BEDE SCHOOL

TEGURA
95% OF BEDE ARE ILLITERATE
98% LIVE BELOW POVERTY LINE
ONLY 2% HAVE OPPORTUNITY TO BE IMMUNISED
CHILD MARRIAGE IS COMMON
River Gypsy Project

This school house is on its last legs.

It serves thirty Bede children.
It is actually the home of the teacher, Musked.
The objective of the project is to create a
separate school house by January 2016 and
fund a teacher until August 2017.
The cost to build a small separate structure is only 130
The school room will need a solar panel
A solar panel after installation costs 110
School
Muksed teaches for 2 hours a day 6 days a week
He receives 35 per month
His salary is being paid by Gram Unnayan Bangla until August 2016
To retain Muksed until 2017 will cost 415

Total cost to build a school and retain a teacher until August 2017 is 655
Bede or Baidani are an indigenous
community of Bangladesh. Traditionally the
bede used to ply the waterways stopping
off and engaging in their trades at riverside
villages and towns. However their riverine
way of life has been changing dramatically
in recent years. This is because of a variety
of reasons including, some say, climate
change affecting the rivers.
Despite their presence in bengali folk and
popular culture, the Bede are a stigmatised
and marginalised community. They have
little access to education or health services.
They were only given the vote about seven
years ago.

They have their own language. Their

hereditrary trades include selling sundry
trinkets, catching snakes, extracting
`'worms" from teeth and practicing their
traditional medicinal system including
cupping (drawing blood) or "Shinga tana"
for pain relief
5
I am sending this to a limited number of people. I would like you to think about
contributing 5. Yes only 5 because I want to reach at least 120 people! Part of
the struggle is that no one knows about this community. It is no wonder the Bede
are treated as a pariah community. So I am particularly targeting my Bangladeshi
contacts whether abroad or in BD!

Why am I doing this? Well I have been filming and photographing the Bede
whenever I am in Bangladesh, and have the time to do so. They are a fascinating Click the link above to pay. Or make an offline payment
community but incredibly deprived and marginalised. by contacting me.

If you want to see the trailer of my doc go HERE

THANKS, SHAFIUR
Some images and text are HERE need more info? Call me or email me 07880501913 / shafiur@gmail.com