A Tale of a Day Struggled Girl in Dhaka City

story written & picture taken by Taslima Akter

In Dhaka, more than 10 million people live here. We know a little bit of them. But the slum life of Dhaka is miserable. I am going to express something one of them.

In slum of Dhaka city, here are live in lots people who came from the rural village area of Bangladesh. Many of them have come to Dhaka for finding job and to do something of their livelihood. The environment of slum was very dirty. There are no facilities of pure water, well sanitation and suitable living place.

Some days ago, I had gone Khilgaon slum in Dhaka city. Here I talked with a girl Nazma. She is 18 years old. Her home district is Sariyatpur. She has lost her mother when she was 4 years old. After her mother dead her father got married again. Now her father and step-mother don’t communicate with her. Now she lives with her uncle and aunty.

Nazma is illiterate. When I asked about her education, she answered to me she has no any interest on education. What is the benefit of education? No one sent her to school in her childhood, she replied. She has lost her interest about education. Whole day she has worked in her uncle business. She has broken brick all day long. She has no any payment for this work. Alternately her uncle and aunty provide food, cloth and living place.

Life of a Day Labour of Bangladesh

To live in the world is hard for the poor people. They are living hand to mouth. They are giving their energy to build up the civilization. All day long they are working and working sweating head to foot. Abbus Uddin Bapari is like one of them. He is a day labourer. He earns his livelihood giving severe physical labour. He is an uneducated person. He said that he had no chance to be educated. His home district is Barisal. Leaving his family over there, he has been to Dhaka for searching work. Now he earns Tk 250 per day. On the street, he hammers with all his strength to break the hard peach.

What a laborious task! The poor labours of our country eat hand to mouth. They can eat properly. How they will do thi kind of hard work. Yet he is working for his family. Like him, the day labours of our country are giving their strenuous labour for the society, for state and for modern people. But what we see these people are neglected in the society. Abbus has two sons. He wants to educate his sons so that they may not be come to this type of task. He faces a problem when he does not have any work. He is not sure about his future. What will be in the next day, he doesn’t know. Notwithstanding his strenuous labour, he always keeps a smiling face. Really it is interesting.