News

As we celebrate the recent success of our Patron and British Paralympian, Dame Sarah Storey, we would also like to celebrate the aspirations and goals of other women who in the face of adversity have also never given up.

Earlier in 2017, The Sreepur Village began a ‘Candle Making’ training programme for the mothers, to help empower them as entrepreneurs. A small business idea, such as this, helps the mothers to support their families as they can make candles in their free time and earn an additional income, a driving force that never existed before.

The contribution of sport to education, human development, healthy lifestyles and a peaceful world is of utmost importance and here in The Sreepur Village, we commit ourselves to the development of our children through various sports and physical exercises.

In the Sreepur Village school, we provide a specialised sports instructor who teaches the children a variety of sports every day. Jesmin has a degree in Physical Education and has experience in children’s sports and physical exercise.

On Sunday, The Sreepur Village, celebrated the 48th Independence Day by participating in different programmes organised by the Sreepur Village School.

As a first phase of the programme, the children of the Sreepur Village School celebrated the free spirit of the Bangladeshi Independence day with great fervour and joy. In excited anticipation, they gathered in the school grounds for an assembly while the national flag was hoisted by Pat and Imran (our two directors) and the melody of the national anthem of Bangladesh played in the background.

As it is #NutritionMonth and #youcancareweek would you like to see what snacks The Sreepur Village provides the children during school times?

Living in a remote village in Bangladesh’s Sunamgaj District, Runu Bala struggled to feed her three children. Without land and living near to Tanguar Haor - a large wetland area in North-Eastern Bangladesh that gets flooded for five to six months of the year - it was hard for Runu to grow vegetables or other crops. Vegetables are an essential source of nutrition for a sound and healthy body, but in Bangladesh, two out of every three children born are underweight due to malnutrition.

In Bangladesh, many mothers, like Runu, don't have enough land to cultivate vegetables conventionally. Sack gardening does not require much space and a variety of vegetables can be grown according to need and taste. The bags are also easy to move, which is important for families living on 'char' lands (River Island) and riverbanks, who are often forced to move as their villages become flooded. The large majority of our mothers are from the Char area.

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.

Today is World Book Day and The Sreepur Village would like to take this opportunity to share with you the story of Alo, a 45-year-old mother of four children and whose name means light.

Alo, real name Sobeda Begum, lost her husband 12 years ago just before the birth of her youngest son. Her husband was an agriculture labourer and the only earner of the family and one day he never returned home. Due to Alo’s early marriage she never had the opportunity to go to school.

As today is Rare Disease Day we would like to share with you the story of Surzo (meaning sun in English), a boy whose left leg was infected by a rare bone infection called Osteomyelitis.

Surzo, whose real name is in fact Nahid, was only 12 years old when he fell from a high brick stake whilst playing with friends. After 3-4 days he got a very high fever and became unconscious. Immediately, Surzo was taken to The Sreepur Village Health Clinic but due to his high fever and unconsciousness and the concerns of The Sreepur Clinic, he was taken to a nearby NGO clinic named Public Health Centre (well known as Gonosyastho Kendra (GK). The GK clinic also failed to identify the reasons for Surzo's condition. After thorough consultation between The Sreepur Village and the GK Clinic staff, Surzo was immediately sent to a government hospital in Dhaka accompanied by one of The Sreepur Clinic’s trained nurses.

For some, a routine visit to the dentist is the norm but for many Bangladeshi's this is not the case.

As the majority of the women and children of The Sreepur Village have never ever been to a dentist the prevalence of their dental suffering is quite high.

As this week is Sexual Abuse and Sexual Violence Awareness Week we wanted to share with you the story of one of our beneficiaries. By raising awareness, we hope that more people will be able to help put an end to such brutalities.

Presently, at The Sreepur Village, 60% of the mothers have faced some form of sexual abuse or violence in their lifetime. We would like to share with you the story of Sathi who is unmarried and an under-aged mother of The Sreepur Village

"After nourishment, shelter and companionship, stories are the thing we need most in the world." Philip Pullman

The Sreepur Village, a UK-based charity, provides a safe haven for over 400 children and 150 mothers in rural Bangladesh. Living alone in fear and not knowing where the next meal is coming from is the start of many a story, and one that all of our beneficiaries have been able to share.

Everyday on the grounds of the CMC (Child and Mother Care) our Baby-House's children have their lunch under the big water tank.