Country: Bangladesh
Area of Work: Education
Impact: 88 Scholarships
Years in Partnership: 10
Educate a Girl, Bangladesh
One of the questions we get most often from people who have followed ConnectHER for a long time or who have attended our events is "How is Asma?"
For those of you who don't know her story, we encourage you to go watch the film Asma submitted to the 2016 ConnectHER Film Festival. As soon as people saw it, so many of you reached out with offers of support. It was that film that launched our first ConnectHER-run project -- scholarships for girls in Bangladesh. We have posted updates from Asma throughout the years, but this year we are committed to bringing you stories of how your gifts to ConnectHER's Giving Circle make an impact on women and girls around the world. To do this, we sent Constance, a ConnectHER Team Member, to Bangladesh, to follow up on our projects there.
One of the highlights, of course, was meeting Asma. Constance followed her to school, ate dinner with her family at home and she even got a cup of chai made by Asma herself (delicious!). Constance also met with Asma's tutor who has been helping her to catch up on school subjects and also got to meet her sister Lovely (far below right photo). One of the most touching moments came when they visited the site of Asma's old tea stall (below photo). Reflecting on how her life has changed since then, Asma said:
I feel good that I have moved from this place. If ConnectHER didn't help me, I would not have gone to school. Life would have been different, it would have been darker because I wouldn't have had education. Without education, there is no light in someone's life.
Asma is doing well in school and will be sitting for national exams next year (which is a big deal in Bangladesh!). We will continue to support her through university if that's what she chooses. What is also remarkable is that Asma's story sparked so many to give that we now have 35 other girls in Bangladesh on scholarship attending both high school and university levels. If you follow us on social media, you will get to hear some of their stories this month as we focus on those stories this month. Our scholarship program, of course, supports girls year round, so we are so grateful to those of you who are sustaining monthly donors and help make these girls' education a possibility. Thank you for bringing light to Asma's life and to so many other girls!