LFE Report 15

LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL

28th May, 2014

Abul Khair Joyte

Senior Lecturer,

Marketing department,

Independent University, Bangladesh (IUB)

Basundhara, Dhaka.

Subject: Letter of Transmittal for the LFE Report, SPRING LFE 2013.

Dear Sir,

With most pleasure, I am Moonazzah Sayeda Naz from group 30, would like to present this LFE

report on the study conducted during 25th April to 5th May, 2013 for the course Live in Field

Experience (LFE) on Teghorbisha village at joypurhat, with village people.

Through questionnaire survey, and observation I have tried my best to learn about the geography,

changes of social condition, economy and agriculture, the impact of seasonality of various

aspects of women empowerment, agriculture, health and environment, and rural market analysis

of the village. This was an immense experience for me and I have learnt a lot about the culture,

beliefs and norms of the village scenario.

I highly appreciate and acknowledge this overall effort of IUB for arranging this sort of course.

If any sort of clarification is required regarding the report, we will be pleased to meet any

queries.

Sincerely yours,

Moonazzah Sayeda Naz

ID: 1120516

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Abstract

Bangladesh is a country of vast population. It is being tough to provide a similar facility to all the

people in it. So a sheer size people of the total population are being urbanized now, in search of a

better life. However, a score of people are still found at the rural area of the country. So we have

no option to ignore them, when we want to represent the real demographic, social, cultural,

educational, and economic feature of the whole country.

Our education cannot be completed without having a proper knowledge on the entire status of

our nation. Therefore it is very important to be familiarized with the rural and urban area and the

differences between the life style of the people. Without having gone through them, it is not

possible to get a practical knowledge on the problem faced only by the village people and the

necessity to solve the problem. Seeing the village by going through the book cannot give us the

clear picture of the village, but seeing with our own eyes by keeping in touch with the village

and villagers can give us the real picture. Keeping it mind, Live Field Experience (LFE) 201 had

been made one of the foundation courses offered by Independent University Bangladesh (IUB).

This is the only course, where students can achieve an experience on fieldwork and get an

opportunity to amplify their adaptability.

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1. Introduction

The course “LFE 201” has been subjected by me in summer 2014. We, about 64 students from

section 3 left for Joypurhat district in order to make the course successful. Joupurhat stands

under Rajshahi division. It has an large area, where about four villages are found. Historical

places like “Behular bashor ghor”, “paharpur boydhho behar”, etc are close to the district area. I

would like consider myself lucky, to have a chance to visit such an enriched area of Bangladesh.

We, the registered students of the course along with 4 monitors and 3 experienced faculties

started our journey at 25th April. After spending 10 memorable days together, we came back at 5th

May. A renowned NGO of Bangladesh named TMSS (Thengamara Sabuj Sangha), working for

women empowerment did all our living and food arrangement. In spite of being busy, all the

stuffs of the NGO provided us a very warm welcome. All of them were very cooperative and

they helped us a lot to curry on our program effectively. Therefore, we are very thankful to them.

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2. Map Analysis We run our surveys at three different villages of joypurhat named Teghorbisha, Halottri and

Shyampur. We went through the villages in person to gain knowledge about the socio-economic

condition, mindset and the lifestyle of the villagers. We have accumulated information about

village mapping and village transect, social changing process and timeline analysis, wealth

ranking and resource mapping, seasonality mapping, household and gender role and the rural

market analysis through the systematic field study.

Teghorbisha was the village where I made my survey. The village is one of the oldest villages of

Joypurhat district. Therefore, it was tough to find out the history of the village but after a long

effort, we came to know that the village was named by the famous poet, Rabindranath Thagore.

It is said that the proprietors of area was impressed by the poetry of Rabindranath Thagore. So

they arranged a program named “teghor mela” on the honor of Rabindranath Thagore, where a

special Puja was performed. Gradually the puja and the mela became quite popular. Then by the

name of the mela, the village was named as Teghorbisha.

Figure : A map, presenting the village Teghorbisha.

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Teghorbisha is the largest village of the district having around 1000 people in an outsized area.

Around 15 different “Para”s (the areas under a village are called Para) covered the village named

“Hazi Para”, “Charmatha”, “Kalur Para”, “Sona Para”, “Meelachura” , “Pal Para”, “Shah Para”,

“Hotath Para”, “Engineer Para”, “Neela Para”, “Panata”, “Kholifa Para”, “Diler Para”,

“Chowdhury Para” and Zubber Para”.

The village, having a beautiful natural feature presented a break to all of us, to breathe in from a

pollution free environment. So we tried to use the opportunity and roamed around the village.

We came to know about the different types of crops and animals found here. We tried to know

about the regular life and the environmental condition of their village.

Figure: Neelapara at Teghorbisha.

The soil type of the village is good for cultivation. So various crops are available to see here.

Crops like paddy, wheat, corn, jute, sugarcane etc are grown on the land of the village. Trees like

sugarcane, mango, banana etc are seen here. Animals like those that tiger, wolf, fox etc were

found here before and people were being affected regularly by the dangerous beasts. Conversely,

cow, cat, goat, dog, different snakes and different types of birds are still available here. In water

area, different fishes and water animals are found. Flowers like rose and so on spreads a sweet

smell all trough the village.

