Salma's story: six months on from the Big Give Christmas Challenge
Last Christmas, your support helped us raise £25,334 through the Big Give Christmas Challenge, comfortably ahead of our target. That generosity is now hard at work, and six months on we want to share what it has made possible.
The campaign focused on one of the most important moments in a mother's journey with us: the point at which she prepares to leave Sreepur Village and build an independent life.
Sreepur Village is a place of safety for our mothers and their children. The mothers who come to us have been abused, abandoned or widowed, and arrive with nowhere else to turn. In the months before a mother leaves, she takes part in intensive life skills training, prepares for her housing, and learns to manage money and plan for the future. Once she has returned to her community, the support does not stop. For a further six months she receives ongoing support out in the community, helping her to find her feet and settle back into life with confidence.
Here is what that has meant for one mother, whom we are calling Salma to protect her privacy.
Our Community Development Officer handing over fabric as part of our community support programme.
Before Sreepur Village
Before she came to us, life was frightening and uncertain for Salma. After her husband abandoned the family, she was left alone to care for her three children, with no stable income and no sure way of providing food, schooling or healthcare. She worried constantly about how she would manage on her own.
Finding her strength
Salma arrived at Sreepur Village in early 2024 and stayed with us for two years. She took part in several training activities during that time, but it was tailoring that changed everything for her. She learned to sew, and to cut and make garments, building skills she could turn into a living.
When the time came to leave, Salma went home with a discharge kit that included a sewing machine, along with the savings she had built up during her time with us. Back in her home area of Dinajpur, and with six months of community support behind her, she opened her own tailoring business in the local market. She rents a stall there and works every day, making women's clothing and, from time to time, school uniforms for local children.
A settled and caring home
Today Salma earns a steady income and supports her family entirely on her own. Her eldest daughter is studying at college, her son is doing well at school, and her youngest child is growing up in a settled and caring home.
"I came to Sreepur Village feeling broken and unsure of how I would survive, but the support I received helped me discover my own strength. I want other women facing difficult situations to know that they should never lose hope."
Your support, six months on
Salma is one of many mothers your Christmas gifts are helping. Your funding is supporting education and literacy for the children, livelihoods and skills training for the mothers, and the steady, practical care that keeps families going both during their time with us and after they return home.
Everything is on track, and we are confident that your donations are being spent well and making a real difference to our mothers and their children at Sreepur Village. Thank you for making it possible.