Current School Facilities
Because the school never know how long they will be in one place, it is impossible to provide chairs and tables for the kids. The children learn whilst sitting on sack material laid over a dirty concrete floor.
Video Documentary
Users of mobile devices such as iPhone, iPod and video enabled mobile phones should choose from the links below. To download to your computer right click and "Save As" and then sync to mobile device.
For more information contact:
enquiries@cementingfutures.org
About the Documentary Video
Many children around the world do not have access to state education. It's the hard work of dedicated fundraisers and voluntary organisations, at home and abroad, that is helping to plug the gap in schooling for unprivileged children and their families.
Cementing Futures is focusing on helping with this task in Bangladesh.
Cementing Futures and its current project was brought in to being by members of Soroptimists International of Bournemouth, which is part of a women’s organisation with over 90,000 members in 127 countries worldwide, who have a wealth of experience in distributing funds and supporting projects across the globe.
The country is situated in a vast river delta.
Each year floods causes loss of crops, homes and loss of life.
Farmland is lost to land erosion
500,000 rural workers a year migrate to the cities looking for work
Narration
The population in Dhaka is now estimated at over 16,000,000
74 slums districts in Dhaka house over 2.6 million people
Over half on these are children.
It is the low lying farmlands of the Bangladesh plain that are being lost to erosion caused by flooding and tropical storms.
With the land being washed away or flooded, there is less protection from cyclones that sweep in from the sea every year during the monsoon season.
These storms cause destruction of crops as well as destroying farming communities and spreading diseases.
This is the main reason farm workers and their families are being forced in to the cities to find work.
Bangladesh is one of the most densely populated countries in the world, add to this the devastation caused to the economy by the loss of farming revenue and the migration of workers to the main cities, the state educational system is struggling to cope with the demands.
Additionally , families must find money to cover the cost of uniforms, text books and travel to and from school which the poorest families are simply unable to afford.
This is Mahmud; he is 11 yrs old and came to the city from a rural area.
Mahmud is unable to attend school because he does farm work to help with the family income.
He is paid £5 per month for working 7 hours per day.
The lack of education in the poorest classes is widespread and the need to send children to work, is high, as they bring in much needed income to help the family. However, this removes their chance to improve themselves and break free from this never ending cycle of poverty, and the lack of opportunity that it brings.
Local Non Governmental Organisations like Soroptimist International of Dhaka and educational organisation Nijera Shikhi have been working successfully with slum communities to provide education for their children.
In order to limit the financial hardship to the poorest families’ nijera shikhi offer 2hrs schooling a day so the children can still work and contribute to the family income. As well as learning basic numeracy and literary skills, the children are taught social and vocational skills to improve their job prospects.
They are also working with parents teaching them the benefits of education, and home skills like health and hygiene, to help stem the diseases that can spread through slum housing.
This is Mossammat, she is the mother in a family of 5. Her husband, Mohammad, is a rickshaw puller.
Their family home and land was lost to river erosion, so they were forced in to the city to find work. Mohammad's mother also lost her home, so is also staying with them.
This has enabled Mossammat to work as a domestic helper, bringing the combined monthly income for this family to £45 a month.
Their regular outgoings each month are
House rent: Tk.600/,
cost of food: Tk.2000.
Baby food Tk.300.-
Electricity Tk.Tk.300/-
Fuel Cost Tk.200/-,
Clothing: Tk.500/-
This leaves a surplus of Tk.400/- or £4 per month to cover emergencies such as medicines health and dental treatment which is not provided by the State.
Yasmin aged 10yrs and Sajib 4yrs both attend free schooling provided by Nijera Shikhi.
Narration
One of the biggest problems faced by local organisations is the lack of permanent premises. In a visit to Soroptimist international of Dhaka two years ago, Soroptimist members from Bournemouth found the local Nijera Skikhi School operating from 2 large rooms.
On this latest Trip the landlord had cut that in half, so he could rent the space to a carpentry business and dry cleaners. Apart from the added disruption to classes caused by the continuous noise from the carpentry business there were also the added problems of chemical fumes from the dry cleaners.
Because the rooms used by Nijera Shikhi are rented, storage isn’t available for school supplies and the short term lets mean that they are unable to use furniture. The children are taught sitting on canvas sheets on the concrete floor.
Cementing Futures is raising £300,000 that will build a purpose-built school offering children from the poorest families the chance to learn in a safe clean environment.
You can help us to achieve this in a variety of ways.
You can donate money to our charity
You can hold a fund-raising event , however big or small
And you can help raise awareness of our charity by encouraging your friends and family to visit our web-site
www.cementing futures.org
These children need our help. They are bright, hard-working but do not have the opportunities that have been offered to us.
They did not choose to be born into a deprived environment with a lack of opportunity , By supporting Cementing Futures, you can help us make a difference to their future.