Care in the villages and slums

Rahima lives in a slum near the river that runs beside the town of Mymensingh, in central Bangladesh. She is in her mid 40s and has a husband and daughter. Her husband is a day labourer who often struggles to find a full day’s work. This means the family goes to bed a little hungry most nights.
Rahima’s life improved dramatically when she joined a Functional Education and savings group set up by Symbiosis International. Through the group she has learnt sewing and is involved in paper bag making from used paper, both of which allow the family to have sufficient money so they can eat each night.
However, her great desire is to help expectant mothers as they come near to the time of child birth. Symbiosis International staff saw how interested she was in helping, so asked if she wanted to attend a Traditional Birth Attendants course.

After completing the course, Rahima said she hadn’t realized how simple it could be to make a baby’s delivery safer. Rahima is now improving the safety of childbirths, as well as giving advice to mothers on nutrition and better care of their children. She has become a vital part of her community.
Symbiosis International runs regular courses for Traditional Birth Attendants; courses that not only give them some basic but vital keys for successful deliveries but also help them to provide better advice at pre and post delivery times.
To maximise the effectiveness of this work, Symbiosis International’s staff teach village women how to monitor the growth and development of their children so they have a better opportunity to grow into healthy adults.

Providing a service For the Community

You can help by providing:

Empowering the poor of Bangladesh
Symbiosis Bangladesh was established in 1995 and is now serving the nation’s poor and disempowered people through 23 separate projects in 9 districts of the country.
The programs offered include Integrated Rural Development Projects, Arsenic Mitigation, Eye Camps, Dental Camps, Eye Disease Prevention, Technical Skill Training, Social Justice and Gender Equality and Marginalized Community Empowerment.
Through the rural integrated programs it has become apparent that basic services and training need to be delivered where the people live. For example, training Traditional Birth Attendants in their village environment gives these women more respect in the village while decreasing the infant mortality rate in Bangladesh

Improving Maternal Care: Traditional Birth Attendants