BARGUNA, Bangladesh, 29 June 2009 – Cyclone Aila swept through south-west Bangladesh on 25 May, reducing homes to rubble, destroying crops and leaving villagers without safe water or sanitation. In the weeks since, local communities have been struggling to cope with the storm's impact.
People had barely recovered from the devastation of last year’s Cyclone Sidr when Cyclone Aila struck, affecting more than 4 million people.
In the remote coastal village of Hoglapasha, an old timber house with a palm leaf roof belonging to 80-year-old Nirod Chandra Roy was reduced to debris. Mr. Roy built a makeshift shelter with the bits and pieces of his old home that he found lying around. He survived in this shelter, without food or water, until relief workers finally were able to reach him.
“We were under chest-deep water for at least three days and hardly had any dry place for shelter. With surging tides and gusts, Aila swept away almost everything,” Mr. Roy said, visibly shaken.
Young volunteers help families
Now, a UNICEF-supported programme called ‘Empowerment of Adolescents’ is giving cyclone-affected villagers hope and disseminating life-saving information during a difficult time. Through the programme, young people have been trained on how to help minimize the damage to life and property – as well as give moral support to community members – in pre- and post-disaster situations.
The volunteers work in conjuction with the Department of Public Health Engineering to reach out to cyclone-affected families. They teach villagers how to make sure their water is safe to drink and how to prepare oral saline solutions for treating dehydration.
The programme is funded by the European Union and implemented by UNICEF in collaboration with a non-governmental organization, the Centre for Mass Education and Science. Since May, the centre has been training adolescents in disaster-prone communities to help their own families, as well as the families of their neighbours, during emergencies.
‘They give us motivation to fight’
Young volunteers visited Mr. Roy in his shelter, bringing him UNICEF-supplied water purification tablets and jerry cans. They also provided support and hope for the future. “It is hard for families who’ve lost almost everything to survive and make a normal living,” said one of the volunteers in Hoglapasha village, Monoj Mojumdar.
After leaving Mr. Roy's shelter, the volunteers visited a fisherman’s family. They explained how several folds of used cotton cloth can help filter contaminated pond water before boiling.
The volunteers regularly visit about 50 families to make sure they are drinking safe water and maintaining proper hygiene and sanitation practices. “We are encouraged by seeing those young children,” said villager Biba Rani. “They give us motivation to fight.”
Saturday, December 5, 2009
The exhibition was inaugurated by Dr. Kamal Abdul Naser Chowdhury
The exhibition was inaugurated by Dr. Kamal Abdul Naser Chowdhury, Secretary, Ministry of Information, Government of Bangladesh.
Other special guests included Dr Stefan Frowein, Ambassador and Head of Delegation, Delegation of the European Commission to Bangladesh; Mr Carel De Rooy, Bangladesh Country Representative, UNICEF; and Dr Shahidul Alam, Principal, Pathshala – South Asian Institute of Photography.
A photo book entitled Do you see my world? was also launched at this event.
After the launch in Dhaka the exhibition is schedule to travel to the three districts where the adolescent photographers came from. Please join us in this photographic journey at one of the exhibition sites.
The launch also treamed live from http://www.drik.tv/doyouseemyworld/ and had mobile versions on rickshaw van and bullock cart.
Exhibition details:
Dhaka: Drik Gallery, Dhanmondi, 23-27 November, 3-8pm everyday
Jamalpur: Public library, Bakultola, 6-11 December, 10am-4pm everyday
Other special guests included Dr Stefan Frowein, Ambassador and Head of Delegation, Delegation of the European Commission to Bangladesh; Mr Carel De Rooy, Bangladesh Country Representative, UNICEF; and Dr Shahidul Alam, Principal, Pathshala – South Asian Institute of Photography.
A photo book entitled Do you see my world? was also launched at this event.
After the launch in Dhaka the exhibition is schedule to travel to the three districts where the adolescent photographers came from. Please join us in this photographic journey at one of the exhibition sites.
