Sunday, August 1, 2010

Polly was just nine years old when Maria Conceicao first spotted her walking bare-foot through the slums of Dhaka. Dressed only in underwear, malnourished and dirty, she was one of hundreds of children the 29-year-old Portuguese flight attendant and her team had seen that day as they trailed the area, recruiting children for the Dhaka Project’s school. Maria recalled: “She was beautiful and curious and I wanted to help her but it wasn’t that easy - it never is.” Bright but completely uneducated, like many friends her age, Polly had no expectations for a future beyond a garments factory or early marriage. Their parents would rely on her as a source of income and education was a luxury she could not afford as her family struggled to find money for food. Maria explained: “Polly’s parents are very old. Her father had been working as a rickshaw driver on Dhaka’s busy roads but a recent accident damaged his leg and he can no longer work. With her mother unable to find work she feels her daughter is more profitable working in a clothing factory.” The Dhaka Project agreed to pay the family’s rent if they allowed Polly to go to school and 18 months later she is one of the brightest students and now has aspirations to become a flight attendant like Maria. But the hard working, always smiling, staff at the Dhaka Project face a daily struggle to keep Polly, and many other students like her, in school - as 7DAYS witnessed first hand during our visit. When Maria spotted Polly wandering with friends last week while we visited a local school - she immediately stopped to find out why she was not in class. It transpired several pupils had been stopped from attending class by their parents after Polly’s mother had told them Maria was hurting the children and the project’s visitors were in Dhaka to sell their children’s organs. Maria later explained: “Parents here find it very difficult to understand why someone would want to help them, without some ulterior motive. I once organised a trip to the zoo for the children but none of them turned up that day for the bus - the parents thought I planned to kidnap their kids.” When she spotted Polly and her friends skipping class, Maria, desperate to find a way to ensure the parents receiving aid from the Dhaka Project were made to send their children to school, called the police for assistance. In the hour that followed, 7DAYS witnessed around eight armed officers arriving at the village to meet with the parents, and in a demonstration of the volatility of Bangladesh, a scared and upset Polly - crying and shouting at an officer searching for her mother - was silenced by a revolver held to her chest - a chilling sight for all of us. But despite the intense drama of the morning, the police later visited the project and promised to talk to the community and help Maria ensure the children were able to attend the school freely from now on. Maria said: “There are always going to be these issues, parents rely on their children to help them earn, but having the support of the police will go a long way to ensuring we can carry out our work properly.” While the Dhaka Project offers students a chance to secure and direct their future, there is one student Maria is keen to take out of her school. At just 12 years old Mosharof, who wants to become a professional cricket player, already shows signs of a bright future - class captain, cricket captain, football captain, student of the year and origami champion to match. And Maria is now desperate to get him admitted to Dhaka’s private school to give him the best possible chance of fulfilling his potential. “Mosharof’s father left his mother, when she was pregnant with his younger brother Mubarok,” Maria explained. “They were struggling in the slums - living amongst the filth and squalor - until November 2005 when they joined us... Both are highly intelligent but Mosharof’s obvious ability has made me really keen to admit him into a private school - which costs around dhs1,000 a year. I don’t want to lose him but he is so intelligent he should have the opportunity.” Mosharof’s mother began cooking for the project before joining their beauty training centre where she now has a job. But the salary is low and insufficient to survive, let alone send her eldest son to private school. Maria said: “We support them - providing them with a house and rent, and everything else they need. But life is still a struggle for these families. There is always more that could be done.” For more information on how you can help more children like Mosharof and Polly, email childrendhaka@yahoo.com 7DAYS flew to Dhaka with Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates. Etihad offer direct premium, business and economy flights to Dhaka, Bangladesh. For more information visit their web site on www.etihadairways.com