Raise a calf, raise hope
by Michèle Nardelli
Imagining real poverty is not as easy as you think. But one man is taking some practical steps to break the poverty cycle in his homeland.
Poverty can mean little food, poor health and housing but when you start to look closely the picture becomes bleak – poverty means no chance of education, intergenerational malnutrition, depression, hopelessness. And when almost half of a country’s entire population is living in desperate poverty, making a difference is anything but simple.
For Bangladeshi PhD student, Majharul Talukder (pictured), the problems of the poor in his homeland are never far from his mind.
"Bangladesh is a country of 140 million people living in a land mass the size of a single Australian state and about 44 per cent live below the poverty line," Talukder said.
"The poor often survive on one small meal of rice a day, they have no concept or hope of education – it is subsistence living. When people live so tenuously, it doesn’t take much to tip things over the edge."
And for poor women in Bangladesh, the death or departure of a husband or father is literally life-threatening.
It is this group of poor, including the wives of low-paid daily laborers that Talukder wants to help.
Along with members of his own family and friends back home, from Australia and other countries, he has established the Rural Emancipation Society (RES Bangladesh).The RES scheme lends the purchase price of calves which are given to women and their families to look after and fatten up. When the calves are resold, a year to 18 months later, the clear profits are shared 50/50 between RES and the borrower.
All calf caretakers are given some basic training in animal husbandry and any vet needs are covered by the Society. The RES profit share is ploughed back in to support the purchase of more calves for more women and families.
For the families who raise a calf, the average $75 profit is like a lottery win. Many of them will use the money to pay for tin roofing for their homes.
"We have tried to develop a system that is practical and achievable for these families and something that will build business skills at a scale that is meaningful to their world," Talukder said.
"In the past six months we have supported the purchase of calves for 28 families and we hope to keep growing the Society.
"Now to meet our goal to help 100 destitute families we need to
raise $12,000 and if we can grow beyond that we hope to help more
rural poor and to build some new plans to support the ageing and to
improve the basic health of the these communities."
More information about the Rural Emancipation Society is available online.