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3. An overview of the villagers

Around 1000 villagers of different areas have differences in their regular life style. Some of them

have a satisfactory life style; on the opposite, some of the villagers lead their life in a hardship.

We, all the students got a rare opportunity to observe their differences of lifestyle, very closely.

Usually the status of health, education and women empowerment exposes the real feature of a

village. Therefore, we studied five individual families, to identify their condition. The survey

helped us to be introduced with the feature of the village and the life style of the villagers.

3.1 FIVE CASES WE STUDIED

3.1.1 Case study 01 (Household ID 201)

This family resides in their own house at “kalur para” in Teghorbisha village. Md Fazlur Rahman

and his wife Rebeka begum live in their family together. Nobody of them could not able to study

ever because of their family responsibility.

Fazlur Rahman is the head of the family who runs his family through farm work. He has a small

amount of land of his own to cultivate. His wife is a general homemaker, who tries to help his

husband in his regular activities.

However, the regular earning of

Fazlur Rahman is not sufficient to

lead a satisfactory life. Therefore,

they do not have a healthy

sanitation. They do not have a

clean yard even. As a result, skin

diseases and water diseases are

very common to them.

Image : Family members of

Fazlur Rahman

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Fazlur Rahman and Rebeka begum have two sons, who live independently with their family next

to their parents. Both of them have studied up to class seven and they work as day laborer. Even

they have not a good earning to run their family well but still they try their best to support their

parents.


At Sonapara, a family consist s of four members was found. The name of the household head of

the family is Golam Mostofa. His wife, Rahela begum and his two sons live together in the

family. All of them are educated. Golam Mostofa studied up to class 10 and his wife stopped her

study at class 7. Golam Mostofa sent his sons to school and he was capable to send them to

college to continue their study.

Golam Mostofa has a shop of his own and the

shop is the focal source of his earning. He earns

around 5000 tk per month through shop keeping

and runs his family. Moreover, he has sufficient

property, which gives him a mental support to go

ahead. Mrs. Rahela begum is just a homemaker.

She is healthy enough to work hard. So tries to

keep the home clean. Therefore, a regular, honest

effort of Rahela begum, towards her family keeps

her family members healthy and fit.

Image: House of Golam Mostofa

Page 7 of 18


This family resides in their own house at “Pal para” in Teghorbisha village. Shankar pal and his

wife Bashanti pal with their two young sons live in their family together. Their daughter got

married and she does not live with them.

Shankar pal and his wife Bashanti pal

could not able to study ever because of

their family responsibility. However, they

are aiming to make their children

educated.

Shankar pal is a potter by family and he is

the head of his family. His wife is a

general homemaker, who tries to help his

husband in his regular activities. She often

helps her husband to make pots.

Image: Shankar pal and his wife.

However, the regular earning of Shankar pal is not sufficient to lead a satisfactory life.

Therefore, they do not have a healthy sanitation. They do not have a clean yard even. Agriculture

and animal waste are available here to see. As a result, skin diseases and water diseases are very

common to them.

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3.1.4 Case study 04(Household ID 162)

A widow woman “Rezya begum” of around 65 years old was found at “Shah para” in

Teghorbisha village. She has three adult sons. All of them stay next to her and she lives alone in

her home.

Rezya begum did not want to study ever and therefore she never went to school. Still she is

financially independent and leads

her life according to her wish.

Her mini poultry farm is the only

source of her income and that is the

single property of her own. She is

so poor that single furniture does

not belong to her, let alone the

home.

Image : Rezya begum working in the kitchen.

The regular life style of Rezya begum says that she leads a very restricted life. Her hard working

and strong mentality helps to keep herself happy and healthy. Therefore, it can be said that Rezya

begum is a good example of women empowerment in the village.

3.1.5 Case study 05(Household ID 153)

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Mrs Popi lives in her home wither two daughters. She is a perfect homemaker. She is aiming to

make both of her daughters educated. Her husband, Mr Rafikul ,had been migrated to Saudi

Arabia to earn money for his family. Mrs popi completed class 9 and her husband completed his

SSC.

Image: Mrs. Popi with her younger daughter.

Mr Rafikul sends about 10000 tk per month

to her family. Popi is trying her best to run

her family through limited money. She is hard working and healthy enough to work hard. To

keep her family healthy, she uses a proper sanitation and concerns on the hygienic issues. Her

regular and honest effort towards her family keeps her family members healthy and fit.

3.2 HEALTH STATUS

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3.2.1 Water source

Use of water No of family (among 5 families)

Using tube well Using pond

Taking bath 2 3

Drinking 4 1

Washing 2 3

cooking 3 2

source: field survey

The chart presented above, shows that most of the people here, use tube well water for drinking

and cooking purpose. Providentially, the tube wells are safe from Arsenic (Ar). Still, there is a

tendency to use pond water in washing and other household purposes. As a result, skin diseases

are seen in some families.

