A girl in a bright green dress dodges speeding rickshaws and delivery vans, sprinting to safety across muddy streets. The 4-year-old clutches a couple of books and navigates the outskirts of a city with grinding poverty, home to 13 million people.
Around the girl, horns honk ceaselessly; drivers here use horns instead of brakes. On this rainy day, truck tires launch filth into the air. The girl continues on her way. She has a chance and she doesn’t want to miss out.
Eventually, the girl arrives at the Ashirbad Primary school in Dhaka, Bangladesh, the only place in her area where she can get an education.
Bangladesh may often be forgotten in the headlines, but it is the seventh most populated country in the world. People in this South Asian country live on about $4 a day. Among them are thousands of children who would have no chance to learn, if it weren’t for humanitarians who gave them a chance.
“They have no plans for the future, they have no hope,” said Prodip Dowa, the country director for Christian humanitarian organization World Concern. “They think that this is fate, but that’s not the case. God has planned for them and we are helping them find out that plan for their life.”
Prior to the foundation of Ashirbad primary school and 36 others like it, children in these urban and rural slums did not go to school. Government-sponsored schools are either too far away, or are simply not offered. Since 1996, World Concern has offered something more.
“I am sure that most of these kids will have very bright futures,” said Dowa.
World Concern’s schools teach basic skills, including math, language, health and social science. It sets children apart in Bangladesh, where less than half of the population can read.
Dowa says that desperate poverty often causes families to keep their children out of school. During the day, children could be working or begging in the street. To help solve this problem, World Concern also works to empower parents who are willing to work, offering microloans to fund new businesses, or job training to get the skills they need.
In another World Concern school in rural Bangladesh, a nine-year-old boy dressed in a Hawaiian shirt and named Sujon says his parents survive by farming and have no vehicle. Without this World Concern school, he’d be out of luck.
“I like to study English,” said Sujon. “In this way, I can learn another language.”
Sujon has his goals set high, aiming to become a doctor.
“I want to bring treatment to my people, the poor in this community,” said Sujon.
Children like the little girl in the green dress live lives that most Americans cannot understand. Foul odors often loom over dirt roads lined with garbage. On this day, raw sewage bubbles up onto the dirt streets.
The 4-year-old has a pair of sandals to wear; many are not as lucky. As she rounds a last corner, she is greeted by another young girl in a green dress. They’re classmates, two children in the slum who have hope for the future.
For more information about World Concern, or to donate, visit www.worldconcern.org or call toll free at (800) 755-5022. Since 1955, World Concern has walked with the poor and desperate in some of the toughest places to live on Earth.
Bradley Johnson is a lifelong Federal Way resident and an international intern for World Concern, observing and taking part in humanitarian development in Bangladesh this summer.
