Surviving the Rainy Season in Bangladesh

Lipi Bergum lives in Bangladesh in a small hut with her husband, two children and elderly mother-in-law. With no land of their own, Lipi’s family used to get by on what meager pay her husband—a day laborer for nearby farmers—could earn. They often struggled, especially in the rainy season.

During the rainy season in northwest Bangladesh, when rice fields usually lie dormant, there is no work or wages for farm laborers. Day laborers and their families are often reduced to begging or worse—going hungry. For a long time, that was the reality Lipi and her family faced.

That changed when Lipi joined a local Farmer Field School (FFS) run by Rangpur Dinajpur Rural Service (RDRS), a long-established rural development organization supported by ELCA World Hunger. RDRS understood her situation and gave her some ideas. Before long, with the help of a microloan, Lipi built a little shed on the family’s homestead and began raising a flock of 200 chickens to generate income.

Lipi hasn’t kept her new skills to herself, either. As she shares her knowledge with her family, friends and neighbors, she is helping to make the future brighter for the whole community. In 2008, about 2,900 Farmer Field Schools helped bring new crops and techniques to vulnerable rural areas. The majority of the FFS groups are composed of 15 to 25 women. Each group selects one member to be trained and serve as a promoter who leads FFS sessions in her own area and supports her neighbors in their new ventures.

Lipi’s chickens mean that her family no longer goes hungry. Her husband is so busy buying chicks and selling chickens that he no longer needs to work the rice fields.

Thanks to your generous gifts, Lipi and others in her community are able to plan for the future and survive rainy months without going hungry.