Physically challenged man builds a good life

Delowar Hossain, 55, of Barobakpur in Jhalakathi's Rajapur, was just a boy during the Liberation War of 1971. Too young for active service, the freedom struggle would nonetheless impact upon his life in a most dramatic way.

"Some freedom fighters were thirsty," he recalls. "They asked me to bring green coconuts."

Believing it to be not solely a duty of hospitality but also a small service to the nation, Hossain was happy to oblige. The twelve-year-old climbed a nearby coconut palm in just the way Bangladeshi village boys often do. But unfortunately, on that occasion, he fell.

Hossain would never walk again.

Nonetheless Hossain, who can barely stand or sit, was determined to make a life for himself. In the 1980s, when all hope of treatment had faded, he opened a grocery store. Finding the business unprofitable, in 1990 he left for Dhaka to drive a three-wheeler baby taxi instead. It was difficult to find a baby taxi owner to entrust him with a vehicle due to his physical limitations, but eventually he prevailed.

"When I returned to my village in 2001," explains Hossain, "I tried to work in the fields but couldn't do it well. Eventually I understood I needed to drive a three-wheeler again, locally, which I have done since 2006."

With his earnings Hossain eventually purchased his own battery-run vehicle.

"I lent him Tk 50,000 to buy his auto-rickshaw," says Rajapur businessman Chan Mia, "which he already repaid."

These days, Hossain is pleased with his fortunes. "If I work from dawn to late night, I can earn up to Tk 1,000 per day," says the father of four, "which for my family means prosperity." Thinking to the future, the lion's share of his income is spent on his children's education.

"My elder son is waiting for university admission," says Hossain proudly, "The middle son studies at Infra Polytechnic Institute in Barisal, while my younger son and daughter study at school."

"We are proud of our father," says his eldest son Nazmul Hasan. "Although he is physically challenged he tries to support us no less than other fathers. He has always encouraged our education and inspired us to achieve a successful life."

"I enjoy working and never think I am disabled," says Hossain, adding that he never depended on the charity of others despite great hardship through some periods of his life.

"I didn't ask the freedom fighters for any kind of help either, because I did what I did for the country."

Freedom fighter Mohsin Mridha, commander of Rajapur upazila freedom fighters' council, has nothing but praise for Delowar Hossain. "As a young boy he helped us by climbing the tree for coconuts during the war," he says, "It's because of him and how he rose to the challenge of a difficult life that it really pains me to see youths nowadays with good physical strength but who pass days without attempting any work."