barisal santi Nibas
Lack of govt funding adds woes to lives of 7 women
Staff Reporter, Barisal
Seven elderly women are living in deplorable condition for the past 13 years at the Santi Nibas in Barisal after being rejected by immediate family members, including their sons and daughters. These women have appealed to spend the rest of their lives in the safety of the Santi Nibas The plight of these seven elderly women came to light on a visit to the Santi Nibas, which is a dead project of the Social Welfare Department.
Sholeka Begum, one of the dwellers, lost her speech after suffering stroke several days back. She has been waiting to hear from someone in her family since then in futility. Other inmates like Amirunnesa and Amena Begum are in no better condition after being deserted by their families.
Md. Mosharraf Hossain, DD of the Social Welfare Department Barisal ,said that the Santi Nibas was built in 1996 as an old-age home with aid from the government to accommodate 100 people. At that time the government allocated generous funds to take care of the elderly people. As a result, 58 elderly people, including 23 women came to live in the old-age home. We used to provide everything that the elderly people needed such as food, clothes, beds and medicines. But after the change of government in 2002, the project was shut down and it just became a safe-house for the elderly, said Hossain.
Even as other people left Santi Nibas, these seven women refused to leave the place as they had nowhere to go. Some officials of the department with the help of the district administration managed to provide food to the helpless women for the past 13 years. Koth Banu, mother of two sons and four daughters from Boro Bighai village in Patuakhali district, said that she has been living in Santi Nibas for the past 15 years. She along with other inmates refused to blame their children for their plight except their own misfortune.