The launch also treamed live from http://www.drik.tv/doyouseemyworld/ and had mobile versions on rickshaw van and bullock cart.
Exhibition details:
Dhaka: Drik Gallery, Dhanmondi, 23-27 November, 3-8pm everyday
Jamalpur: Public library, Bakultola, 6-11 December, 10am-4pm everyday
The exhibition was inaugurated by Dr. Kamal Abdul Naser Chowdhury
The exhibition was inaugurated by Dr. Kamal Abdul Naser Chowdhury
The exhibition was inaugurated by Dr. Kamal Abdul Naser Chowdhury, Secretary, Ministry of Information, Government of Bangladesh.
Other special guests included Dr Stefan Frowein, Ambassador and Head of Delegation, Delegation of the European Commission to Bangladesh; Mr Carel De Rooy, Bangladesh Country Representative, UNICEF; and Dr Shahidul Alam, Principal, Pathshala – South Asian Institute of Photography.
A photo book entitled Do you see my world? was also launched at this event.
After the launch in Dhaka the exhibition is schedule to travel to the three districts where the adolescent photographers came from. Please join us in this photographic journey at one of the exhibition sites.
The launch also treamed live from http://www.drik.tv/doyouseemyworld/ and had mobile versions on rickshaw van and bullock cart.
Exhibition details:
Dhaka: Drik Gallery, Dhanmondi, 23-27 November, 3-8pm everyday
Jamalpur: Public library, Bakultola, 6-11 December, 10am-4pm everyday
The exhibition was inaugurated by Dr. Kamal Abdul Naser Chowdhury, Secretary, Ministry of Information, Government of Bangladesh.
Other special guests included Dr Stefan Frowein, Ambassador and Head of Delegation, Delegation of the European Commission to Bangladesh; Mr Carel De Rooy, Bangladesh Country Representative, UNICEF; and Dr Shahidul Alam, Principal, Pathshala – South Asian Institute of Photography.
A photo book entitled Do you see my world? was also launched at this event.
After the launch in Dhaka the exhibition is schedule to travel to the three districts where the adolescent photographers came from. Please join us in this photographic journey at one of the exhibition sites.
The launch also treamed live from http://www.drik.tv/doyouseemyworld/ and had mobile versions on rickshaw van and bullock cart.
Exhibition details:
Dhaka: Drik Gallery, Dhanmondi, 23-27 November, 3-8pm everyday
Jamalpur: Public library, Bakultola, 6-11 December, 10am-4pm everyday
Do you see my world? Rural life of Bangladesh through adolescent eyes.
Do you see my world? Rural life of Bangladesh through adolescent eyes.
Rural life of Bangladesh through adolescent eyes
Dhaka, 18 November, 2009. To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, UNICEF in partnership with the European Union delegation in Bangladesh and Pathshala, South Asian Institute of Photography, launched a photo exhibition on Sunday, the 22nd November in Dhaka. Under the title 'Do you see my world?', this exhibition
is showcasing the works of three groups of adolescents from Jamalpur, Chapainawabganj and Barguna districts of rural Bangladesh.
With UNICEF support, Pathshala gave a five-day photographic training to 30 young people, aged 14 to18, and gave them a digital camera for a week. The aim was to inspire these adolescents to tell their own stories using photography as a tool, and to make a new mode of expression available to them. The result was a striking collection of photographs that express the beauty and tragedy of these adolescents’ everyday lives.
Rural life of Bangladesh through adolescent eyes
Dhaka, 18 November, 2009. To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, UNICEF in partnership with the European Union delegation in Bangladesh and Pathshala, South Asian Institute of Photography, launched a photo exhibition on Sunday, the 22nd November in Dhaka. Under the title 'Do you see my world?', this exhibition
is showcasing the works of three groups of adolescents from Jamalpur, Chapainawabganj and Barguna districts of rural Bangladesh.
