At the moment, Basha employs around 120 women who have found a new life through our activities. But more than 250 women have actually been employed in the past 11 years. We are trying to track where they move on to but it’s not easy. Often they return to the village or move on to a different job. We know of 2 who went to India to do prostitution but this is a rare exception. As far as we know, the majority have been able to carry on their lives as they choose, free from the grip of exploitation.
Some women come back to visit periodically… we love that! It’s great to see their children and hear how things are going for them. We have an open door, and former artisans or trainees are always welcome to return to work if they need to and sometimes they do. As our training programmes expand, we depend on both turnover and growing sales to ensure that we are able to provide a safe supportive work environment to those who need it.
Speaking of turnover, we are excited to share Rahima’s story. Rahima started our Friends of Basha training in October 2018. As a young woman, Rahima was married to a man with five other wives. She was not happy in this family and wanted to support herself. Someone took her to the Jashore brothel but she knew that wasn’t what she wanted and she left. She went through the government to get work in Saudi Arabia, a dream of many Bangladeshi people.
After arriving in Saudi Arabia, her passport was taken and she was abused mentally and physically. Her brother paid the money to get her back to Bangladesh, but, rejected by her husband who has custody of her daughter, she had few options. A month later she was able to join Friends of Basha’s training programme. She completed our training programme, worked at Basha 8 months, and then went on to start her own restaurant.
Rahima’s enthusiasm for her business is evident as you can see in this video.