Horintana orphanage and pre-school centre in Bangladesh
In the delta of the river Ganges, daily life is a struggle against extreme poverty.
Whole families suffer malnutrition and poor health. Sanitation is poor, shelter is inadequate, clean water is not readily available. There are no health care facilities.
Access to education is limited and anyway, school fees are not a priority for families facing starvation. Instead, most children are hired out as day labour alongside their parents.
Welcome to Horintana
Global Care's work in Horintana is bringing new hope to this community.
As the only NGO in the region, in 2004 we began caring for seven orphans and developed a pre-school.
Today we care for 20 orphans, and our pre-school has 180 pupils from extremely poor families.
We encourage the project to be self-supporting:
A goat scheme helps even the poorest families pay school fees, as well as supplementing income and diet.
The school’s chicken farm provides fresh eggs and income. We hope to develop a fish farm.
Changing attitudes
Children are often viewed as a commodity in this society. We model caring for the orphans holistically, providing food, education, nurture and spiritual development.
We aim to support families with income generation projects community loan schemes and other initiatives to help them become self-sufficient.
Our work in Horintana is still developing.
There is so much more we could do. But we can’t do it alone. Can you help?
For £18 per month, you can give a child a childhood - food, shelter, education and loving care. Sponsor a child at Horintana here.
As the project develops there are so many ways we can make a difference. Your monthly gift of £12 gives us flexibility to reach out further. Become a Project Partner for Horintana here.
One-off gifts allow significant smaller projects to be completed. For example, £250. would provide electricity or buy furniture for classrooms.
There is no other help available in Horintana. Please make a donation here.
The Home of Joy
Poor little Teresa! There were no celebrations when she was born. Instead, she was called 'a disgrace to the village'. In Bangladesh there is little sympathy for single mothers. In desperation, Theresa’s mum brought her to the Home of Joy, near Khulna, as she had heard of the love and care for children there.
Global Care supports the Home of Joy through our child sponsorship scheme.
Here over 70 orphans and abandoned children, living in small 'family' groups, find a place to belong.
We have established a school, also attended by local children. The school has high standards and aims to be the best in Bangladesh!
Scraping a living
Tapon lives in a small hut made of rice leaves. A single room shared with his mother, grandmother, brother and sister.
It barely shelters them - rain turns the floor to mud and everything gets wet. It's hard to sleep, let alone study.
His mother scrapes a living, fishing or cleaning. But often the family goes hungry.
They have just one hope: Tapon attends Global Care’s pre-school in Horintana.
Perhaps through education he can build a better future for his family?
And they have just one resource: a goat. Another gift from Global Care.
It provides nutritious milk and - more importantly - breeds more goats. Already they have three more.
One kid goes back to the goat scheme - to help another family - but they can sell the others. They can pay school fees, they can buy food.
"They are so happy for it," says John Bose, from Global Care's partners in Horintana. "They are so hopeful this goat may change their poverty."
Bangladesh at a glance
- Population: estimated 129 million. 35% living below poverty line.
- One of the world’s poorest, most densely populated, least developed nations.
- National language is Bangla (Bengali).
- State religion is Islam (97%). Religious freedom exists, but is being eroded.
- Frequent loss of life and livelihood because one third of country permanently under water and one third regularly flooded.
- Families often large with 5-7 children. Parents face low wages, exploitation, illiteracy, poverty, malnutrition and ill-health and struggle to provide basic necessities.
- Few government schools available. Children lack clothing, food, school equipment. Parents often fail to value education.