Child marriage must end! 3 girls speak out
{"Image ImageDescription": "Modhumala listens to her mother, Shabitri Das, talk about challenges in the past, and how she wants to make sure Modhumala and her sister get good educations and avoid early marriage. Shabitri was married at 11. Madhumala wants to become a lawyer. \n\nIn addition to entrepreneurship, as part of World Vision Nobo Jatra's training, families learn about the dangers of child marriage and know to report it or how to find authorities to intervene. This hit home for Shabitri, who was married to Arobindo when she was 11.\n\n\u201cChild marriage was common,\u201d she says. \u201cBut from Nobo Jatra, I know the demerits. Girls must be married after 18. The difficulties I faced in my life came from child marriage.\u201d\n\nShe and Arobindo have agreed to keep their kids \u2013 Modhumala, now 15, 12-year-old daughter Ratna, and 6-year-old son Nayan \u2013 in school: \u201cMy children are doing good in their results,\u201d says Shabitri. \u201cI am believing they may have a good future.\u201d\n\nShabitri\u2019s children are proud of the incredible transformation their mother has undergone. \u201cI am feeling so good,\u201d says Modhumala. \u201cMy mother can now write and read. She can make decisions by herself. She is independent. The most beautiful thing I love is now she can teach my younger brother.\u201d\n\n\u201cNobo Jatra helped to make us independent,\u201d says Modhumala, who dreams of becoming a lawyer one day. \u201cI am thankful to the American people. They changed our life.\u201d\n\nShabitri Das (mother), Arobindo Das (father), and their three children: daughter Modhumala (15), daughter Ratna (12), and son Nayan (6) used to be \"ultra poor\", but now they are benefiting from a World Vision Nobo Jatra program in Bangladesh, which includes entrepreneurial and literacy training.\n\nNobo Jatra is a five-year food security and development program implemented by World Vision and funded by U.S. foreign assistance. As part of its \u201cultra-poor graduation\u201d project, Nobo Jatra has helped 14,000 women get the business skills (including basic literacy and numeracy) and minimal startup costs needed to help them launch small businesses. Now many of these women, like Shabitri \u2013 who started a basket weaving business and a small grocery shop \u2013 have \u201cgraduated\u201d from extreme poverty and are helping others in their community do the same.\n\nIn some parts of southwest Bangladesh, between 25 and 24 percent of households live below the poverty line of $1.90 a day. At this level of poverty, called \u201cultra poor,\u201d events like natural disasters or an injury that requires urgent medical care can spell doom. That\u2019s how it felt for the Das family in southwest Bangladesh.\n\nThe family couldn\u2019t make ends meet on father Arobindo\u2019s salary as a van driver. Then within months of each other, mother Shabitri got appendicitis and daughter Modhumala was diagnosed with a bone tumor in her leg. Financially, medical treatment seemed impossible \u2013 so the family had to go door to door, depending on the generosity of their neighbors.\n\n\u201cI thought, \u2018Why is God doing this with me?\u2019\u201d says Shabitri. \u201cWhy is there test after test?\u201d\n\n\u201cThe money my husband earned wasn\u2019t enough. There was not a single day that we didn\u2019t quarrel with each other. We weren\u2019t able to buy enough food. I was not able to feed my children. I thought throughout my life I would struggle with poverty and we would be unhappy forever.\u201d\n\nBut now, many \u201cultra poor\u201d households like the Das family are radically transforming their lives, thanks to entrepreneurial training from Nobo Jatra, a five-year food security and development program implemented by World Vision and funded by U.S. foreign assistance. As part of its \u201cultra-poor graduation\u201d project, Nobo Jatra has helped 14,000 women get the business skills (including basic literacy and numeracy) and minimal startup costs needed to help them launch small businesses. \n\n\u201cWhen Nobo Jatra game me a book in my hand, I felt so happy,\u201d says Shabitri. \u201cIt was hard for me, as I was totally illiterate. But I practiced with my daughter at night. Now I can calculate basic math. Now I can write. I can read.\u201d\n\nShabitri used her training and startup money to establish a bamboo weaving business and a small grocery shop: \u201cI like this business because at the same time I can do my household activities,\u201d she says. \u201cI can do bamboo and the grocery shop and I can take care of my child.\u201d\n\nShe expects to be able to pay off the costs of starting her businesses soon. She and the other women who have participated in Nobo Jatra\u2019s entrepreneurial literacy program have \u201cgraduated\u201d from extreme poverty and are helping others in their community do the same.\n\n\u201cThough I cannot help people with a big amount of money, I can help them, even if it is little,\u201d she says, remembering how her family once relied upon their neighbors.\n\nShabitri\u2019s household is \u201ca model for others,\u201d according to Ratindra Nath Roy, a Nobo Jatra technical officer in ultra poor graduation.", "Image Make": "NIKON CORPORATION", "Image Model": "NIKON D810", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Classic 8.2.1 (Macintosh)", "Image DateTime": "2019:05:08 16:06:42", "Image Artist": "Jon Warren", "Image Copyright": "\u00a92019 World Vision/photo by Jon Warren", "Image ExifOffset": "5316", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "6084", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "14386", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/400", "EXIF FNumber": "28/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Manual", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "400", "EXIF SensitivityType": "Recommended Exposure Index", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0230", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2019:01:16 15:36:05", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2019:01:16 15:36:05", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "540241/62500", "EXIF ApertureValue": "2485427/500000", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "3", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "200", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "09", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "09", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "16780511/8192", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "16780511/8192", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "3", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CVAPattern": "[2, 0, 2, 0, 0, 1, 1, 2]", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Manual Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "200", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "Low gain up", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0", "EXIF BodySerialNumber": "3002625", "EXIF LensSpecification": "[70, 200, 14/5, 14/5]", "EXIF LensModel": "70.0-200.0 mm f/2.8"}