At the Banasri Brickfield, amidst the dust and heat of endless labour, lives a young woman named Rekha Bibi, just 25 years old, with the quiet strength of a mother and the unwavering resolve of a dreamer. Alongside her husband Chhadam Gain, a 35-year-old loader, she toils each day under the open sky, building a fragile livelihood to support their three children: Julaika (9), a cheerful Class II student; little Manufa (3.5); and playful Alifnur (4.5). All three children are students of our Brickfield School in Banasri.
The family hails from Koijuri village in Swarupnagar, North 24 Parganas. Every year, when the brickfield season ends and production comes to a halt, they return to their village where they sustain themselves through small-scale fishing — a humble but honest trade. Yet, their hearts carry the scars of uncertainty. The nets don’t always fill with fish, and the river cannot always promise a meal.
But something changed when Rekha Bibi and her family encountered the Organic Sack Farming Project through the Brickfield School initiative. With wide eyes and eager hearts, they learned how vegetables could be grown in simple sacks — no land needed, just care, water, and a will to nurture. For the first time, farming didn’t seem like a distant dream tied to owning acres. It became real, accessible… and empowering.
Today, Rekha Bibi dares to dream differently. She imagines her courtyard in ner native village at Koijuri, lined with green sacks filled with life — tomatoes, spinach, chili, brinjal. She dreams of growing enough to feed her children fresh vegetables and even sell the surplus in the local market. The thought of self-reliance and dignity glows in her eyes.
From brick dust to fertile hope, from back-breaking labour to growing life with her own hands — Rekha’s journey is not just one of survival, but of transformation. With sack farming, she is not only planting seeds in the soil, but in the future of her children.
Because even the smallest patch of green can grow the biggest dreams.
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