ANGELA GOMES - The survivor and the saviour and the woman of substance
Breaking boundaries with gentle hands
illustration by Shibu Kumar Shill
As International Women’s Day approaches on March 8, Xtra profiles the life of an extraordinary woman who have survived great adversities and made unthinkable sacrifices in her journey towards changing her own fate and touching lives, and moving on to build institutions that serve millions of people across the country
illustration by Shibu Kumar Shill
As International Women’s Day approaches on March 8, Xtra profiles the life of an extraordinary woman who have survived great adversities and made unthinkable sacrifices in her journey towards changing her own fate and touching lives, and moving on to build institutions that serve millions of people across the country
ANGELA GOMES - The survivor and the saviour
by Faizul Khan Tanim
by Faizul Khan Tanim
Strong, determined, confident, fighter, survivor, ideological and inspirational. Fifty-five year old Angela Gomes is each one of them and perhaps many, many more.
Winner of the prestigious Magsaysay Award and one of 1000 women short-listed for a noble peace prize in 2005, Angela Gomes, executive director of Banchte Shikha, has touched lives of millions of women who love and respect her and have learned to survive through her organisation.
Based in Jessore, on a 1.5-hectare complex and 30 more offices in eight districts of the country, Banchte Shikha is an institution which educates women on adolescence, law, human rights, good governance, social development and group formation. The institute also trains women on income-generating activities including handicrafts, agriculture, poultry and livestock, bee keeping, sericulture, community-based fish cultivation etc.
Today there are nearly 10 lakh women are directly benefited by the organisation and Angela’s relentless efforts.
The woman, who has instilled strength and confidence within them, has had her own share of struggle and challenges. The community that embraces her with so much respect and love had in fact, once refused to accept her. On the roads, people would throw stones and on one occasion, human faeces at her, as though she was a curse.
She was described as a range of things- from a bad influence to a prostitute. She was also brought before the law for her activities.
In 1975, when Angela had just returned to Jessore from Satkhira after having received training in making handicraft products in jute, she took up a task of forming groups among local women and training them. Having witnessed many forms of oppression that women face everyday, through her travels around the country from a young age because of her education, and resisted attempts at an early marriage by her parents, she was bent on changing the fate of these destitute women once she finished her bachelors’ degree. ‘I came across women who were beaten, raped and set on fire. From an early age, 13 to 14, I had made up my mind that I would do something to change their condition,’ says Angela.
That is when the community turned against her.
‘They brought me before the magistrate to punish me,’ says Angela. ‘Strangely, the magistrate was impressed by what I was doing and further suggested that I turn my activities in to an organisation rather than working alone.’
Angela had worked alone all her life. In her youth, she had managed a decent education by continuously applying to missionary schools in Gazipur, Kushtia and Jessore. She financed it by getting training as a teacher early so that she taught junior classes all along her school life.
In 1981, Banchte Shikha came to life and to resist taboos she took up a Muslim name ‘Anju’, made an imaginary husband who she claimed had gone abroad to work and finally adopted two children to make people believe that she carried no curse.
‘The women I wanted to help didn’t trust me at first because I was a Christian, fearing that I wanted to convert them. Some women thought it was bad luck to look at my face because I had no children,’ she says ruefully.
Banchte Shikha, in the end, survived all adversities. One of its projects which has acquired international recognition is the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR). A group of eleven – a union council member, one schoolteacher, one village leader, a religious leader and seven women, formed a committee to addresses domestic disputes with to aim to salvage tortured or abused women. The committee sits for sessions and if by the third session the dispute is not ended, it is taken to court.
‘Normally these quarrels end within the first or second sitting. The mechanism not only involves extensive participation by women but also creates pressure to practice equal opportunity rights, decreases tension and misunderstanding and collectively discourages the males from doing anything which will take them to the court’, says Angela.
Winner of the prestigious Magsaysay Award and one of 1000 women short-listed for a noble peace prize in 2005, Angela Gomes, executive director of Banchte Shikha, has touched lives of millions of women who love and respect her and have learned to survive through her organisation.
Based in Jessore, on a 1.5-hectare complex and 30 more offices in eight districts of the country, Banchte Shikha is an institution which educates women on adolescence, law, human rights, good governance, social development and group formation. The institute also trains women on income-generating activities including handicrafts, agriculture, poultry and livestock, bee keeping, sericulture, community-based fish cultivation etc.
Today there are nearly 10 lakh women are directly benefited by the organisation and Angela’s relentless efforts.
The woman, who has instilled strength and confidence within them, has had her own share of struggle and challenges. The community that embraces her with so much respect and love had in fact, once refused to accept her. On the roads, people would throw stones and on one occasion, human faeces at her, as though she was a curse.
She was described as a range of things- from a bad influence to a prostitute. She was also brought before the law for her activities.
In 1975, when Angela had just returned to Jessore from Satkhira after having received training in making handicraft products in jute, she took up a task of forming groups among local women and training them. Having witnessed many forms of oppression that women face everyday, through her travels around the country from a young age because of her education, and resisted attempts at an early marriage by her parents, she was bent on changing the fate of these destitute women once she finished her bachelors’ degree. ‘I came across women who were beaten, raped and set on fire. From an early age, 13 to 14, I had made up my mind that I would do something to change their condition,’ says Angela.
That is when the community turned against her.
‘They brought me before the magistrate to punish me,’ says Angela. ‘Strangely, the magistrate was impressed by what I was doing and further suggested that I turn my activities in to an organisation rather than working alone.’
Angela had worked alone all her life. In her youth, she had managed a decent education by continuously applying to missionary schools in Gazipur, Kushtia and Jessore. She financed it by getting training as a teacher early so that she taught junior classes all along her school life.
In 1981, Banchte Shikha came to life and to resist taboos she took up a Muslim name ‘Anju’, made an imaginary husband who she claimed had gone abroad to work and finally adopted two children to make people believe that she carried no curse.
‘The women I wanted to help didn’t trust me at first because I was a Christian, fearing that I wanted to convert them. Some women thought it was bad luck to look at my face because I had no children,’ she says ruefully.
Banchte Shikha, in the end, survived all adversities. One of its projects which has acquired international recognition is the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR). A group of eleven – a union council member, one schoolteacher, one village leader, a religious leader and seven women, formed a committee to addresses domestic disputes with to aim to salvage tortured or abused women. The committee sits for sessions and if by the third session the dispute is not ended, it is taken to court.
‘Normally these quarrels end within the first or second sitting. The mechanism not only involves extensive participation by women but also creates pressure to practice equal opportunity rights, decreases tension and misunderstanding and collectively discourages the males from doing anything which will take them to the court’, says Angela.
*This article was first published in Daily New Age EXTRA on Friday March 07 2008. This is a tribute article to all my female colleagues, friends and MOST IMPORTANTLY my MOTHER Dr Gulshan Ara who is the real life example of 'The Woman of Substance' to me....Maa i love you
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