Women of Worth

Jomela Khatum’s muted-orange sari covers her from head to toe but can’t hide the fact that she wears something out of the norm for a Bangladeshi woman: self-confidence.

Trained by Food for the Hungry to educate women about their legal rights, Jomela leads a group of women in the small town of Maligrum. The group meets weekly to learn about parenting, legal issues, livelihood, savings and stewardship.

 

Jomela knows the pain of many wives, mothers and daughters who suffer abuse and exploitation in a male-dominated society that treats women as second-class citizens. She saved her daughter from possible death at the hands of a husband. Jomela explained the legal consequences, shimuli, of beating his wife, and the husband changed his behavior. Wanting to see a deeper change, Jomela encouraged the couple to work toward marital harmony and reconciliation. They no longer argue over petty things.

Jomela had the support of her group and Food for the Hungry workers –who patiently worked with the law leaders in the community and mediated between Shimuli and her husband’s family.

What We do

Family and Community Transformation Program: Facilitates small groups to maintain collective savings accounts and learn about health, microenterprise, legal rights, and values.

Disaster Relief and Preparedness: For a country prone to natural disasters, these training workshops equip community leaders to identify needs, coordinate available resources, and provide for families in need.

Child Development Program: Pre-school programs, youth clubs, character-development classes, tutoring, health check-ups, special annual events, and training parents about nutrition and good hygiene, godly values, parenting, and income generation.

School and Community Development: Operates primary schools primarily among the Hindu “untouchable” caste along with undertaking development projects to improve overall conditions in the community.

Teams: Partners with local and North American churches and institutions to help with community transformation projects, such as interacting with school teachers to develop their English skills, teaching fun and educational songs to students, and visiting rural villages to participate in activities related to Food for the Hungry’s Family and Community Transformation program.

Hunger Corps: Partners with local and North American churches to send committed individuals to work alongside national staff helping them to develop their skills, capacity and spiritual maturity to serve their own people. Hunger Corps provide assistance in areas such as communications, teaching English, staff training and development, and community development.

Living in one of the world’s most densely populated and disaster prone countries, Bangladeshi people face deep and widespread poverty, with a third surviving on less than $1 a day, and a majority on less than $2. The nation has worked to slow population growth and upgrade both the education and health of its people. Those who are able work outside Bangladesh, sometimes illegally. Unemployment is estimated at 35 percent, but could be even higher considering many work only as temporary or seasonal day-laborers. Bangladeshi poor suffer from frequent natural disasters, water-borne diseases, lack of clean drinking water, no electricity and little infrastructure.

You can partner with Food for the Hungry to walk alongside needy Bangladeshis through development programs as well as occasional short-term teams and longer-term Hunger Corps opportunities.