Bashundhara Shuvosangho gifted 60 poor women each with sewing machines during a ceremony at the Upazila Parishad Auditorium of Bancharampur upazila of Brahmanbaria on Monday.
Till date, the welfare organization has donated sewing machines among more than 2,000 poor women across 23 districts, and is on course to expand the donation services to all the 64 districts of the country, said Bashundhara Group Adviser Moinal Hossain during Monday’s ceremony.
The conglomerate’s Chairman Ahmed Akbar Sobhan has ordered his subordinates to take initiatives for supporting those who are physically and mentally fit but lack financial solvency. The sewing machine donations are part of this initiative, Moinal Hossain said.
Bashundhara Shuvosangho Director Zakaria Zaman and the event’s moderator Professor Chan Mia Sarkar also spoke.
On Monday, the sewing machine recipients prayed for the well-being of Bashundhara Group. The sewing machines will ease their financial struggles, they said.
Shahinoor Bagum, hailing from Bashgari village of Bancharampur upazila, said she can support herself and her elderly mother easily with the new income generated with the sewing machine. Her husband died two years after marriage, forcing her to seek recluse in the family of her married brother.
However, as household costs kept piling, the brother decided to move to a separate house with his wife and children, leaving Shahinoor and their mother to fend for themselves. Shahinoor’s struggles reached a new height as she took up sewing blanket with bare hands and goat raring to look after her mother.
Now, with Bashundhara Shuvosangho’s sewing machine she can make blankets as well as clothes more easily and swiftly to generate more income.
Yasmin Akter, a student, said it is very difficult for her tea seller father to earn enough for the family of seven. She was optimistic that with the new sewing machine she can contribute for the family’s income.
Physically handicapped Md Abdul Awal also attended the event with his daughter to receive the sewing machine earmarked for her. He told reporters that Bashundhara Group has been supporting his family for a long time. At one point, they provided stipend for his daughter, and now have gifted her with a sewing machine.
Bashundhara Group’s welfare activities for the healthy but insolvent people also include building schools at remote areas, setting up libraries in rural areas, providing free eye surgeries at its dedicated hospital, offering stipends, and also extending interest-free microcredits to poor people.
bd-pratidin/GR
