Salina’s story: Salina's Story

Salina’s story: Salina's Story: "Kamrangir Char, home to around 265000 low income people, situated on the western fringe of Dhaka city. Selina, a daily labour at a polye..."

Salina's Story

Kamrangir Char, home to around 265000 low income people, situated on the western fringe of Dhaka city.

Selina, a daily labour at a polyethylene recycle project, lives here since 2006 with her four-year old son, Shadhin and husband Md. Habibur Rahman, a petite tea-stall owner.

Along the riverbanks between Kamrangir Char Bridge and the second Buriganga bridge, tons of wastes are dumped into the river every day. Environment has literally collapsed in and around the locality with river pollution.

Government of Bangladesh banned poly-bags as it causes environmental hazard, but the empty stomach of Selina forced her to work with polyethylene from sunrise to sunset.

Polyethylene is being brought in to Kamrangir Char by thousands of Tokais (Street-children) and small-businessmen buy polyethylene from them. For the recycling, Selina makes poly-molds through burning. This unhygienic labour gives her a daily wage of around 70-80 BDT.

In an impoverished, poverty-stricken setting, she couldn’t arrange any better means for living. She had to get along with her livelihood since there’s no alternative for survival.

It’s the best time for Shadhin to go to school, but there’s no way Selina could actually afford his study expenses. Instead, Shadhin is her co-worker. They work together in the unhealthy, toxic and polluted environment.

Selina moves along with her family, without any preference and through the unruly setting, where she and her son deal with severe health risks everyday.

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