Ms. Arati Modhu

Work

Ms. Arati Modhu was born to a poor family in rural Bangladesh. As a child she helped her family grow vegetables and rice merely to support their family. Her manual labor taught her from an early age the value of caring for the earth and the importance of farming to survive in poverty. Now she is motivated to help others improve their methods of agricultural so they may be more successful in producing their own food along with a bit extra that can be used to bring home some supplemental income.

As the Assistant Director of STAR, a locally founded NGO, Ms. Modhu provides training for rural people in agriculture and animal husbandry. Her background includes working for organizations that aim to empower women and she continues to focus her work on women’s groups. She plans to study more about animal husbandry, especially fish culture at ARI, which she plans to include as a new income generating training program at STAR.  She is also interested in learning more about seed production.

Sending

Organization

The Society for Training and Rehabilitation was founded in 1994 by a group of social workers dedicated to finding new ways to bring their people out of poverty. With a strong emphasis on women and children, approximately 75% of the population served by STAR is adolescent girls. STAR offers educational programs to all people to help improve their self-reliance, focusing mostly on literacy and trade skills. STAR has helped found five centers for the education of children and ten adult education centers. They offer over 20 vocational programs including health and nutrition, sustainable agricultural development, environmental forestry, latrine building and arsenic prevention training. STAR has also developed a revolving loan fund conduct limited micro credit and financing for projects.