Seven-year-old Zubair lives with his parents, grandmother and four brothers and sisters in a railroad slum near Malibag railway station in southern Dhaka.
Zubair’s family originally lived in Faridpur District, southwest of Dhaka, but lost their home in 2020 due to the flooding of the Padma River, a tributary of the Ganges. For this reason, the family moved to Dhaka and began living in a slum along the railroad tracks.
Zubair’s father is a construction worker and his mother works as a housekeeper. Her household income is about 25,000 yen, which is all she can do to cover medical expenses, school fees, and rent. Still, Zubair’s parents are working hard to support their children’s studies and the family budget.
Zubair attends the TCM Shishnir School, which is run by the TCM Foundation, a partner school of the GENKI program. Many of the 88 children attending this school live in slums along the railroad tracks, like Zubair.
Zubair walks about 15 minutes on the railroad tracks to get to the school. Commuting along the railroad tracks is not easy. There are no railroad crossings or safety fences like in Japan, and trains may suddenly pass while walking on the tracks. Children have no choice but to be careful and go to school.
Zubair’s family chose the school for him not only because it was close to home, but also because they provided textbooks, school bags, and meals such as Euglena cookies.
Zubair loves school. His favorite subject is Japanese, and he is enthusiastic about studying. The teachers also want to help Zubair, who is studying hard. It seems that Mr. Zubair has been exempted from school fees in recognition of his efforts.
During break time, children gather with their friends and spend time playing hand games that everyone can enjoy, even if there is no large playground.
Zubair’s dream is to become a teacher. I was influenced by the personalities and behavior of the teachers at the school, and I began to admire them. When Zubair misses school or becomes ill, the teachers visit him at his house. Mr. Zubair thought that the behavior of the teachers who communicated with the children both inside and outside the school was attractive.
Zubair’s parents also hope that he will become a good teacher and live peacefully in a good environment.
Zubair told us about his dream of becoming his teacher. “My father and mother are working hard. That is why I want to become a teacher and do a job that I am proud of.
The GENKI program will continue to support children.
2. Participation of new co-sponsoring partner companies
The GENKI program uses a portion of the product sales of the Euglena Group and partner companies as sponsorship money. As of the end of February 2023, 12 partner companies have participated, and have contributed 10 yen for each target product sold. And this time, from April 2023, Essence Co., Ltd. will newly participate as a partner company.
The following comments were received from Tomoko Yasunaga, Representative Director, when we started sponsoring the GENKI program.
“Essence Co., Ltd. went to France in 2016, and everything started with an encounter with Ms. Sandrine Dahan, the representative of SKINHAPTICS, a perinatal skin care brand. With the desire to spread these to Japanese women, we set up the corporate philosophy of [making Under Lip Treatment ® a Japanese culture] and founded in 2018. Under Lip Treatment ® is a new fem care advocated by our company.
If Japanese women can acquire this way of being and care, they will be able to lead a fulfilling life every day and be satisfied with their mind and body.And what we want to protect is ” These are women who live in the present and children who live in the future.Euglena Co., Ltd.’s “We want to find a source of nutrition so that children in Bangladesh who are malnourished due to lack of necessary nutrients can live a healthy life.” I sympathized with the founding philosophy of GENKI, and by doing my best to cooperate with this GENKI program, I decided to participate in the hope of saving the children who will live in the future.”
We will continue to strive to expand the GENKI program with the support of our partner companies.