Child Impact
International is an organization
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that gives hope
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and fosters
permanent, positive change
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in the lives of
disadvantaged children
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and their communities.
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Countries include Zambia,
India, Nepal, Bangladesh,
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Sri Lanka, and Myanmar.
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Child impacts
investment in the lives
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of more than 3,500 children
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continues to
yield infinite returns.
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Outreach spans from
child rescue operations
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to providing an education
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and a home for deaf and
blind children and orphans.
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Above all, Child Impact sponsors
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give hope to the
ones who need it the most.
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The average citizen
of a developing country
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faces many challenges.
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Some of those challenges
are due to armed conflicts
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or religious persecution.
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But it is usually economic.
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Few experience more
struggles than women,
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whose plight is
especially difficult
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in Bangladesh.
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Women have made
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immense progress in the country
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since its establishment
almost 50 years ago,
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with the
country's Prime Minister
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and speaker of
Parliament, both being women.
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And some
statistics indicate education
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has improved as well,
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with girls almost reaching
parity with boys in schooling.
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But those numbers
don't tell the whole story.
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Girls are much more
likely to drop out of school
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in the later years than boys
due to a variety of factors.
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In Bangladeshi society,
cultural and economic reasons
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lead many parents to
force their daughters
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into marriage
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before they have
completed school.
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Twenty eight percent
of girls in Bangladesh
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and schooling and
enter forced marriages
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before they turn 15.
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Before reaching 18,
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an astounding 65%
of Bangladeshi girls
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can expect to be
placed in a marriage,
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ending any hope of
completing their education.
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Though marriage
under 18 is illegal,
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it is still widely practiced.
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And the Prime Minister
recently introduced a law
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lowering the age a
person can marry to 16.
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Women's literacy in
Bangladesh is lower than men's
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as a result of this
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and women who do
not marry as teenagers
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face their own difficulties.
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Freedom of movement
is limited for women,
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inhibiting their ability
to pursue work opportunities
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outside their communities.
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This is where the mission
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of Seventh-day Adventist
Maranatha Seminary or SAMS,
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a boarding school
in northwest Bangladesh
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becomes crucial.
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Several hundred girls
from diverse backgrounds,
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some are orphans
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while others need
protection from people
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on the outside
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which can be
difficult to handle.
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But the responsibility
is placed entirely
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on one woman, Dulali.
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Jim Rennie of Child
Impact sat down with Dulali,
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the girls' dean,
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during our recent visit to SAMS.
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To find out more
about how she helps girls
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live a better
life at the school.
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We're going to have a chat
with a very important lady,
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Mrs. Dulali.
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And she's the
girls' dean here at SAMS.
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And she has over 290
girls in the dormitory.
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Now, it's tough enough
bringing up two daughters
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as I know,
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but could you imagine
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if you had to
bring up 290 girls.
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So she carries out a big role
in the running of the school.
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And how long have
you been doing this?
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More than 11 years.
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Eleven years, okay.
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How important is an
education for a girl?
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Our country is poor
mainly for educational status,
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they are very poor.
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Their background is not capable.
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They're not capable.
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And from their background,
their poor background,
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they're coming
from there to here.
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And we are supporting
them, we are giving them,
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we are trying to give
them best quality of education.
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And I have seen from my,
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that working place I
have seen from the beginning,
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whoever coming from a
rural or village level,
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they don't know anything,
but when they're coming here,
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they're learning,
they're getting education,
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better education.
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This way,
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they don't know anything at home
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when they're staying at home.
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But when they're coming here,
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they are learning many things
and they're becoming educated.
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Right.
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And so a girl
has a better chance
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of getting a
career if she is educated.
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Otherwise she just
goes back to the village?
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No, no, no.
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Without education,
nothing is possible.
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Yeah.
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So they would just
go back to the village?
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They don't know
acquire anything,
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it is impossible.
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But when they're coming
here by the help of our donor,
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with the help of our
teachers, day by day,
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they're growing by
education and supporting.
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And so, sponsorship
is giving them hope,
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making a difference?
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Yes, difference.
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Sponsorship is very
much needed for them.
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And with the help
of the sponsorship,
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our donor,
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so they are getting the
great help for their life.
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And because of that,
they're growing by education.
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So what did you do
before you were a dean?
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For 11 years ago, I was
the teacher in classroom,
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subject teacher here.
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Okay.
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And before that,
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I was the teacher
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in English
medium school Adventist,
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English medium school, not here,
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in the different
parts of Bangladesh.
