Anita Rani Das

Anita Rani Das lives in the village of Rajabari in Muktagacha Upazilla, Mymensingh District. Anita is 30 years old and has been working at JNDP for 6 years.

Anita was married to the late Gopal Chandra Das when she was 15 years old. Gopal was a village doctor from a prominent family, and Anita’s family assumed the marriage would ensure her future security.

After her marriage, Anita discovered Gopal’s true character; her husband had a drinking and drug problem. After two years of marriage, Anita had a son. Gopal was struggling with substance abuse, and as a result he lost his job as a village doctor. As Gopal was jobless Anita, Gopal, and her son moved into Anita’s parent’s family’s house.

Then Anita’s parents sent the family to India to live with Gopal’s parents. In India Gopal recovered from his addictions, began to work again, purchased land, and had a daughter with Anita. This happiness did not last long, and Gopal sold all their land to pay for his addictions. As Gopal’s addictions increased he began to abuse Anita. Anita’s parents-in-law could not control Gopal and feared for Anita’s life; they wrote a letter to Anita’s parents asking them to take Anita back to Bangladesh. Anita’s mother went to India to get Anita and her children, but Gopal came along also. Anita’s parents lost a great amount of money in traveling to and from India and in buying a pharmacy for Gopal during one of his periods of recovery. When Gopal’s addiction returned again, Gopal sold the pharmacy for 60,000 taka and used this money for drinking and drugs.

Gopal became sick, and Anita’s parents sold land for her husband’s treatment. Gopal was suffering for one year of several diseases, and after one year he died. Before Anita’s family had been middle-class, but now they were very poor. Anita had no brother, and she and her two children were a burden to her parents. Then as her parents got older, Anita became the one struggling to provide for her family of old parents and two children. During this time Anita found work at JNDP, and she continues to work there and provide for her parents and her children’s education. Her vision is that her children will become educated. She always prays for JNDP, that they will always have orders.