Bangladesh: A life with Terre des hommes
28 Jun 2012 Health and nutritionBangladesh
The story of Hamida and Terre des hommes goes far back. Her widowed mother, bringing her up alone, had to take her to the Terre des hommes health centre. At seven, Hamida was undernourished. Today she is 40 and a nursing aide in the Terre des hommes’ specialised nutrition unit in Kurigram.
The story of Hamida and Terre des hommes goes far back. Her widowed mother, bringing her up alone, had to take her to the Terre des hommes health centre. At seven, Hamida was undernourished. Today she is 40 and a nursing aide in the Terre des hommes’ specialised nutrition unit in Kurigram.
Many years after her stay in the nutrition centre, Hamida’s path crossed that of Terre des hommes again. It was an equally difficult time in her life, when problems began with her marriage at 17: her mother-in-law never accepted her, as she had been a child of the Chhinamukul (former name of Terre des hommes). She was even beaten by her parents-in-law, who wanted to force their son to divorce her. They were ashamed that she had suffered from malnutrition as a child and been looked after by an NGO. When even her husband was hit, they decided to leave his family and go to another town. Hamida’s husband got a good position in a school and became its Headmaster.
As to Hamida, she had more trouble getting a job and finally went to Terre des hommes in despair. The person in charge there gave her a chance as field agent in Chilmari. She had to advise the mothers about good practices. Having shown what she could do, she became a nursing aide in the Chilmari nutrition centre, and later in Kurigram. Today she is in charge of preparing the food for malnourished children (photo). This is milk enriched with oil, sugar, vitamins and mineral salts that is administered every two hours to the children suffering from severe acute malnutrition.
Hamida is very conscious of the fact that she has an exceptional husband who believed in their marriage and supported her continuously. She is happy that their sons can be well-educated: one is at university and the other in the army. It’s now 12 years since she started work with Terre des hommes, and hopes to continue devoting her time to this cause, close to her heart. Terre des hommes crossed her path when she needed them. And she knows that this changed her life!