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Okay.
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Yeah, but I have come
here since 2008 from here.
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Right.
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So before girls' dean,
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I was mainly
teacher, subject teacher.
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And do you like
being the girls' dean?
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Yes, I like it very much,
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not an easy job, very difficult.
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But I'm trying
from my level best
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by the help of God.
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I'm trying my level best.
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Well, I have to say
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that I have the privilege
of visiting many schools.
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And when you walk into a school,
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you get a feeling.
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You can sense discipline.
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You can sense happy children.
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But you can also sense
when something's going wrong.
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And I know that
in this dormitory,
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there is a strong
sense of loving the Lord
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and a strong
sense of discipline.
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Now, that doesn't mean to
say this lady has her problems.
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I'm sure they're
not all little angels,
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but at the same time,
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it's just so
exciting to come to school,
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a beautiful built school
like this and see the impact
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that it's having on girls.
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Girls who really if
they'd stayed at home
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would have no future at all.
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After talking to
Dulali, there was more to learn.
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She graciously allowed
us inside the girls' dorm
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where we got to see
the everyday life of girls
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in a Bangladeshi
Mission School up close.
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The girls sleep in
large rooms full of bunk beds,
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dozens to a room.
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When we went inside,
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we and our cameras were
subject to great attention
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from the students.
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Two girls who felt comfortable
speaking English with us,
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told us about their lives here.
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Kogli has been at
SAMS for four years
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to hear her tell it.
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I like it very much
because the rules are very good
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and the teachers,
they teach us very well.
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When I finished
school I wanted to do nursing
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because I like to help
others when they're like,
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they need have the best friend.
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My best friend is Mariam.
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When I came
here, it was new to me.
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So I was very scared
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that what I'm going to do or not
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so like I was
feeling sad with no friends,
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but then in a
class when I was alone,
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so Mariam came and talk with me
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so every day we used to
talk and we get friends.
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So now we're free.
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My life, when I was
little, my mother and father,
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they left me at the hospital.
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So the nurse, she
gave it to me mommy, daddy,
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who, like now
they're in Bangla Hope.
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So they brought
me to Bangla Hope,
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so that I can study
and fulfill my future.
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So now I'm at Bangla Hope now.
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Like in Bangladesh,
the people are so poor,
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but when we get help,
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it is good for us to study
and then we don't feel alone
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that we don't have
persons to help us.
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But when some people help
us, then we are very happy.
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They had given
us a lot of things
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like mosquito nets
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and they are helping
us with money to study
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and some notepad
so we can write down,
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and some soap
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so that we can
take good care of us,
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and some bed sheet
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so that we can put
in the bed and sleep.
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Very thankful for our sponsor
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because they're helping us a lot
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to make our dream fulfilled
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so that we can also have others.
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So I'm very
thankful to our sponsor.
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We also met Teesha,
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who has been speaking English
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since her early childhood,
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thanks to the
Adventist school efforts.
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Understandably,
she had a lot to say.
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My favorite thing
about the school is like
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when we have lots
of foreigners come
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and we get to
spend time with them,
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talk to them and
like going to school
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having lots of friends,
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making friends
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and also like all the
programs that we have.
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I like all of them.
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I'm from the KMMS.
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I'm from beside the village
like Kaligram, I'm from there.
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And actually I was
abandoned by my mother
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and she wanted to bury me alive.
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So foreigners went there
and then they brought me.
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They brought me back
here. Like, he was at Dhaka.
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And then from Dhaka, I
moved to another school,
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and then I came here.
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And so, if I wouldn't come here,
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I don't know
what my life would be,
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maybe like,
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I wouldn't get a chance to study
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or I'd get married
in this little age.
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So I'm very excited.
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Like, I'm very
happy that I'm here
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and that God brought me here.
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When I'm finished with
school, I want to be a dentist,
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because when I
was a little girl,
00:10:44.94\00:10:46.71
I always used to think
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that I was going to be a doctor.
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And then I grew
a little bit older,
00:10:49.88\00:10:51.58
and I said, "Well, I'm
going to be a teacher."
00:10:51.61\00:10:53.45
And then I said,
"I'll be a nurse."
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And then I'll
say, "I'll be a singer
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and I used to sing a lot, "
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and then I thought
that I would be dentist.
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So now I'm
thinking to be a dentist.
00:11:00.59\00:11:03.43
Lots of kids that have sponsors
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and some of them doesn't.
