The livestock solution to poverty
Akhterun, a 55-year-old woman of Borobaria village in Raninagar upazila of Naogaon district, found herself in deep waters when her husband died 16 years ago. He left behind two daughters for her to take care of alone, and a piece of land where they used to live in inside a tin-shed.
She started the day labourers’ work of digging earth to survive. Her income was not enough and she had to beg alms to pay for her daughters.
“Digging earth became a difficult task for me as I grew older and was in constant pain. I couldn’t manage a household job at that time either. I had no option but to beg,” she says.
In a few years, when her elder daughter turned 15, she married her off. But her inconveniences increased one year later when her daughter’s husband left her and the woman gave birth to a son at Akhterun’s house. She managed to marry off her daughter for a second time, but her second husband denied to accept the son. Therefore, she took her grandson in to live with her.
One year ago, she married off her second daughter. Even though her second daughter’s husband did not seek any dowry during the marriage, a few months later, he started demanding 20,000 taka worth of dowry.
Hunger, pressure and no vision: Under these circumstances, Akhterun joined the network of NETZ livelihood programme just recently and she was provided with the asset support of two goats in June 2019.
“These goats came as a blessing for me,” she says. She had no issue sharing her 80 square feet hut with the two goats. Half of the area belonged to her and her grandson, while the rest remained for the livestock. “I feel no discomfort living with the goats. I hope to increase the number of goats and keep earning from them,” she states. And Akhterun is confident to follow the positive examples of the many women before her.
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