With UNICEF support, Pathshala gave a five-day photographic training to 30 young people, aged 14 to18, and gave them a digital camera for a week. The aim was to inspire these adolescents to tell their own stories using photography as a tool, and to make a new mode of expression available to them. The result was a striking collection of photographs that express the beauty and tragedy of these adolescents’ everyday lives.
Although the life expectancy gap between men and women has narrowed
Although the life expectancy gap between men and women has narrowed over the last
decade, Bangladesh continues to be one of the very few countries in the world where
women’s life expectancy is lower than that of men: with men at 68.6 years and women 68.0
years17.
Women are put at risk of HIV/AIDS by their partners’ sexual behaviours, despite the fact
Bangladesh’s overall prevalence rate is believed to be less than one per cent. Most married
men who have unprotected sex with sex workers continue to have sex with their wives.
Consistent condom use among sex workers in Bangladesh brothels is four per cent. For
street-based sex workers it is two per cent. Brothel workers have an average of 19 clients a
week, one of the highest turnover rates in Asia18.
Only 57 per cent of girls aged 10-19 years have heard of HIV/AIDS19.
The tertiary education ratio for female to
males is 36:64, below the MDG target of
50:5020. Early marriage is one of the main
causes of poor enrolment and high female
drop-out rates at the higher education levels.
Increasing tertiary opportunities for girls is
expected to boost the mean age of marriage.
Literacy rates in females aged 20 to 24 years
compared to their male peers is 55:71 (up
from 42:65). This is still well short of the MDG
target of 100:100. In 2000, it was estimated
only 43 per cent of women were literate21.
Net primary school enrolment rates have
achieved gender parity, at 81 per cent for
boys and 84 per cent for girls22.
Almost one in five paid agricultural labourers
is female (19 per cent). However, they only
earn 70 per cent of their male counterparts’
wages. In other sectors, women make up 22
per cent of paid employment. Their wages are
less than half the male wage. (Public servants
have equal wages)23
For one in eight women who earn a wage, someone else decides how that wage will be
spent. More than two in five decide with someone else, such as their husband24.
decade, Bangladesh continues to be one of the very few countries in the world where
women’s life expectancy is lower than that of men: with men at 68.6 years and women 68.0
years17.
Women are put at risk of HIV/AIDS by their partners’ sexual behaviours, despite the fact
Bangladesh’s overall prevalence rate is believed to be less than one per cent. Most married
men who have unprotected sex with sex workers continue to have sex with their wives.
Consistent condom use among sex workers in Bangladesh brothels is four per cent. For
street-based sex workers it is two per cent. Brothel workers have an average of 19 clients a
week, one of the highest turnover rates in Asia18.
Only 57 per cent of girls aged 10-19 years have heard of HIV/AIDS19.
The tertiary education ratio for female to
males is 36:64, below the MDG target of
50:5020. Early marriage is one of the main
causes of poor enrolment and high female
drop-out rates at the higher education levels.
Increasing tertiary opportunities for girls is
expected to boost the mean age of marriage.
Literacy rates in females aged 20 to 24 years
compared to their male peers is 55:71 (up
from 42:65). This is still well short of the MDG
target of 100:100. In 2000, it was estimated
only 43 per cent of women were literate21.
Net primary school enrolment rates have
achieved gender parity, at 81 per cent for
boys and 84 per cent for girls22.
Almost one in five paid agricultural labourers
is female (19 per cent). However, they only
earn 70 per cent of their male counterparts’
wages. In other sectors, women make up 22
per cent of paid employment. Their wages are
less than half the male wage. (Public servants
have equal wages)23
For one in eight women who earn a wage, someone else decides how that wage will be
spent. More than two in five decide with someone else, such as their husband24.
Female-headed households face serious poverty.