00:11:05.16\00:11:06.49
Like when we have time
to write sponsors letters,
00:11:06.53\00:11:08.86
I mean thankful letters,
00:11:08.90\00:11:10.60
then we get to
like write letters,
00:11:10.63\00:11:12.93
and I like to ask
sponsors about them.
00:11:12.97\00:11:15.10
And then I also like
to hear from them like,
00:11:15.14\00:11:17.57
what they want to say to me
and what I like for my grades.
00:11:17.61\00:11:21.68
Like, I feel like I
want to show my sponsors
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the best grade that I can do
so that they feel proud of me.
00:11:24.85\00:11:28.32
So my every
happiness they share with us
00:11:28.35\00:11:30.55
find its way back to them.
00:11:30.59\00:11:32.99
On this filming
trip to Bangladesh,
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we've got two new perspectives.
00:11:36.26\00:11:38.33
One, the perspective of poverty
00:11:38.36\00:11:41.13
and the other
perspective of the impact
00:11:41.16\00:11:43.33
of our sponsorship program.
00:11:43.37\00:11:45.60
In rural Bangladesh,
00:11:45.63\00:11:47.14
35% of the population
live below the poverty line.
00:11:47.17\00:11:52.34
And amongst
women, it's even higher.
00:11:52.37\00:11:55.34
There are statistics
00:11:55.38\00:11:56.71
like the people
only earn $1.98 a day
00:11:56.75\00:12:00.08
and the absolute poor
are 32% of the population
00:12:00.12\00:12:04.72
and the extreme poor are 19%.
00:12:04.75\00:12:08.32
And both those
categories are above poor.
00:12:08.36\00:12:12.16
We've heard from the children
00:12:12.19\00:12:14.00
the stories of
struggle of their parents,
00:12:14.03\00:12:16.77
of their solo moms
00:12:16.80\00:12:18.83
and we've heard
00:12:18.87\00:12:20.20
how that they've been struggling
00:12:20.24\00:12:21.57
to feed them.
00:12:21.60\00:12:22.94
And so we see that sponsorship
is much greater than education.
00:12:22.97\00:12:27.44
Sponsorship is
supporting the family.
00:12:27.48\00:12:30.05
It's giving the parents hope,
00:12:30.08\00:12:31.81
and there's a huge
benefit to the community.
00:12:31.85\00:12:35.65
Sponsorship is effective.
00:12:35.68\00:12:37.75
And sponsorship is
making a difference
00:12:37.79\00:12:39.92
on a wider scale here in
our program in Bangladesh.
00:12:39.95\00:12:45.43
And these girls who
are developing skills
00:12:45.46\00:12:47.36
that can take them
very far in a country
00:12:47.40\00:12:49.13
that still poses
tough challenges for women
00:12:49.16\00:12:51.57
wouldn't have the opportunity
where if not for sponsorship.
00:12:51.60\00:12:54.80
The life of a
young girl in Bangladesh
00:12:58.07\00:12:59.87
is complicated
00:12:59.91\00:13:01.24
and includes
challenges and questions
00:13:01.28\00:13:03.11
that would be unfathomable
00:13:03.14\00:13:04.78
for the average
American teenager.
00:13:04.81\00:13:07.02
But nevertheless
are always present.
00:13:07.05\00:13:10.49
At Seventh-day
Adventist Maranatha Seminary,
00:13:10.52\00:13:12.85
life gets a
little less complicated,
00:13:12.89\00:13:15.09
which gives them a lot more time
00:13:15.12\00:13:16.76
to focus on the
things that matter.
00:13:16.79\00:13:19.19
Things like education
00:13:19.23\00:13:21.03
and the saving
message of Christ,
00:13:21.06\00:13:23.06
which helps to
ensure a quality future.
00:13:23.10\00:13:26.63
In other episodes of the series,
00:13:26.67\00:13:28.17
the effects of quality education
00:13:28.20\00:13:30.04
and the
sponsorship that enables it,
00:13:30.07\00:13:31.97
has been shown repeatedly.
00:13:32.01\00:13:34.08
Thanks to sponsorship,
00:13:34.11\00:13:35.54
child marriage,
human trafficking,
00:13:35.58\00:13:37.75
and confinement to
unpaid domestic roles
00:13:37.78\00:13:40.18
is averted
00:13:40.22\00:13:41.68
which opens the
door for opportunity,
00:13:41.72\00:13:44.22
hope, and spiritual
fulfillment to take their place.
00:13:44.25\00:13:47.89