When Geeta’s father didn’t return home from fishing one day, she went looking for him in the brick kilns near their home in the Barishal region of Bangladesh. “Nobody knows where he went,” she says. “As children, we used to think he left to find a better job and forgot to tell us – but then he never returned.”
This meant that at the age of 15, Geeta became the main breadwinner for her family. Running odd jobs here and there, making barely enough to get by, she was soon drawn to the cylindrical chimneys of brick kilns that punctuate the city’s horizon.
Today, Geeta, 45, is a mason at the same brick kiln she wandered through as a child. She works from 9am to 5pm every day, earning 4,000 taka (roughly £36) a month. “At first the work was tiresome but now I’m used to it,” she says. Though her family continue to live in poverty, she is glad she is able to contribute towards their expenses and enjoys some aspects of the job. “Around here, the water washes everything away – so it feels good to be able to build things that last,” she says.
Geeta and her son Joyanta worked as masons on the Bangladesh Red Crescent building in Barishal
Watching his mother work as a mason inspired Geeta’s son to also join the trade. Now 27, Joyanta works alongside his mum at the site and was recently promoted to lead mason. They both helped build the Bangladesh Red Crescent building in Barishal’s city centre. But despite providing job opportunities for hundreds of low-income families, brick kilns in Bangladesh contribute to the inefficient burning of fossil fuels, and in some cities are responsible for up to 58% of air pollution.
“Sometimes the air here is difficult to breathe,” says Reshma, a single mother of two, as she weighs firewood outside her stall. After her husband left her, the monsoon destroyed her house, causing the thatched roof to collapse while she and her children slept. “It’s been one disaster after another,” she says.
After receiving livelihood training and financial support from the Red Cross, Reshma was able to start her own firewood business
Now the sole provider for her children, Reshma also had to deal with the stigma of being a single parent. But focusing on pulling her family out of poverty meant she didn’t have time to think about what others thought, she says. Reshma soon began selling vegetables on the side of a road, but struggled to earn enough to feed her children. Silvery wisps of hair escape beneath the bright orange shawl she wears casually over her head. “My situation has aged me,” she says. “I used to be beautiful, but all this stress has taken its toll.”
But after receiving livelihood training and financial support from the Red Cross, Reshma was able to start her own firewood business. Now she has her own secure shop space and has diversified to sell vegetables as well as firewood, ensuring a year-round income.
“I wanted to find something I could sell continuously, not just by season. Selling vegetables only is a problem – if you have too much stock, it will rot if you can’t sell it. But firewood is something I can store and sell whenever people need it.” Since many families in her community use firewood for warmth, cooking and boiling water, her product is in continuous demand.
Running her own business allows Reshma to juggle her workload with family commitments. “Before, I used to struggle to feed my sons and often couldn’t get home on time to breastfeed my youngest. Now I can set my own hours and be around to provide their meals. Because my income has doubled, I am able to buy proper food for my children.” Reshma also plans to use her income to repair her home, so she can better cope when the storms and monsoons come around.
“People always ask me; how long will you survive on your own? They think that without a man, a woman can’t survive,” says Reshma. “But I’m showing them there are other alternatives. That it’s perfectly possible to make it on your own.”
And that’s what Amirjaan, at the age of 65, is doing. She yells as loudly as her lungs can muster; banging a metal pan with a spoon as she walks along the winding, dusty roads of her small village in Palashpur, near Barishal. She’s calling out for all things old, broken and unwanted. Behind her she pulls a creaky, wooden cart filled with clutter; biscuit tins, metal boxes, copper cups, a broken mirror.
“People don’t realise the true worth of things,” she says with a grin and twinkle in her eye. But Amirjaan does – she runs a successful scrap metal business. Sitting on a straw mat, as pots and pans dangle above her head, Amirjaan sifts through the day’s findings, determining the value of each item.
For a small, older woman, Amirjaan knows how to make a lot of noise and, despite her age, she regularly lifts materials in excess of 20kg. “How could I do all this if I wasn’t strong?” she smiles.
Amirjaan regularly lifts heavy materials; she found her blue ring while working
Amirjaan begged for scrap metal and rummaged in the streets for whatever she could find. “I have suffered a lot.” But after receiving a cash grant from the Red Cross, Amirjaan was able to set up her own business.
Not only does her work help clear the rubbish-strewn streets of Palashpur, but Amirjaan is also making a profit from recycling – and occasionally even discovers cast-away trinkets she prefers to keep. Proudly showing off a blue ring that adorns her middle finger: “Some things are too precious to me to let go of,” she says.
The British Red Cross campaign, It Starts With Her, is helping women in Barishal to learn new skills, improve their lives and make their communities more resilient to disasters. Through UK Aid Match, every pound you give to the British Red Cross up to the value of £2m will be doubled by the UK government. With your help, they can support thousands of strong women – and, as a result, their communities – to be even stronger. To donate, visit donate.redcross.org.uk