Female-headed households face serious poverty. Nearly one in every two female-headed
households falls below the poverty line, compared to less than two in five patriarchal
households.25
There were only six women in the previous 300-seat National Parliament of Bangladesh – or
two per cent of the representation26. Both leaders of the main political parties are women:
the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) leader Begum Khaleda Zia, widow of former
president Ziaur Rahman; and the Awami League (AL) leader Sheikh Hasina, daughter of
former president and Prime Minister Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
In local government, about 25 per cent of the elected members are women27.
households falls below the poverty line, compared to less than two in five patriarchal
households.25
There were only six women in the previous 300-seat National Parliament of Bangladesh – or
two per cent of the representation26. Both leaders of the main political parties are women:
the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) leader Begum Khaleda Zia, widow of former
president Ziaur Rahman; and the Awami League (AL) leader Sheikh Hasina, daughter of
former president and Prime Minister Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
In local government, about 25 per cent of the elected members are women27.
About 55 per cent of married women lack the
About 55 per cent of married women lack the
freedom to go alone to a hospital or health
centre, or outside their village, town or city6.
Domestic violence remains a huge threat to
the security of adolescent girls. A UNICEF
report found that extreme physical abuse at
home that led to death accounted for more
than 70 per cent of the reported domestic
violence cases involving young housewives
and girls aged 13-187.
Bangladesh has one of the highest rates of child marriage in the world. More than two-thirds
of adolescent girls are married (of those aged 10-19)8. Nearly two in five girls aged 15-17 are
married, despite 18 being the legal age for marriage9.
More than half the adolescent girls (55 per cent) become mothers by the time they are 19,
and half of these mothers are acutely malnourished. The maternal mortality rate among
adolescent mothers is double the national rate10.
The national maternal mortality rate is one of the worst
in South Asia, at 320 deaths per 100,000 births11. This
means about 11,000 women die giving birth every year.
Most deliveries take place at home away from
emergency obstetric care and without a skilled
attendant.
Almost one in every seven maternal deaths is caused
by violence12.
Nearly half of all mothers are malnourished (45 per
cent)13. Anaemia is a severe public health problem for
pregnant women, which has been estimated at around
46 per cent. Almost one third of adolescent girls also
suffer from anaemia14.
Girls are typically fed less and last. Nationally, 4.8 per
cent of girls aged 12-59 months were malnourished
compared with 3.6 per cent of boys15.
Almost one in every two husbands decides their wife’s
health care (48 per cent). They often solely determine their children’s health care (32 per
cent)16.
freedom to go alone to a hospital or health
centre, or outside their village, town or city6.
Domestic violence remains a huge threat to
the security of adolescent girls. A UNICEF
report found that extreme physical abuse at
home that led to death accounted for more
than 70 per cent of the reported domestic
violence cases involving young housewives
and girls aged 13-187.
Bangladesh has one of the highest rates of child marriage in the world. More than two-thirds
of adolescent girls are married (of those aged 10-19)8. Nearly two in five girls aged 15-17 are
married, despite 18 being the legal age for marriage9.
More than half the adolescent girls (55 per cent) become mothers by the time they are 19,
and half of these mothers are acutely malnourished. The maternal mortality rate among
adolescent mothers is double the national rate10.
The national maternal mortality rate is one of the worst
in South Asia, at 320 deaths per 100,000 births11. This
means about 11,000 women die giving birth every year.
Most deliveries take place at home away from
emergency obstetric care and without a skilled
attendant.
Almost one in every seven maternal deaths is caused
by violence12.
Nearly half of all mothers are malnourished (45 per
cent)13. Anaemia is a severe public health problem for
pregnant women, which has been estimated at around
46 per cent. Almost one third of adolescent girls also
suffer from anaemia14.
Girls are typically fed less and last. Nationally, 4.8 per
cent of girls aged 12-59 months were malnourished
compared with 3.6 per cent of boys15.
Almost one in every two husbands decides their wife’s
health care (48 per cent). They often solely determine their children’s health care (32 per
cent)16.
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