Sadia Alam
Bangladesh National Women Lawyers’ Association
Dhaka, Bangladesh
This summer I will be traveling to a place that I’ve been visiting my entire life: Bangladesh. As a young girl, time spent in Bangladesh always felt like time away from real life, with no school, no worries; just family, food, and fun. Yet, as I got older, my surroundings became more hazy. The situations I was once oblivious toward became too apparent for me to ignore, such as finding out that the young girl who used to play with us just two years ago is now not only married (against her will) but is also expecting a child. Or realizing that the seemingly kind auntie who lives next door is torturing her domestic servant. The bubble that I lived in every time I used to visit Bangladesh has became smaller and smaller as I have become more aware of the many forms of injustice that people are facing there.
As a result, this summer I will be going to Bangladesh with a different mindset. Instead of just offering my empathy toward people who are suffering, I hope to be able to help some of them attain justice. Thus, I will be working with Bangladesh National Woman Lawyers’ Association (BNWLA). BNWLA is an organization that works to create and promote women’s human rights in Bangladesh through policy-level advocacy and free legal aid to women.
I hope to learn how BNWLA’s lawyers are able to empower women to come to them. I find it quite intriguing that the organization is made up of women, who are themselves empowered and brave enough to actively fight for their rights while also protecting the women who come to BNWLA for help. I am not sure if I will be able to help make large-scale policy-level change, but I hope that I can make some difference in the lives of the women who come to the organization. I look forward to seeing how the law can benefit the lives of these women and how laws themselves can be changed as well.