Marie is a woman of Concern

A PORTRAIT of Smriti, a Bangaladesh girl who was gang raped when she was just 11 years of age, is just one of a number of striking images taken by a Killaloe-based photographer in a new national exhibition, Women of Concern.
International aid agency Concern got three of Ireland’s top photographers to document the daily struggle of women in Bangladesh, Ethiopia and Haiti.
Maria McCallan, who works with Press 22 in Limerick, visited Bangladesh last January, where the organisation has been tackling poverty and depravation since 1972.
Irish Times photographer Brenda Fitzsimons went to Haiti while Dublin Freelance photographer Kim Haughton travelled to Ethiopia.
One of the hardest decision Marie had to make in the project was to select just 12 photographs for the exhibition, which runs until March 21 at the Gallery of Photography in Temple Bar, Dublin.
Smriti’s tragic tale illustrates the horror endured by vulnerable girls in developing countries. Now aged 18, she left her home village of Bhola, 200km from Dhaka, when she was 11-years-old after being tortured by her new step-mother. On her way to the boat station, she was gang raped by four men, however a good man found her and nursed her for four days, gave her money and put her on the boat to Dhaka. However, her troubles were not over.
“She arrived at Dhaka, alone and helpless. She trusted a woman who in turn sold her to a man who was very abusive towards her. She managed to run away but was forced to live on the streets and become a sex worker, as she had no other option,” Marie McCallen explained.
Concern opened the Pavement Dweller Centre 18 months ago. Through the centre, Smriti is no longer a sex worker.
“Concern has negotiated and paid for vocational training for her. She is given three meals a day at the centre and after six weeks, she is guaranteed a job in a garments factory, where she will earn enough money to be able to support herself,” added Marie.
It would normally take a year’s wage to pay for the cost of the training.
“Another woman I met went to Dhaka with her six-year-old child to the market area, which is a crazy place full of noise, rickshaws, buyers and sellers. There are between 15 and 20 million people living in Dhaka City.
“The mother got separated from her child who got lost, was homeless and alone. It was a shocking situation which is quite common in Bangladesh. If it happened in Ireland, it would make headline news for months as to how this could happen. 
Marie was inspired by Liam Burke, who runs Press 22 and recently won an International Development award for his volunteer work on behalf of Concern for the last 20 years.
Marie conducted some research before the trip, but she admits she was shocked by the sheer scale of the poverty of the thousands of ‘pavement dwellers’ who are forced to live and sleep on the streets.
She spent days taking pictures of their daily lives, including going to new centres established by Concern known as Amrao Manush, (We are humans too). Services there include healthcare, storage facilities, savings schemes, job training and literacy skills. The benefits of another education programme ‘Our School’ in Shariatpur was also depicted through photographs.
The biggest worry for parents is their children could be stolen and sold into the sex trade or used as drug mules.
Marie was amazed with the  generousity and dignity displayed by women. “All the women were so hard-working, it blew me away. Cleaners worked day and night for the equivalent of €1 or €1.50, which wouldn’t be enough to feed themselves.
“If they were earning more, they had no where to store the money safely until the Concern centres started, providing secure lockers.
“Women who are living on the streets can’t afford to replace their pots and pans. The whole trip made a massive impact on me. I left with overwhelming positivity. I could see the way women’s lives have been changed through training and counselling,” she said.
Women in Bangladesh don’t have options like Ireland. “A lot of them have to work and be responsible for childcare at a young age.
“Education is the key to escaping poverty. Only one third of women are educated at primary level and the remainder can’t read or write. One of the reasons why women may not be educated is poverty,” she added.
She explained some young girls are married off by their family at the age of 11 or 12 because parents believe it will facilitate a better future for them and will be one less child to feed.
Thanks to the work of Concern, the attendance rate in schools has gone through the roof.
Marie said she would love to return to Bangladesh again. “I met some amazing beautiful people who were very helpful and honest when it came to telling me their stories.
“I loved the project. I met people whose lives were changing for the better. It is great to see where the money raised by Concern is spent,” she said.