Local and foreign community in Dhaka supported The Spa

The children - predominantly girls - have been completely abandoned; most brought here as tiny, high-risk babies. Granting guardianship to non-Bangladeshi parents is prohibited so only a handful leave each year.
-- Kristen Petri

These young women in Dhaka are developing  marketable job skills by working in their own beauty parlour and gym where they are trained to become expert beauticians and fitness instructors.

Kristen Petri has just returned from a Students for Development internship. Funded by CIDA and managed by the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada, the internship took her to Dhaka, Bangladesh where she was placed with Families for Children an organization dedicated to providing shelter, food, education and a stable home for destitute and abandoned children as well as children with special needs and women in need.

by Kristen Petri, learner, MA in Professional Communication - specializing in intercultural and international communication

When deciding to take the Masters in Professional Communications IIC at RRU, one of my main considerations was the flexibility of the program format. The ability to complete the majority of my degree from a distance, online, while continuing to work fulltime was appealing.

Little did I realise that this flexibility would also allow me to have the life-changing opportunity of spending three months in Dhaka, Bangladesh, working in an orphanage called Families for Children (FFC).

I had previously volunteered with FFC in short stints over a period of many years and after receiving an email from RRU about the Students for Development Program, I applied for funding to go back to Bangladesh and make a longer-term contribution towards improving the lives of these children.

In Dhaka, FFC (a Canadian non-profit organization) houses over 153 children - including those with mental and physical handicaps - who have been completely abandoned by their families.

Most of the abandoned children spend their entire childhood at FFC since for social and economic reasons there are few local adoptions and the Bangladeshi government has banned foreign adoptions.

Consequently, the orphanage is facing the challenge of helping large groups of maturing children integrate into the outside world and the workforce.

Making this task even more difficult is the economic situation of Bangladesh; over 78 per cent of the population currently live below the poverty line (www.index.org). Additionally, most of the FFC children are female; being both female and orphaned causes these children to be discriminated against in Bangladeshi society. Therefore, the basis of my grant application was to work towards improving women’s rights and empowering these girls by helping them develop marketable job skills.

To achieve this, I initially looked into finding job placements for them but it soon became apparent that many of our girls were being taken advantage of in the positions they were given – they were underpaid and overworked.

Kristen Petri initially looked into finding job placements but it soon became apparent that many of the girls were being taken advantage of in the positions they were given – they were underpaid and overworked.

Consequently, we decided to create our own opportunities and opened The Spa, a women’s beauty parlour and gym where FFC girls are trained to become expert beauticians and fitness instructors.

Each of these girls is learning a specific trade as well as customer service, basic accounting and administrative skills. The goal is that after graduating from the training program, these girls will have the skills and experience to work at any beauty parlour in Bangladesh and be financially self-sufficient.

The Spa was a project that involved the community and most of the children at FFC – both the boys and girls were involved in the painting, purchasing, setup and advertising of The Spa, and even the younger children sang and danced for the opening party.

The local and foreign communities in Dhaka were huge supporters and helped with furniture and fund donations. Some are now clients.

For the children, saying they are from FFC – something they often don’t reveal because of the societal implications of being an orphan in Bangladesh – became a source of pride as the entire community was excited about the start-up of this project.

This internship was an amazing experience that reinforced much of what I am learning in my international and intercultural communications studies; how differently diverse cultures view the world.

The internship was undertaken with the financial support of the Government of Canada provided through the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and was based on the concept of governance and human rights.

For those wondering how to help, you can sponsor a child at FFC for $12 a month. Visit www.familiesforchildren.ca to learn more. Also, students can apply for the Students for Development Program through RRU University Life and others can investigate additional CIDA funded opportunities in the developing world.

Kristen Petri has over 10 years of international work experience in countries such as the Czech Republic, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bangladesh. Currently based in Toronto, Ontario, she is completing her Masters in Professional Communications, specializing in Intercultural and International Communications at RRU.