Seventy children live in the Char Fasson Orphanage. All of the boys are orphans of poverty. Some of them have lost both of their parents and some just their fathers, who typically are the family’s financial support. Some still have both parents, but due to their extreme poverty, the boys are accepted into the orphanage. For all the boys, the orphanage is the only thing between them and exploitative child labor or starvation.
Facilities
In 2006 the orphanage’s main building was condemned as unsafe and the children were moved into two sheds on the property. Because of the limited space, they must sleep two to a single bed. The beds are placed immediately adjacent to each other without separation and only a narrow “pathway” to maneuver around the small room. There is no door to lock against intruders or windows to protect them from inclement weather. They have no running water. They wash their dishes and obtain their drinking water from a hand pumped well. They bathe in a pond. Seventy boys share five in-ground latrines for toileting. Their meals consist of only two scoops of watery rice with one scoop of vegetables, three times a day, barely enough nutrition to sustain health and not enough for good growth. But, although the conditions are deplorable, the boys are extremely grateful for the little they have for they know that without the orphanage their lives would be much worse.
Education and Activities
All of the resident boys are required to attend school and they are grateful for the opportunity to do so. They take their education quite seriously and study every evening after dinner, often without suitable lighting because of lack of sufficient electricity in the area. It has been reported by the administration that about half of the boys go on to attend college (comparable to grades 11 and 12 in the American system) and some have even gone on to university and become successful university lecturers, aid workers, and businessmen.
The boys also work in the gardens where they help to grow their daily sustenance. It is back-breaking work because they have neither machinery nor sophisticated tools, and everything is done by hand. Despite the difficulty of the work, it is done without complaint because they know that they are participating in their own welfare. And at the end of these long days of work and study, they still find the time for sports and play.
Staff
The staff comprises an extremely dedicated group of people, some of whom have worked there for many years. Seraj, the director, was raised in the orphanage and left in 1985 to attend college. He returned in 1990 to work as an English teacher and became the director in 2007. Mozammal is the longest serving employee having worked there since 1972. He works as a guard and helps to care for the cows.
Despite these and other dedicated people there are many who have left due to declining and non-sustainable pay. For example, director Seraj’s current salary is just $64(USD) per month. It is not enough to care for his family of four and each month to make ends meet he is forced to seek money from his father-in-law.
Due to typically long hours and unsteady, meager pay, it is extremely difficult to keep a cook .The cook is vital to the life of the orphanage and will normally work from 6am to 10pm. But even in Bangladesh no one wants to work those kinds of hours for $34 per month, the amount the orphanage can afford to pay.
The orphanage also recently lost their house-mother who was responsible for general housekeeping duties and helping the younger boys with washing their clothes, bathing, and getting ready for school. Now, the older boys must care for themselves as well as for the younger boys.