::: Sajida Foundation :::..........

Amina Bibi was the housewife of an ordinary rural family of Shariatpur. Her husband Karamat Ali owned only a small piece of land. His income was just enough to sustain themselves in the early days after their marriage. But overtime they had six children and their living conditions deteriorated. Amina supplemented their family income by sewing quilts for neighbours. Their economic condition was so poor that food and clothing during Eid was difficult. On many days the couple had to live on “maar”, the thick extract from rice, giving boiled rice to the children.

All their crops were washed away by the flood in 1987, and were left completely helpless by the devastating flood the following year.

About this time a distant relation of Amina informed her that they might get a job if they moved to Dhaka city. Amina took the advice and came to Dhaka in 1998 with her children. A relative arranged a part time job for her as a domestic servant in two houses. She also cooked for two dormitories. In between jobs, she broke bricks into chips on the road side to add to her earning. Moreover, her eldest daughter also got a job in a garment factory. Amina rented a hut over water for Tk.150 per month, where she slept with her children on a mat. Life was extremely difficult! Every day while going to work Amina would tie a rope around her baby so that she (the baby) would not fall into the water below. However, one day her baby fell into the water and it was then that Amina decided to move to a smaller hut at "Bhalu Ghat, Lalbag at a rent of Tk. 500 per month. But even this was a low lying area. During rains therefore, they had to live on high roads or take shelter in the house of a distant relative.

Around this time, Amina got a new idea. She started a business with sarees where investments were made from family savings. This gave Amina an additional weekly income of Tk.120 as indicated below:

Item	No. Purchased	CostPrice	SellingPrice	Net Profit
Saree	6	660	720	60
Lungi	3	300	330	30
Blouse	15	300	330	30
Total	-	Tk. 1,260	Tk. 1,380	Tk. 120

Amina worked hard and her business went well. She and her daughter saved all their earnings. In 1990, she got her daughter married. Later that year, Amina started to send her children to school and do her business leaving the youngest daughter at a day care centre.

She heard about SAJIDA at the day care centre. Amina then came to the SAJIDA office and met its Director of Programs. She explained the entire process and gave her the responsibility of finding six, new members to form a group. This she did easily and got an initial loan of Tk, 3,000 in 1993.

Amina invested the entire loan on business expansion and earned profits as indicated below:

Item	No. Purchased	CostPrice	SellingPrice	Net Profit
Saree	30	3,600	3,900	300
Lungi	10	1,150	1,250	100
Blouse	10	200	220	200
Total	-	Tk. 4,950	Tk. 5,370	Tk. 420


In the second year again Amina took, a loan of Tk. 5,000. This time her business progressed so well that she gave up her job as a domestic servant and moved to a better accommodation. In the subsequent years, she received loans of Tk.10,000- Tk.12,000 and Tk. 15,000 respectively. In 1998, Amina was granted a special loan of Tk. 55,000. The financial assistance under the two credit programes of SAJIDA Foundation has enabled her to do the following in addition to improving living conditions for her family:

	she has the capacity to spend Tk.42,000 for the marriage ceremonies of her children.
	she has purchased about .025 acres of land at Kamrangir Char for Tk. 87,000.
	All her children are in schools receiving education.

US$ 1=70 TK

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