Mayisha flooded with offers of help

Sudip Kumar Chakraborty, superintendent of police in Bogura district, gives financial assistance and gifts to Mayisha Farah at the conference room of his office on Tuesday.
Prothom Alo

Many people have come forward to give Mayisha Farah a helping hand in times of need as she lost both her husband and job amidst the coronavirus pandemic.

Sudip Kumar Chakraborty, superintendent of police in Bogura district, announced the decision to provide all support for Mayisha and her family. Many people have provided immediate financial assistance.

Prothom Alo published a report titled “From a teacher to a cleaner, Covid hits Mayisha hard” on Tuesday.

The report came to Sudip Kumar Chakraborty’s notice. He then called Mayisha Farah, her elderly father Rostom Ali, 82, and her retired schoolteacher mother Neknur Khatun to the conference room of his office on Tuesday noon where the police official announced the decision to take responsibility for the family on behalf of the district police. He also handed over Tk 20,000 and various gifts to the family as a token of humanitarian assistance.

Speaking to Prothom Alo, Sudip Kumar Chakraborty said the Prothom Alo report showed how Mayisha has been fallen into trouble again and again and her life turned upside down but she never conceded defeat. It’s the district police’s moral duty to stand by that family. Mayisha needs a decent job. If possible, she would be offered a job in the police as per her educational qualifications. If not, the arrangement would be made to help her establish a decent livelihood with a job elsewhere.

Mayisha Farah with her two daughters and parents.
Prothom Alo

Besides, Parimal Prashad, general secretary of Bogura’s Rajabajar Warehouse Owners and Traders Association, gave food assistance to Mayisha and cash assistance to buy milk for her baby daughter.

Wishing to remain anonymous, a person from the capital Dhaka said Mayisha was provided with financial assistance worth Tk 100,000. Other than this, a university teacher gave Tk 10,000, Fresh Group Tk 10,000, teacher of Shaheed Ziaur Rahman Medical College Abdul Aziz Tk 5,000, employees of private television channel NTV Tk 13,000 and three anonymous persons gave Tk 13,000 to Mayisha plus another person gifted her a mobile phone. Supermarket chain Shwapno offered her a job.

Mayisha took a teaching job at a private kindergarten in Bogura after completing her bachelor degree. She lost her job when all the educational institutions were shut in March last year. Her husband, Matiur Rahman, 29, died of Covid-19 in December last year. With a five-year-old and a two-and-a-half-year-old daughters and elderly parents, she was found herself in a state of utter destitution.

She even had begged on the streets to feed her children. She took a delivery job for online orders at a departmental store in Bogura city last March. She used to earn, on average, Tk 150 daily after delivering goods to people’s houses on foot. But she lost her job as online sales fell due to lifting Covid-19 restrictions during Ramadan. Lastly, she got a job as a cleaner at Akboria Limited in Bogura. Mayisha lives with her family in a rented house in Bogura city’s Nataipara area.

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