In the Field

Shafali is Taking Care of Business in Bangladesh

As things were, the outlook for Shafali’s family was bleak. They had no land, and the little the family made was lost by her husband at card games three to four days a week. The family often lacked enough food to eat and Shafali was unsure of where the next meal would come from for her and her three sons.

So Shafali made some changes. When CHF started to work in Miyttadigirpar, her village in Bangladesh, she took matters into her own hands and with the new project’s support she started her own vegetable business. She had some limited savings set aside, and drawing on those and additional funds she received from CHF, she also bought a sewing machine and started to produce mesh bags to be sold at the local market.

Business is good! There has been enough income that her husband has given up playing cards and is devoted to running the vegetable business which is generating profits. He uses his rickshaw to take their produce to local markets and while he is there supports the sewing business, selling the bags Shalifi makes and buying the raw materials she needs to make new ones.

The family is now eating three meals a day and through CHF, Shafali has started a new savings account for her profits. These will be a good cushion if the family falls on hard times or one of her children gets sick. Shafali keeps record of the family’s finances and works with her husband to decide how they will manage their income and what they will invest in. Since education is critical to them, they’ve decided to send the first of their sons to school.

In addition to savings, the family has been able to invest in themselves. Shafali has been so successful she was able to buy a small boat that she can use for fishing so they have a reliable source of food and income in the off season when she can’t grow vegetables. She has also rented land to grow rice on and bought a goat that gave birth to two kids.

The family has come a long way—but Shafali is not stopping there. Her dream is to lead an even better life in the future, to educate her sons and to continue to grow her assets and properties so that she has a legacy to leave for them.