The Srimangal project
Overview
A life of dependence
Dark green, thick leafy tea bushes cover the hilly landscape like a carpet. Tea plantations as far as you can see. It is stifling, but only thin trees here and there provide some shadow. This is Srimangal, a huge area of planted tea bushes in Bangladesh close to the Indian border. Most people here pick tea leaves on the plantation to earn a living. Long hours working stooped is exhausting, and wages amounting to the equivalent of about €1.70 a day hardly cover living expenses.
It is especially tragic that the tea pickers are completely dependent on the plantation owners because they fear losing their homes if they lose their jobs. The plantation owners, however, do little the improve the precarious situation of their employees. There is a lack of potable water, and the sanitary situation in the villages is catastrophic. The result is that cholera and diarrhoea are widespread, and many children and pregnant women are undernourished.
Perspectives offered by sustainable changes
We apply a comprehensive approach to provide a long-term improvement to the situation in the region. Volunteer doctors from Germany offer free treatment together with an indigenous team at different locations. We, in cooperation with the government hospitals, also train 176 healthcare workers.
We are involved in health promotion, building latrines and pipe wells, lobbying, and establishing self-help groups. These many different project components ensure sustainable help.
A life of dependence
Dark green, thick leafy tea bushes cover the hilly landscape like a carpet. Tea plantations as far as you can see. It is stifling, but only thin trees here and there provide some shadow. This is Srimangal, a huge area of planted tea bushes in Bangladesh close to the Indian border. Most people here pick tea leaves on the plantation to earn a living. Long hours working stooped is exhausting, and wages amounting to the equivalent of about €1.70 a day hardly cover living expenses.
It is especially tragic that the tea pickers are completely dependent on the plantation owners because they fear losing their homes if they lose their jobs. The plantation owners, however, do little the improve the precarious situation of their employees. There is a lack of potable water, and the sanitary situation in the villages is catastrophic. The result is that cholera and diarrhoea are widespread, and many children and pregnant women are undernourished.
Perspectives offered by sustainable changes
We apply a comprehensive approach to provide a long-term improvement to the situation in the region. Volunteer doctors from Germany offer free treatment together with an indigenous team at different locations. We, in cooperation with the government hospitals, also train 176 healthcare workers.
We are involved in health promotion, building latrines and pipe wells, lobbying, and establishing self-help groups. These many different project components ensure sustainable help.
Dates & Facts
Projekt start: 2021; volunteer doctors have been sent since 2022.
Current number of doctors: two German doctors are generally present.
Patient contacts: we expect to see 100 patients/day in the future.
Partner: our project partner is he charitable, non-political NGO Bangladesh Nazarene Mission (BNM) with headquarters in Dhaka. The German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) co-finances, among other things, the training of local healthcare workers and the establishment of WASH structures.
Structure: We offer on workdays patient consultations with voluntary German doctors at four different locations. Further services complement our medical work and serve to improve the living conditions and health situation in the region.
Mission locations: the region Srimangal in Sylhet, located northeast of Bangladesh. Medical consultations are held twice a week in Noagaon and in Kalighat, Ashidron, and Rajghat on other days.
Most common health problems: infectious diseases, mal- and undernourishment, diabetes, hypertension, and chronic obstructive lung disease (COPD).
Projekt start: 2021; volunteer doctors have been sent since 2022.
Current number of doctors: two German doctors are generally present.
Patient contacts: we expect to see 100 patients/day in the future.
Partner: our project partner is he charitable, non-political NGO Bangladesh Nazarene Mission (BNM) with headquarters in Dhaka. The German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) co-finances, among other things, the training of local healthcare workers and the establishment of WASH structures.
Structure: We offer on workdays patient consultations with voluntary German doctors at four different locations. Further services complement our medical work and serve to improve the living conditions and health situation in the region.
Mission locations: the region Srimangal in Sylhet, located northeast of Bangladesh. Medical consultations are held twice a week in Noagaon and in Kalighat, Ashidron, and Rajghat on other days.
Most common health problems: infectious diseases, mal- and undernourishment, diabetes, hypertension, and chronic obstructive lung disease (COPD).
Medical Aid
Medical consultations on the plantations
We especially support people who desperately need help. Particularly pregnant women, children, and handicapped individuals suffer from the bad working and living conditions and receive little state support.
We offer medical consultations at different locations to reach as many of these people as possible. Similar to our project in Chittagong, there exist a main project center and different outreach centers which can be reached on a daily basis. Aside from the mission doctors from Germany and Switzerland, there are always a local doctor, indigenous translators, a pharmacist, a nurse, and healthcare workers as part of the team. All patients are provided with comprehensive health information to prevent as many diseases as possible.
Step by step to better health
Our German doctors see many people with severe back pain due to the hard labor in the fields. Colds and fevers are also common in the damp, rainy region. Many of the tea pickers and their children are severely underweight and undernourished.
