Visit to Lalbagh

I visited a class that is taught by what is called a Peer Educator. These are young people who are trained to teach sixty lessons to youth their own age on topics ranging from self-esteem to forced early marriage to AIDS to saving money. Boys and girls meet separately, but study the same lessons and it takes them about three years for each group to work through the cycle of lessons. We rode a bicycle rickshaw from the Field Office to the slum where the youth live and take the classes. We walked through dark alleys that were only about a foot and a half wide between houses made of corrugated tin and woven bamboo to a small room where these girls were having their class. They introduced themselves and we observed their class after which we asked some questions to evaluate how effective the classes are in their lives. It was obvious that they had indeed learned alot and were also passing what they learned on to family and friends.

We then went on to meet with a larger group of all Peer Educators. We asked similar questions to get their perspective on how succesful the program is. When we asked which of the lessons they thought were the best - many of them sited the lessons on Early Marriage. Now when we are talking here about early marriage, we're talking about 13 - 17 year old girls being married off, usually to much older men not of their choosing. The life expectancy is much lower for these young women and they experience more low birth-weight babies and higher infant and maternal mortality. They were all very adamant about this subject. One of the girls told us that after having the class, she talked to her parents and they agreed that she doesn't have to marry before she is 20. The group also told us about an instance when they heard of a young girl who was going to be married and 5-6 of them (boys and girls) went to talk to the girl's parents to convince them that she shouldn't marry at such a young age. The parents wouldn't listen to them, so they presnted their case to a group called the Peoples' Institution (a body of people from the area who work together to improve the lives of the people in the slum). The PI then called the parents in and talked to them and they called off the wedding. These young people were rightly proud that they had intervened to stop an injustice to one of their own.

These classes are just one example of many programs being offered by SATHI (Sustainable Association for Taking Human Development Initiatives - the word "sathi" means "friend" in Bengali. SATHI was started in 1995 by CRWRC with a view of family development including all family members (parents, adolescent boys and girls, and young children) in the development process in order to bring the advantages of development to the whole community. Though it is still technically under CRWRC, SATHI is entirely staffed and run by Bangladeshis.

Tomorrow I will visit another field. I am LOVING being here - my Bangla is even coming back - slowly! More later - many, many thanks for the prayers that I know accompany me.