSS's history goes back to the year 1964 in the village of Thengamara in the north-western part of the country between Mohastan and Bogra. The village women were being subjected to all kinds of oppression from men and the rich, many of whom included their husbands and families, as well as other, older women. They were deprived of their basic rights and personal expenses, and many of them were tortured mercilessly.

Just after the country's Independence, about 10 to 20 of these women decided to take the matter into their own hands. They gathered together and began to collect handfuls of rice which they later sold off to households of other women in the village who were better of financially and treated better by their family members. They also met regularly to discuss ways to better their conditions. Soon their situations began to improve and their news spread to other areas. Fourteen societies such as theirs were formed in 14 mohallas of six other villages. The organisers of these group efforts were Fatema Bewa and Jomela Bewa, who were mere beggars at the time.

Today, decades later, TMSS has earned its place as the third-largest NGO in Bangladesh, covering 63 districts and having a total number of 13, 012 staff members working under it, about 64 percent of whom are women. It has also created job security for more than two lakh poverty-stricken people in all sectors of Bangladesh, starting from poultry and agriculture to micro enterprise and trade. Its extensive development and growth was a direct result of its implementation of decision-making from the grass-root level. The organisation's goal and mission continues to be improving the socioeconomic statuses of the poor, especially women, by employing local decisions and utilising local resources in a socially and environmentally sustainable manner.

TMSS has taken up various projects to ensure financial liberty, education, health and environmental benefits for those who need it most.

In 2007, TMSS's Executive Director, Dr. Hosne-Ara Begum was accoladed with the Begum Rokeya Padak for her lifelong commitment and services towards alleviating the status and living standards of destitute women of our country. Her story in itself is an astounding one. Born as a male child in Thengamara, she lost her father at a very young age and was left in the care of her relatives. She financed her own university education by keeping her land under mortgage and with the help of her then classmate and now husband Professor Ansar Ali Talukdar. In the middle of her studies, she developed a tumour that doctors refused to operate on because her death was considered inevitable. In 1975, she finally underwent surgery. To her that was a life-changing experience. Before she was carried off to the operating room, she made a vow that she would do her best to serve humanity and those in suffering if God allowed her to live. After the operation was done successfully, she completed her studies and started teaching Botany in a women's college in Bogra. Alongside this, she involved herself with various forms of social work. At the time, she was approached by Fatema Bewa's group for assistance. Impressed with their activities, she agreed and in 1985 with the regular beggars of what had become four Unions, the group decided to give up begging and start earning a livelihood through paid work.

Dr. Hosne-Ara claims that had she never seen both sides of life in terms of gender, she would never have been able to fully grasp the situation for women in our country. “What inspired me most was how these women were not afraid to dream big and reach for the sky,” she said. “They demanded independence and their own right to live, and their determination to win back what was taken from them gave me the courage to stick to the project and let it grow, because I saw how it changed their lives. It is this that has allowed us to come where we are today.”

TMSS has taken up various projects to ensure financial liberty, education, health and environmental benefits for those who need it most in both rural and urban societies. It maintains its efficiency by ensuring transparency of its endeavours, by emphasising the need of common good and by encouraging healthy competition. Because of its holistic approach, it has required little dependency on outside help, but has the government and the community to thank because nothing could have been achieved without their cooperation and participation. She mentions how at the beginning and end of everything, the value they held on to most was that of helping others. She highlights how having a low wage compared to other NGOs ensured this work ethic in its staff members. Strengthening her point, the Deputy Executive Director, Professor Md. Lutfar Rahman says, “The motto of building one's own career must not precede having strong commitment to serve our society.”

From collecting grains of rice, to providing jobs and improving lives of thousands of people in dire need, the journey of this organisation illustrates what most consider impossible in a society dictated by hierarchal values and actions, by giving hope and belief. In a country where power and money dictate dreams and achievements, TMSS has proven that the ideals of love and care are also enough to take individuals, families and communities a long way and help make the dreams of thousands into realities.