Duaripara Demolition Shock
On 14th February 2008 the Oasis Bangladesh team watched in disbelief as bulldozers knocked down the Duaripara slum where they had been working for the past 4 years, with girls at risk of commercial exploitation. Shops, homes and businesses including the Oasis project centre, were all razed to the ground and with just 24 hours notice, 5,000 families were made homeless - including many girls Oasis has been working with.
Bangladesh's economy relies on its clothing industry - more than three-quarters of its exports are garments and almost two-million people, most of them women, work in garment factories. Girls as young as 10 can find themselves labouring in these factories. Oasis' project in Duaripara, alongside the Church of Bangladesh, is based around an integrated programme of education, healthcare and skills training for girls aged 7-15 providing opportunity and choice for these children. Before the demolition, which followed a legal dispute over land ownership, over 100 girls were participating in the Oasis education scheme, learning Bengali, Maths, English and life skills in a supportive and creative environment.
Girls as young as 10 can find themselves labouring in these factories.
Jo Hayles, one of our Project Coordinators in Bangladesh, who witnessed the demolition of the slum, explains what happened on that day and how this drastic action has impacted the Duaripara community and Oasis' work,
"We managed to clear our project centre in time but everywhere there was chaos. Thousands of people were trying to pack-up their belongings and leave. The streets were full of police, cycle rickshaws loaded up with possessions and people carrying whatever they could manage from their houses."
"Fearing this would be the last time we would see our girls, we gave each of them a backpack with some practical items, their school books and an art kit to distract them from the mess around them. We also included photographs as a special memory of their time with us and a certificate to help them join another school. We hoped this small token might ease the pain they and their families were going through."
After the initial demolition, it took several days to reestablish contact with the girls and their families the majority of whom live in the worst part of the slum which thankfully remained standing. Even so, 25 families lost their homes. For them, the option was to search other nearby slums for shelter or to make the long journey back to villages from where they came.
The future of Duaripara remains uncertain and the threat of demolition still hangs over the rest of the community.
As the dust settled on Duaripara, the Oasis team set about salvaging what they could of the project and even then there were glimmers of hope as Jo explains,
"Remarkably, most of the families were keen to continue their daughters' education and kept asking where our new centre would be. At first, we gathered together in our nurse's garage! Within a few weeks we restarted classes using a few rooms in the remaining part of the slum. It wasn't ideal, but it's a start."
Demolition has been temporarily suspended following a court order requesting that resettlement options be arranged. The future of Duaripara remains uncertain and the threat of demolition still hangs over the rest of the community. Whatever happens, Oasis remains committed to the Duaripara girls and their families, to telling their stories, exposing the injustice they experience and to keep working with them in the hope that in the end their lives will tell a different story...
UPDATE: Since this article was written the remainder of Duaripara has been demolished. Oasis Bangladesh is continuing to deliver its programmes as best it can but please remember the girls and the team.