News

To mark International Women’s Day on March 8, here is an empowering story of one woman’s journey to equality and independence.

In celebration of International Women’s Day 2018, the mothers’ association of the Sreepur Village arranged a cultural programme and led a discussion which focussed on this year’s theme of #PressforProgress. It was an opportunity for the Sreepur mothers to celebrate womanhood in all its form and during the two-hour long discussion, the mothers primarily discussed the importance of self-reliance, training and development, they also thanked The Sreepur Village for supporting them and their children.

Today is International Women's Day and The Sreepur Village would like to share with you a story of hope and empowerment:

After the death of her husband, Khadija and her three children were evicted from their home by her husband’s elder brother. Abandoned and alone the only option for Khadija and her children was to move to Dhaka. 

It was whilst living in a park that Khadija’s children met an organisation that offered to refer them all to The Sreepur Village (Shishu Polli Plus), the only residential mother and child project in Bangladesh. Without The Sreepur Village Khadija would have had to place her children in institutional care and spend the rest of her life alone on the streets of Dhaka.

“Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home -- so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world” Eleanor Roosevelt (The Chair of the drafting committee of The Universal Declaration of Human Rights).

Today, the world will be observing Human Rights Day, and if you follow The Sreepur Village, you will see how we wholly support this declaration.

The Rohingya refugees, who have already suffered Bangladesh’s stifling heat and monsoon rains, are now bracing themselves for a harsh winter; and with a lack of warm clothing this only adds to their ongoing misery. At the Rohingya refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar (Southern Bangladesh), doctors are warning against the increased risk of an outbreak of cold-borne diseases, such as respiratory tract infections.

In such conditions it is the children that are the most vulnerable. During winter, the temperature in Cox’s Bazar dips to around 10–15 degrees, with December and January being the most unbearable months.

November 25, was the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women and Girls.

One in three women and girls around the world has experienced physical or sexual violence in their lifetime. Currently, The Sreepur Village is working to empower 150 mothers, of which the following are: 23 divorced, 57 abandoned, 30 separated,      5 unmarried, 35 widowed. Out of these 150 women, regardless of their marital status, over 100 have experienced some form of brutal violence in their lifetime.