Sarmin Begum is an orphan in Bangladesh. Growing up in rural Sylhet, where women and girls are dependent on men for their livelihood, Sarmin would never have believed that she’d one day be pursuing a Master’s degree.
Orphaned at a young age, Sarmin lives with her mum and 4 siblings. The family gets by with support from Al Mustafa Welfare Trust’s (AMWT) Orphan sponsorship programme. With her mum’s encouragement, Sarmin overcame many obstacles to gain a good education. For years, she walked 8km every day to Shah Jalal Latifia School –the nearest school to her village. There, she attended classes in the open air, in all weather conditions, sharing with her classmates the few textbooks that were available.
Sarmin was among the first children from Shak Para, Sylhet to be enrolled there as an AMWT sponsored orphan child. AMWT supported her with school fees, and covered the cost of her learning materials and uniform. But we didn’t stop there. We also enabled her community to build new classrooms, so that more local children could get an education.
“Back then, the support AMWT provided to our school, motivated us to enjoy education,” says Sarmin. “For the first time we had enough books to go around, and we had a proper classroom with a roof.”
After high school, Sarmin completed a Bachelor of Science degree. Today, she’s on her way to pursuing a Masters in Development studies.
