Molina ignores social taboo for better life

Molina at her tailoring shop at Bogra Bazar in Bauphal, constructed under DANIDA's RDP-16 Project. PHOTO: STAR

"I needed to do something to supplement my family income to ensure education for my son but many in the area opposed this".

Molina, a village woman, now owns a well-decorated tailoring shop with bundles of fabrics stacked inside at Bogra Bazar in Bauphal upazila in Patuakhali.

Tap here to add The Daily Star as a trusted source

She got the shop for free. It is in a cluster of shops constructed under DANIDA assisted 'Rural Development Project-16 (RDP-16) only for women.

Molina who passed only SSC (Secondary School Certificate) examination, earns Tk 4000 to 5000 a month from her shop and adds it to the income by her schoolteacher husband Shusil Kumar Pal. They are a happy couple with one teenaged son, Sujan.

"I was inspired by an elderly man-- Shahjahan-- a supervisor of the DANIDA project when I met him at Bogra Bazar. He advised me to set up a tailoring shop".

"This will fulfil my dream-- higher education for my son", she told this correspondent during a visit to her shop.

Like Molina, Rina Begum, Aleya Begum, Purnima Rani, Sandha Rani, Rexona and Jinnatunnesa of the area have become self-reliant by setting up shops at the same market.

Kabir Uddin Matbar, Assistant Structure and Market Engineer of RDP-16, said 33 rural markets, with 17 trading sheds for women, have been built in Patuakhali district under the project since 1994. These sheds with all facilities like lighting, attached bathrooms, and tubewells for pure drinking water have been allotted to women entrepreneurs.

The allotments have been made by a committee headed by the Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO).

Distressed and unemployed women have been given preference. They have opened shops like tailoring, tea-stall, stationary, photostat, cell phone ete. in the markets.