Hafeeza

Hafeeza is 14 years old and has eight brothers and sisters.  She says that before she joined the Nijera Shikhi class two and a half years ago and became literate and numerate, she didn’t know about savings or poultry husbandry, but now she knows it all.  18 months ago she purchased a goat for Tk.200 and from this she bred 10 goats which she sold for Tk.3,000.  Now she has just one goat and has invested the money in tree planting.  To date she has planted 50 guava trees, 50 trees of other local fruits and 10 coconut trees.  In addition she now has 15 chickens, whereas previously she didn’t have any.  She started breeding geese until she had 30.  Now she has just 12.  Hafeeza teaches seven other children in the village who are around seven - eight years old.  At first they were not interested in learning so she had to motivate them but now they often ask her to teach them.  They meet in the yard.  She enjoys doing this and sometimes calls them together to give a lesson.  They now know the alphabet, can read words and short sentences, but can’t go through books.  She thinks they will go to school.  Hafeeza has read several books from the mini-library including ones on women's rights, education for all, divorce, and 'Where There Is No Doctor'.  When asked what she had learned about divorce she related a long and detailed story of a woman who had been given a divorce orally by her husband, but when the family went to the local chiefs it was ruled that this was not valid, and so the husband had to take her back and support her.