3.2.2 Sanitation

Sanitation type No. of household

Open 2

Sub 1

Latrine 2


The summary of the case studies does not make available a satisfactory feature on the sanitation

issue of the village. The data given above shows that half of the people in the village do not

uphold a proper sanitation, which often supports them to have a medical condition from various

stomach ailments.

3.2.3 Diseases

Name of diseases No of

family

No. of members in

a family suffering

Treatment taken by

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Skin 2 3 Doctor

Cholera 2 4 Compounder

Diabetics 0 0 -

others 1 1 Compounder


Skin loose motion Diabetics others0

1

2

3

4

Diseases in village

The cases we studied shows that most of the villagers are healthy and very energetic to work

hard. Still it had been enlighten that a squat number of people are suffering by some common

skin diseases and stomach diseases. We tried to find the root of the diseases and the survey

represented that a lack of knowledge on hygienic concern is the reason behind the problem.

3.2.4 Local and village medical center and doctor facility

It is very distressing to articulate here that we did not find even a hospital in the large village

area. Village medical center and doctor facility are also not available. The “Upazilla hospital” at

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the city area, is the only hope to the villagers to get medical facilities. However, we found three

pharmacies with medical compounders in the village. The compounders are seen, providing

necessary medicines and first aid to people. It is important to state here that most of the villagers

choose herbal medicines rather than allopathic.

3.3 EDUCATION

The level of education has improved quite in “Thrghorbisha” village. Education gets major

priority over many things in the village life, this feeling is quite urban. But after the Liberation

War the situation changed and more and more families put their children to schools. The girls are

also not just getting primary education; some girls follow through to high school. There is an

only permanent School in the village.

Education Among 5 families we studied

No of people

(aging 40 and up)

No of people (aging 01to 30)

SSC 1 5

HSC 0 3

Graduation 0 1

Post Graduation 0 0

source: field

survey

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SSC HSC Graduation Post Graduation0

1

2

3

4

5

6

No of people (aging 40 and up)No of people (aging 01to 30)

Education feature of the village

Figure: A graph, representing education status of the village.

The table and the graph beyond explain that we found a single person who had been connected

with education. Now young are being concerned on education. As a result, about nine people 5

nuclear families are found educated. This is quite a significant in education status of the village.

These significant changes in education sector of the village are changing the trend in occupation.

People are no more stuck only in agricultural work. We can find people working in several NGO

and school.

3.4 WOMEN EMPOWERMENT

The female members of a village were not being allowed to take part in any social activities even

a few years ago, especially during the pre liberation period. Now issues are being changed.

Women are not only taking the facilities to have education but also working to support their

family financially. So the number of women empowerment has been enriched now.

The survey we made, shows that a large number of women do not stuck only in household work

anymore. Some of them have their own business and some others are helping their spouse in

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farm work or in making pots and stuff. We also found women solving all types of family

problems in absence of her husband.

The chart below, shows a summary on women empowerment of the village.

Women empowerment No of women

Women as housewife 2

Women helping their spouse in work 2

Women having self business 1

Women at job 0


Here, the women who are helping their spouse in work and those who have their self-business or

working out, all of them are contributing in developing women empowerment. So it is seen that

most of the women are contributing to develop women empowerment. Through a bar graph, we

can explain the whole figure of women empowerment.

Page 15 of 18

Market analysis of Hilli

Joupurhat is a district close to the border of India. So Indian products like cosmetics, cloths, food

etc cross the border and come to the Bangladeshi market. Most of the times the business is does

not follow a legal way. So the businessmen do not supply or export the products to somewhere

else. They sell the products to the local people in a retail prize. We made a visit to the shops at

Hilli. We talked to the retailers and came to know the average value of the goods. As the

products do not carry any kind of vat, people get all the products at a cheap rate. We analyzed

the value of different products and the result shows that the market value of all types of Indian

products is sold at half of the prize at Hilli. Therefore, Hilli has become a very popular business

area to all the local people and visitors.

A chart showing the difference between the markets prize of the products and their rates at Hilli,

is given below;

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source: hilli market

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Conclusion

Our lives in the cities are independent from those of villagers and therefore our only exposure to

rural life is via this LFE program.

It had been a great experience to discover different aspects of the rural society. City dwellers

like us had not much idea about the rural society. Throughout the field, survey villagers helped

us a lot. Even they never got annoyed as we disturbed them in a very pick season of harvesting.

Rural society is changing day by day. People are now more conscious about education,

sanitation, and hygiene. NGO‟s provide loans to the villagers. They are not only building the

infrastructures but also persuading everyone to use that. There are also some problems that

should be solved. Peasants are producing foods for us that not really in a good shape. But the

social problem is quite noticeable. Still they are not giving women every right to be independent.

To conclude, the outcomes of these studies are very much limited. However, in doing the report,

we have experienced the realities of rural areas of Bangladesh that we never had before. Thus, it

was a wonderful experience over there. We would like to thank IUB and TMSS, Joypurhat to

give us the opportunity to explore such amazing society and people.

----THE END----

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Documents

LFE Report 15