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The Asha storyMike with some young street children

Visiting Dhaka’s Gulshan market in 1999 we gradually got to know some of the slum children well as they all clamoured to carry our purchases.

Once they had discovered the International school where we worked we often had an excited crowd waiting for us outside the school gates.

On Saturdays I sometimes took them for a meal in a small restaurant at the back of the market. At times we had three sittings with children waiting for seats to be available. And it wasn’t at all unusual for a little old beggar to sneak in for a free meal too!

Despite their ragged appearance they were mostly very obedient and helpful. The older girls would organise the washing of hands and keep distribution fair. They always insisted I eat with them too and my plate soon became the general receptacle for the gifts of everybody’s choicest items – an endearing Bangladeshi habit! If a little insanitary – I seemed to survive it.

… the beginnings of Asha

Smart uniforms for the early Asha school

When we discovered how illiterate the girls in particular really were, with no suitable school available to them, we decided to set up our own.

In starting a school, we had to promise parents an allowance for each girl so that they would not be sent off to the garments factory. Most families relied on the little income their girls were able to bring home. Without money only a handful would have been allowed to indulge in education.Beginning with 12 older girls we hired teaching staff and began. Within months we needed larger premises and more staff. And so it progressed, with every week seeing new girls added.Visiting family homes became the next priority. A rather hectic procedure, it introduced us to the real conditions the children lived in, tiny bamboo and tin shacks huddled within the city slums. Despite the poverty, we were warmly welcomed into each crowded home.

In addition to running Asha’s education projects, we have spent a great deal of time with these slum families over the years, providing health treatment and support. Sharing happiness and pain.

… changed lives

The work of Meider Jonno Asha has changed the lives of many girls in Dhaka city. Over the years around 300 illiterate teenagers have received basic education and skills that they would otherwise have been denied. And, perhaps more importantly, they have also received the love and care that has given them assurance of their true value in a society that constantly demeans them.

Not only have the girls’ lives been changed, their families and communities have also been impacted by the spread of hope.

Some stayed only a little time with us, succumbing to family pressures to marry or find work in the many garments factories. But even a short time in Asha helped them to grow in confidence and equipped them with some of the tools to take greater control of their lives and their future.

Some have moved on to better jobs and many are still with us in our Next Steps Asha work and training projects sharing knowledge and developing skills.

 

Mike Whittles

Founder and Director, Meider Jonno Asha

Why girls?

We began to help girls because they seemed to be the weakest and the most deprived amongst the many poor we encountered in the city.

In Bangladesh, girls are less well cared for by families. Particularly where family income is limited they will routinely receive less food, less health-care and less education and job opportunities than their brothers. They are expected to sacrifice their own needs and ambitions for the benefit of the family or their male siblings. In addition they are frequently married off far too early, often as young as 14.

Our principal concern has always therefore been to redress the balance and give girls more time and education and opportunities.

Over the years, as our charity developed, it has become apparent that in an impoverished community it is in helping the girls and the women that beneficial changes to the whole society take place most readily. It is in helping the girls alone that we are also most able to change the society they live in and the very circumstances that bring about the discrimination they suffer.



Five minute video. Double-click for full screen.


The reason is that these women, seemingly the weakest and most vulnerable members of society, are often actually the most powerful protectors and guardians of community.

To empower women in a poor society brings renewed well-being and hope to everyone.

Our work in Asha has expanded across the generations so that we now work in partnership with girls and women of all ages, bringing hope to the whole community.

(The chief reason behind these discriminations is that, for poor parents with no expectation of state assistance or pensions, boys represent a security for the future. Culturally boys are expected to stay home, bring their wives to live in the house, or nearby, and thereafter take on the responsibility of providing for their elderly parents. Girls conversely must leave their families and devote their time and whatever resources they have mostly to their in-laws family, generally as a second class family member whose needs are inconsequential.)

Contact Us

If you would like to find out more about Meider Jonno Asha or learn about ways you can help support us get in touch:

+44 (0) 1856 831644

mikewhittles*gmail.com

Meider Jonno Asha (Scottish Charity SCO33691)

Sorquoy, East Side, South Ronaldsay, Orkney KW17 2TJ

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