Voice from the field

As a Community Sells Agent, Ms. Luthfa become Self Sustainable

Just one and half years back Luthfa was a mere House Keeper to feed two of her children even with her mentally ill husband and barely living on their means. Only for the lack of financial ability, she had to make her two elder daughters marry at their early age. And here is the Story of Luthfa regarding her struggle to be solvent enough to make her third daughter became an Honors’ student and even manage the huge expense for the treatment of her defiantly able husband.

Luthfa was born in a house of poor farmer Md. Khalil Sheikh of Vatimbuk village of Sirajdikhan, Munshiganj and got marry at an early age. After marriage, she came to know that her husband was mentally disable and unable to earn any means. She had to work as housekeeper at others’ residence to support her family. After a while as the family grew with three daughters and a son, it was impossible for her to bear the family expense any more. So yet again, to reduce the burden, her eldest two daughters got married early. Subsequently she was impaled to think about the early marriage of college going youngest daughter and while her youngest son was not in the school yet. Her dream of making her children educated, self-sufficient and established in the society were about to be burnt.

In November 2016, Luthfa met Nasrin Akter Munni, a Community Mobilizer of “Notundin” program of PSTC and came to know about the program activities. Luthfa express her dream and her current situation to Munni. Munni described the opportunity of Community Sales Agent (CSA) of Notundin by selling the health related products of Social Marketing Company (SMC) at door to door in the community. Upon Luthfa’s integration to become a CSA, she started with a mere capital of Taka Four Hundred only. At the first month, she managed to contribute to her children education from her earned profit. She realized the benefits of this process of work and apprehended that it might reach her to her well-wished dream. She started to work and walk harder from village to village intended to earn profit and raise her capital as well as established her image as a trustworthy CSA with adequate health related knowledge. Within a short span of time, she raised her capital to Taka Ten Thousand and from her hard-earned profit, she began to support her family the way she never thought of – her daughter continued her study for her HSC exam and her son admitted to school.

In these recent days, the capital of Luthfa rises to Taka Twenty Thousand and her profit is close to Taka Ten Thousand per month. Her daughter is studying in National University and her son is in Class II. Now SHE CANbear the expensive cost of her husband’s psychological treatment as well.