The above photo of the school looks at first glance to be paradise itself. However, the living conditions in Bangladesh are very much far from that. To quote Doris Kabir who says “I have seen people sleeping under plastic sheeting and children eating rotten apples out of the gutters, in which others have urinated”.

Opinions on the state of the country vary and statistics differ. But what is absolutely certain is the fact that Bangladesh is overpopulated. In 1951 the population of Bangladesh was only 44 million, now it has reached 142 million (2011 census results). It is also the most densely populated large country in the world, and it ranks as 11th in population density, when the very small countries and city-states are included. A striking contrast is offered by Russia which has a slightly smaller population spread over a land area that is 120 times larger than Bangladesh. However, the population growth rate has slowed down and the total fertility rate (number of children born per female) went down from 7 in 1979 to 2.5 in 2009 (Wikipedia). 

Illiteracy is very high especially amongst women. The people in Bangladesh have far more children than they really want. Due to poverty and lack of education many women do not have access to safe and effective methods of family planning (source: Wikipedia). Women’s education is an important key to fighting poverty and overpopulation.

Doris Kabir says "I have experienced at first hand how poor families have handed over their 6-8 year old daughters to richer families for work, were subjected to their whims and physical violence, cooking from morning until late into the night, cleaning and shopping, like modern slaves. For me the only way to break this cycle is education!!!” 

We are very proud that 80 percent of the pupils involved in our school project are girls. The school offers practical subjects especially for girls. The pupils are taught gardening, sewing and similar subjects, an all-round approach.

The country is often hit by natural catastrophes. Bangladesh is made up of the deltas of the Brahmaputra, Ganges und Meghna Rivers. It is a low lying flat area infused with waterways which is often threatened with severe flooding; the rivers often swell up with the large amounts of water coming down off the Himalayan Mountains. The capital Dhaka lies only six metres above sea level (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangladesh). Afforestation projects provide an important part of international development cooperation.

Around 90 % of the population are Islamist, followed by Hinduism which is around 9 % and Buddhism which is less than 1 %. Islam is laid down as a state religion. Despite this, however, the freedom of religion is mentioned in the constitution. Only 0.3 % of the population are Christian (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangladesh). In the mountain region – Chittagong Hill Tracts – even natural religious groups exist. Following much religious persecution and emigration in the last century the cooperation between religions has improved and would now be said to be peaceful.