Niagara Volunteers for Bangladesh
OPIRG, Feminist Action Collective and Amnesty International Present:
A Presentation by: Niagara Volunteers for Bangladesh
Come and Listen to these wonderful community members, who work with marginalized groups in Bangladesh. Their work includes projects with ‘untouchables’, the tiger widows of the Sundarban and water filtration projects to imrpove drinking water among many other projects.
Location: Thistle 241
Date: Monday October 25, 2010
Time: 7-9
Tiger Widows of the Forest
NVfB has partnered with a local Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) to ensure the livelihood and security of the Tiger Widows of the Sundarbans Mangrove Forest. This forest is the last refuge of the Royal Bengal tiger and as the largest mangrove forest in the world, it is an important source of livelihood for local villagers. Approximately 200 labourers are killed each year and numerous others are severely injured by the tigers while foraging in the forest, leaving large numbers of Tiger Widows and their children destitute.
Tiger Widows are blamed for these deaths and stigmatized as the bringers of misfortune. They and their children are shunned by the rest of the community. Their children cannot attend school as they are now needed to help catch fish to feed the family.
The project’s goal is to uphold the human rights of the Tiger Widows and to ensure food security, increase access to economic opportunities and social services. The staff are organizing the Tiger Widows to develop their skills to earn a livelihood and working with the village leaders to remove the stigma
