Halima, Peer-to-peer educator, Bangladesh
Fifteen-year-old Halima is a peer-to-peer educator working with street children in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. She is trained and supported by local NGO and VSO partner, Aperajeyo. This job enabled Halima to earn a small income that she is saving to one day to set up a small business. But Halima’s path to this job was not an easy one and it’s one she is trying to help other vulnerable children avoid.
Halima was abandoned at an early age by her parents, who wanted a son, rather than a daughter. Her uncle took her in but he earned a minimal income as a rickshaw driver so Halima felt guilty about being an additional burden on the family. She sold her nose jewellery to afford a bus fare and one evening, aged only nine, left for the capital city, Dhaka. She found what she thought was a safe home but was abused and forced to take drugs.
Halima’s story is not unique. In Bangladesh there are an estimated 525,000 children living on the street, half of whom are in the capital. Many have come from rural villages and are vulnerable to many forms of exploitation. Those that take drugs or work in the sex trade are at particularly high risk of contracting HIV.
Luckily for Nasima, friends introduced her to Aparajeyo – a local NGO which has set up schools, safe centres and saving schemes for the street children. The schools are based at the places where children arrive when they come to the capital: bus and railways stations and launch terminals. Here, there are opportunities not only to go to classes but also to meet other young people, known as ‘peer educators’ who can tell them about the reality of issues like HIV, trafficking and abuse.
These days, Halima’s life has turned around so much that she has now become a peer educator herself. She says, “It is very important for me to raise awareness amongst other children and amongst the community. There are still many children who have not been able to escape their ordeals.” Having done this work for the last two years, Halimanow has saved some money in the centre’s saving scheme. With this money she plans to buy some land and develop a poultry farm in the future.
VSO volunteer social work adviser Karen Dahlgren helped young people like Halima through the support she offered the centre staff. She took a career break from her post as a social worker with Edinburgh Council to come to Bangladesh. Her work at Aparajeyo has included identifying the quality of care and training staff.
Karen says, “I did a training needs analysis and found the staff found it was hard dealing with difficult behaviour. And when I talked to the children they talked very positively about the services that were provided but they said they didn’t like bullying amongst the children. So I felt there was a need to focus on promoting positive self-discipline for the children, and providing practical training for the staff.
“We provided training not only for the field staff and managers but also for the support staff: the carers and caretakers. Most of them live in the centres and are important people in the children’s lives, but hadn’t received any previous training. They now treat children differently, and also educate others to listen to children instead of using harsh forms of discipline.”