The day was June 25, 2008. In the remote village of Khanpur in Monirampur upazila of Jashore, a baby girl was born without hands and legs to the couple Habibur Rahman and Jahanara Khatun. Parents, relatives, and neighbors all saw darkness in front of their eyes. What would be the future of this girl?
Everyone was anxious with worry. What the Creator has given cannot be rejected. No matter how difficult it would be, they were determined to raise this girl properly. Habibur Rahman and Jahanara Khatun made a firm resolution. They named the child Litunjeera.
As she grew a little, they enrolled her in the local maktab. In her first exam there, Litunjeera secured first place. Her parents held on to new hopes. Leaving the maktab, they admitted her to the nearby government primary school.
Here too, Litunjeera began to show signs of exceptional talent. She started ranking first in every class. In 2019, she received a Talent Pool scholarship in the Primary Education Completion (PEC) exam.
After primary school, she was admitted to Gopalpur School and College, which was quite far from her home. Even there, she consistently ranked first in every class. Most recently, in the SSC examination, she scored over 90 marks in every subject and achieved GPA-5.
With the support of her parents, Litunjeera was able to commute to school, but it wasn’t possible to go to different teachers’ homes for private tuition. She had to keep private tutors at home. But her poor parents couldn’t afford that much expense.
After the media reported on the extraordinary talent Litunjeera showed in the 2019 PEC exam, Safiat Sobhan, Vice Chairman of the country’s leading industrial conglomerate Bashundhara Group, expressed interest in supporting the fulfillment of Litunjeera’s dream. Redwanur Rahman, DGM of Bashundhara Group, went to her home and handed over a cheque of five lakh taka to her father. Various gifts were also given to Litunjeera and her family on behalf of the group.
Litunjeera’s father Habibur Rahman expressed heartfelt gratitude to Bashundhara Group Chairman Ahmed Akbar Sobhan and Vice Chairman Safiat Sobhan.
He said, “Because of her movement difficulties, we need to keep 3–4 private tutors for Litunjeera. I teach at a college, but as it’s not MPO-listed, I haven’t received any salary in the last 20 years.”
He further said, “I deposited the entire five lakh taka received from Bashundhara Group in the post office. From there, we get 4,500 taka per month. A major part of Litunjeera’s educational expenses is covered from this.”
He added, “If Bashundhara hadn’t stepped forward at that time, moving toward Litunjeera’s dream would have become very difficult.”
Litunjeera also expressed her gratitude to Bashundhara Group, saying, “Since childhood, I’ve written in Bashundhara-branded notebooks. So I knew about Bashundhara Group from before. I feel fortunate that this same Bashundhara Group became a companion in fulfilling my dream. The money was deposited in the post office, and for the last five years, I’ve been receiving 4,500 taka per month, which has greatly covered my educational expenses.”
Litunjeera’s mother Jahanara Khatun also expressed her gratitude to Bashundhara Group, saying, “After enrolling in HSC, the expenses for Litunjeera will increase several times. Our only reliance is a small piece of farmland. Now we’re worried about how we will manage these extra expenses.”
Bd-pratidin English/TR
