I got married at a very young age. In our area, girls got married every time disasters hit us. After marrying my husband, Uttam Bala, I started working with him to support the family. Together we worked from morning to noon, but the money we received could not provide enough for a four-member family. Despite frequent natural disasters, my husband and I worked hard but could never bring sufficient food for our children.

I received training under the CRAAIN project and seeds and livestock items to ensure nutrition security for the family. After receiving training from CRAAIN, my husband, Uttam Bala, and I grew vegetables in our yard. We received vegetable seeds, four ducks, and transportation costs for the initial gardening investment. After growing vegetables, we expanded our garden and grew seasonal fruits. We also planted trees and slowly started ripping the benefit of our hard labor. We stopped working as day laborers and started giving our time in our vegetable garden. I could not give time to our kids, but once we started working in our garden, I could now give time to our children. I help my younger son with study and now can feed well our young kids.

It was not the same in the past. We could hardly earn 300 taka daily, which was insufficient to buy glossaries. There were days when we stave. Our neighbor can scarcely help us with the loan because we are fighting the same battle. Each of us is fighting to bring food to our kitchen. When I almost gave up and thought we would never be able to do anything for our children, I learned about the CRAAIN project. We took several pieces of training and learned how to be self-sufficient by working on what we already had.

Since we started growing vegetables in our yard, farming fish, and rearing livestock, we can provide for our children. My son Damen Bala loves to eat fish, and their father brings fish from our pond almost daily. My children's health has improved, and I also find more energy. After selling eggs in the market, I can give eggs to my family for our daily breakfast, which was never possible.

Now, I cook fresh vegetables and fish. We sell our produce from the garden in our shop. Our nutrition comes from our yard. We want to educate our daughter and son. I dream of teaching them things I have learned so far. Our children regularly attend school and do their best to make us proud. Besides selling fruits and vegetables, I also share our produced items with villagers. They talk about our achievements and feel happy for us. Families who received support like us are already doing much better than before. We have experienced transformation. Our life has changed, and we are grateful for being able to continue improving our lives. Our family has become an icon in our area for our fast-growing garden, livestock, and fishing. Also, my husband manages a shop near our garden, helping us grow our investment.

Bagerhat, Bangladesh