Meet BRAC Scholarship Program Student: Depthi Khatun, Part 4/5

This post is part 4 of a 5 part series, in which BRAC volunteer Nilopar Uddin tells the stories of three of this year’s BRAC Scholarship program students. Each student, with BRAC’s support, has succeeded in securing a place at India’s top Rajastan University and is preparing to embark on an exciting and ultimately life-changing journey, led by the power of education.

Depthi and her mother

Depthi is 19 years old and she plans on studying accounting at Rajastan University. Of the three students I met, she is by far the poorest. In fact there were no roads that led to her house, only a mud path and as a result we walked almost 8.5 km round trip to see her. As I walked, feeling grumpier as every kilometer passed, it suddenly occurred to me that she must make this challenging journey to school every day, even in the monsoon rains. Needless to say, my grumpiness was stopped in its tracks.

Her mother was cooking a leafy vegetable based brew outside on a mud stove when I arrived. Depthi and her mother had been deserted by Depthi’s father years earlier. After he sold their home and gave much of the proceeds to Depthi’s sisters, both Depthi and her mother were forced to move in with them. With little means of income generation, they now depended on the little support that Depthi’s sister’s husband, a day laborer, could provide.

During my visit Depthi and her mother seemed very shy. The struggles of their daily life were apparent all around us, but Depthi's mom told us that she hoped Depthi used this opportunity to do very well for herself. After learning more about BRAC's Scholarship program and its amazing participants, I am confident this will be the case.