TBM Report
Sahara Begum, a resilient woman from the isolated coastal island of Monpura in Bhola, is fighting a desperate daily battle against nature to keep her family alive. Living in a dilapidated shanty adjacent to the coastal embankment of Charfaizuddin village (Ward 8, Hajirhat Union), Sahara is the sole breadwinner for her family, which includes her completely visually impaired husband and three minor children. Her meager income from domestic labor and tailoring has ground to a halt following a severe catastrophic climate event.
A month ago, a devastating Nor’wester (Kalbaishakhi) storm completely leveled their fragile shelter. Although local residents stepped in to temporarily patch a few old corrugated iron sheets onto the roof, the family remains exposed to the elements without walls, doors, or windows. Consequently, every rainy night brings immense psychological trauma and physical danger to the blind father and the young children, who are left at the mercy of unpredictable coastal squalls and tidal surges.
Responding to the crisis, Abdur Rahman Shoeb, a local youth philanthropist, mobilized his peers and well-wishers to raise an initial emergency fund of BDT 13,000 for the family. However, Shoeb emphasizes that an additional BDT 22,000 is urgently required to procure sustainable building materials, secure proper bamboo fencing, and pay for construction masonry labor. Due to this funding deficit, the reconstruction of the house has remained completely stalled for the past four weeks.
Lending institutional weight to the appeal, Mohibullah Elias, President of the Monpura Reporters’ Unit and a prominent local educator, along with Md. Rakibul Islam, President of the Jagrato Monpura Foundation, issued a joint call to action. They emphasized that corporate social responsibility (CSR) wings and wealthy citizens must step forward to rehabilitate Sahara Begum’s family, ensuring that these vulnerable citizens are provided with their constitutional right to safe, secure, and dignified housing.
, Sahara is the sole breadwinner for her family, which includes her completely visually impaired husband and three minor children. Her meager income from domestic labor and tailoring has ground to a halt following a severe catastrophic climate event.){kind=link}