MALEKAS BATTLE AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE

Maleka is a 19-year-old member of the recently formed Village Disaster Management Committee (VDMC) in Dhubli village in northern Bangladesh. Although her house and her land have been destroyed multiple times by the river she wants to stay in this village and script her own destiny. This is her story:

18.05.2010

© Shamsul Haque Suza, RDRS.

Maleka joined a local committee to help her village be prepared to climate changes.

Our land and house was near the Tista River, but over time it was all destroyed. We had more than two acres of land, but the river took it all away. Our house has been damaged more than seven times now.

A big flood in 1998 took away all our land and home. I was eleven years old then. Fortunately, we all somehow managed to escape and save our lives. Then for three years we took shelter on somebody else’s land. In the last big flood in 2001 we lost all our livestock. How do you save goats when your life is at stake?

I used to be scared of the river, but not anymore. Now this is a part of our lives - this constant erosion from the river. There is no way out of this. Still, I am a woman. I don’t have any means to earn a living here and my parents will not even send me out.

Dreams for Future

I really want to finish my studies and get a job somewhere. But it is difficult to get a job here. No one helps anyone in our village. Even if there are openings I hardly get to know.

Now, through this Village Disaster Management Committee (VDMC), I want to find a way out, to build my future. This VDMC has been formed because the people in this area have suffered a lot because of the river floods. I want to do something for them and for myself.

I am an educated girl. I dream of a future where I can help my old father. I am learning so much from the work in the committee and - through me - my family is also learning.

Struggle to get educated

My father is really old and I want to help him. Sometimes he works on other people’s land as an agricultural labourer, at other times he goes to far away places to earn some money and comes back after two months.

My brother is married and stays in Dhaka with his wife. He has left his two children here. Although he sends money for them, we have to take care of them. He cannot afford to send money for the rest of us.

It is a big struggle to get educated. The biggest problem is poverty. Parents don’t have money to send their children to school. I passed Class 10 and wanted to do an honours course, but poverty didn’t allow me to pursue my dream. When I looked at my parents and their struggle I gave up my dream.

Spread this learning

What we do
The Village Disaster Manage¬ment Committee (VDMC) is an initiative of Rangpur Dinajpur Rural Services (RDRS), a leading NGO in Bangladesh and DanChurchAid’s partner in the region.

I am still determined to study within the means at my disposal. I want to do what I can for this village.

I joined the VDMC because I find the subjects discussed in the committee very relevant for the area and people living here. I want to be a part of it. I want to spread this learning to others so that we can minimize our losses when floods strike and get our entitlements as poor people.”

By Priyanka Mukherjee Mittal
Regional Information and Documentation Officer
DanChurch Aid, New Delhi, India

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