Many pregnant women are seen during our consultations They previously had hardly any possibility to attend pre- and postnatal appointments. We support families by explaining contraception and offer family planning.
Medical consultations on the plantations
We especially support people who desperately need help. Particularly pregnant women, children, and handicapped individuals suffer from the bad working and living conditions and receive little state support.
We offer medical consultations at different locations to reach as many of these people as possible. Similar to our project in Chittagong, there exist a main project center and different outreach centers which can be reached on a daily basis. Aside from the mission doctors from Germany and Switzerland, there are always a local doctor, indigenous translators, a pharmacist, a nurse, and healthcare workers as part of the team. All patients are provided with comprehensive health information to prevent as many diseases as possible.
Step by step to better health
Our German doctors see many people with severe back pain due to the hard labor in the fields. Colds and fevers are also common in the damp, rainy region. Many of the tea pickers and their children are severely underweight and undernourished.
Many pregnant women are seen during our consultations They previously had hardly any possibility to attend pre- and postnatal appointments. We support families by explaining contraception and offer family planning.
Training
Training local healthcare workers
As in other projects in mainly rural regions, we concentrate on training local healthcare workers in Srimangal. This enables us to establish a sustainable improvement in the provision of healthcare in secluded regions. 176 women and men are to be trained in cooperation with state hospitals. The German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) supports this training. Community members choose the future healthcare workers themselves to especially empower local women and enable them to be trained.
The basic medical training lasts several months, during which the trainees learn, among other things, to treat acute illnesses and administer vaccinations. They will also be able to deal competently with emergencies, to advise pregnant women and mothers, and to take care of people with chronic diseases. One healthcare worker already attends 95 families.
The healthcare workers additionally support the German Doctors‘ consultations and thereby gain practical knowledge from the doctors.
Training local healthcare workers
As in other projects in mainly rural regions, we concentrate on training local healthcare workers in Srimangal. This enables us to establish a sustainable improvement in the provision of healthcare in secluded regions. 176 women and men are to be trained in cooperation with state hospitals. The German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) supports this training. Community members choose the future healthcare workers themselves to especially empower local women and enable them to be trained.
The basic medical training lasts several months, during which the trainees learn, among other things, to treat acute illnesses and administer vaccinations. They will also be able to deal competently with emergencies, to advise pregnant women and mothers, and to take care of people with chronic diseases. One healthcare worker already attends 95 families.
The healthcare workers additionally support the German Doctors‘ consultations and thereby gain practical knowledge from the doctors.
Living Conditions
Poverty and dependence
A large portion of the people working on the tea plantations in the Srimangal region belong to a minority group originally coming from India. They have received hardly any government support from the beginning, and many are desperately poor. These families have often lived on the plantations for generations and thereby in dependency on the plantation owners, who also own the ground on which the settlements are built.
Only the fewest of these people are fortunate enough to own their own land. Most of them slave on the plantations and live in primitive huts under miserable hygienic conditions. The plantations are often used as toilets; clean water is scarce. It is no wonder that these people suffer poor health under these adverse conditions.
Self-help groups – a path to independence
Without comprehensive support the fewest of these people can improve their living situations. Therefore, an important further project goal is to build self-help groups. Women are empowered and can establish their own existence, thereby becoming more independent of the tea-plantation owners. These women can attend several training courses and apply for a small loan from the self-help groups.
Tree nurseries and home gardens are especially important in generating income because the women can then not only feed their families, but also sell their harvested products. After training, they receive seeds and young fruit trees to plant. Additional trees are planted for families who do not own land in fallow areas. The good news is that this practice is explicitly welcomed by the Bangladesh government!
Poverty and dependence
A large portion of the people working on the tea plantations in the Srimangal region belong to a minority group originally coming from India. They have received hardly any government support from the beginning, and many are desperately poor. These families have often lived on the plantations for generations and thereby in dependency on the plantation owners, who also own the ground on which the settlements are built.
Only the fewest of these people are fortunate enough to own their own land. Most of them slave on the plantations and live in primitive huts under miserable hygienic conditions. The plantations are often used as toilets; clean water is scarce. It is no wonder that these people suffer poor health under these adverse conditions.
Self-help groups – a path to independence
Without comprehensive support the fewest of these people can improve their living situations. Therefore, an important further project goal is to build self-help groups. Women are empowered and can establish their own existence, thereby becoming more independent of the tea-plantation owners. These women can attend several training courses and apply for a small loan from the self-help groups.
Tree nurseries and home gardens are especially important in generating income because the women can then not only feed their families, but also sell their harvested products. After training, they receive seeds and young fruit trees to plant. Additional trees are planted for families who do not own land in fallow areas. The good news is that this practice is explicitly welcomed by the Bangladesh government!
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