Let us show you the impact of our Carers Worldwide Model on Amena, a carer from Bangladesh.
This festive season we are asking our supporters to help us reach more unpaid carers like Amena. Please read Amena’s story below and make a difference to someone's life by giving to our appeal today.
Thanks to the CareTech Foundation, every donation to our appeal will be matched up to a total of £2,500 , so your donation will be doubled and your gift will make twice the difference!
We have an ambitious target of raising
£5,000 and we need your help to do it!
Please join us this festive season in supporting unpaid carers in South Asia.
Amena’s story
Amena has three children, two of whom are disabled. Sumi is 14 and has Down Syndrome and Noor Ali is 9 and is deaf and non-verbal.
Before she started working with our charity partner in Bangladesh, Centre for Disability in Development (CDD), Amena felt isolated and alone.
“One of the hardest parts was that my family didn't understand me, there were no other disabled children around. I felt that I was probably the problem, it must have been my fault. I used to shut myself up and stay isolated like this.”
“The Carers Project has changed the shape of my life. I have been inspired by seeing so many other carers like me organise their lives, get financial security, get respect. People from all walks of life have started understanding me now. Many thanks to CDD and Carers Worldwide for being with us.”
Carers Groups
Before Amena joined our Carers Project, she was isolated from society due to the stigma that surrounds disability and the perceived shame it brought on the family. She stayed indoors with her children and wasn’t able to speak to extended family or neighbours.
She found it hard to come along to the Carers Group to start with as she was so nervous, but once she’d attended once or twice, she saw that she was just like the other carers there and she didn’t feel alone anymore.
Amena’s Carers Group is a place where she can voice any issues or worries she has and get help and support from the other members. The carers all help each other and there is a real bond between them. Amena has now become more confident in herself and no matter how many problems she or other carers face, they can find a solution through their Carers Group.
Health Services
Employment, Training and Education
Amena heard about other carers taking advantage of our livelihood programme and expressed her desire to grow vegetables in her garden at home. She received training through the programme and financial support through her Carers Group and began growing vegetables on a small scale in her back garden.
Soon, she was able to pay back the loan from the group and she now grows five different kinds of vegetable in a much larger area.
Due to this work, which fits around her caring responsibilities, she has become financially self-sufficient. After two years of working and saving she was able to move her family out of their old house, in which everything would get wet whenever it rained, and build a new house on some land owned by her in-laws.
Respite and Short Breaks
“The Community Caring Centre is one of the most peaceful places in my life.”
Amena is also a member of one of our Community Caring Centres and now also volunteers there, supporting other unpaid carers and their children.
Doing this gives her time for herself and provides her with a place to share her struggles with others and provide mutual support. She helps other unpaid carers by sharing her experiences and giving advice.
The Community Caring Centre has provided Amena emotional well-being, by being there for her and her children, giving her a break from her caring responsibilities and allowing her the opportunity to give back and support other mothers. All this has had a positive effect on her mental health.
Advocacy
Amena is one of 50 Barefoot Counsellors that we have trained through the Carers Project. These counsellors are all carers themselves, and they have been trained to provide counselling services to other carers over the phone or face-to-face.
As she talks with carers during her sessions, Amena is also able to help them with practical issues such as problems getting disability cards for their loved ones, as she is very heavily involved in the advocacy work which is a vital part of our model.
Amena is a committee member of one of our Cluster Level Committee Groups and also works in collaboration with our Carers Association at the government level.
When any new benefits for unpaid carers come about, due to the advocacy work of these committees and associations, Amena spreads the word to other unpaid carers through her Carers Group, and together they plan how best to ensure that everyone eligible to receive it, does so.
“Earlier, my life was full of sorrow, the path of my life wasn’t smooth. My in-laws used to berate me for having disabled children. Even my husband used to scold me saying that no one else in the whole village has a disabled child. It's your fault, it's your problem.
But when I think about life as a carer now, after the support I’ve had from CDD, it feels different. I feel very lucky & special. Because I have known the outside world due to having a disabled child, I am part of something bigger. I had to find a way to talk to my children, this is how I truly learned to talk.”
