Each time a cyclone hit, Lutfa and her children, had to hurry to a cyclone shelter or a relative’s home. While they were able to return home in Bangladesh’s Patuakhali district after a few days, Lutfa felt more stressed. “We didn’t have enough money to repair our house as my husband earned so little,” she said. Her husband Sha Alam Hawlader works as a laborer in the capital city Dhaka, earning 6,000 taka (almost US$70) a month, and returns home every two or three months.
As their old house was cramped, stuffy and dimly lit, Lutfa’s three children struggled to find space to do their homework and study. The constant need to evacuate only made things worse. “My children were not interested in studying,” she said. But her children became more motivated after she built a disaster-resilient home with Habitat for Humanity Bangladesh in November 2021. Her family was among 74 families who rebuilt their homes and lives in a project supported by the Korea International Cooperation Agency’s Humanitarian Assistance program.
“My children set up their study desk inside the house. They can study on the veranda in the day. At night, they can do their schoolwork inside a well-ventilated room. “The house is well ventilated, and my children like it,” said Lutfa. She added, “I want my children to be well-educated and have good jobs in future.”