A dream of education: ‘Girls aren’t born just to bake cakes’

Quickly forgotten, dreams during sleep aren’t real dreams, some say. Though some dreams keep people awake, urging them to act.

A bright, ambitious student since childhood, Lima Akter has always wanted to be an engineer despite being born in Rupsha, a Bangladeshi slum where days are endured. For Lima, life was no different. The 16-year-old’s family depends on her father’s precarious income as a court assistant employed on a day-to-day basis.

Struck by a severe illness, the ninth grader’s father had to give up work in 2012, forcing her mother to take a menial job at a shrimp processing factory, the paltry income from which was far too low to keep Lima and her two brothers in school.

Aware of their hardship, Lima faced a life-changing dilemma: stay in school or sacrifice her education so her brothers could continue studying and later support the whole household financially.

She chose the latter.

After opening a Child Friendly Space (CFS) in Rupsha as part of its Child Safety Net project, World Vision began offering Life Skills Based Education (LSBE) for young residents in the poverty-stricken district. Lima’s dream urged her to sign up.

The LSBE sessions persuaded Lima to reverse her decision to leave school. She received education items and school fees from World Vision before being awarded her secondary school certificate in 2014. Her A+ grade led to acceptance to an engineering diploma course.

As a World Vision peer educator, Lima also teaches life skills to other girls in her community, for which she receives the equivalent of 25 US dollars for each batch of lessons to help fund her education.

Meanwhile, World Vision has guided Lima’s family towards generating income by selling vegetables, with the earnings used to buy a sewing machine. Trained in tailoring, the teenager uses the machine to complete small orders, making an amount equal to 20 US dollars a month.

“Girls aren’t born just to bake cakes. Instead, they can win in every sphere of life with determination and strong dreams. I will fulfil my dreams and one day contribute to the well-being of children in my community.” - Lima

Lima and her peers have also stopped a planned marriage for a child living in the community, as well as encouraging parents to respect the right of girls to an education. One of the mothers, Alo Begum, says, “I never thought that I would send my daughter to school because I had the traditional belief that girls are born to take care of the household.

“But the girls in the community have made me understand that I shouldn’t repeat my parents’ mistake [of not sending girls to school] and ruin my daughter’s life. So, I’ve enrolled her at the CFS and now dream she will be highly educated.”

Lima’s goal is to study abroad before returning to build a career as a renowned engineer. She says: “LSBE changed my view of life. I was a dreamer, but LSBE made me a winner. I will never quit any situation. I want to motivate all girls like me, who have to face a bitter reality every day to chase their dreams."