Irani Akhter is an eleventh grader at a remote college in Bangladesh’s south-western bordering district of Satkhira.
Published : 18 Nov 2014, 11:40 PM
But she is unlike other girls of her age in Sushilgati village.
She is a volunteer and, apart from her studies, makes every effort to bring women to health centres during pregnancy and childbirth.
Giving birth at home at the hand of unskilled attendants is a major cause of maternal deaths in Bangladesh.
She also speaks against dowry and child marriage, which is highest in the region in Bangladesh.
Her work drew the attention of Bangladesh’s UNAIDS office that came to know her and nominated her along with another volunteer of her village, Tamanna Khatun, a tenth grader, in the Bangkok regional gathering of gender equality.
They suddenly came to the notice of the ‘Asia-Pacific Conference on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment: Beijing+20 review’ participants at the UN regional headquarters after they spoke at a sideline event.
“I never thought about this,” a cheerful Akhter told bdnews24.com expressing her delight being able to join the meeting at this age.
“They are our golden girls,” Labin Rahman, consultant to the NGO, Community Health Foundation, who is accompanying them, said.
The NGO trained them with the basic knowledge of what to tell the families on what situation during pregnancy, and child births.