Rina (19) is a hygiene promotion volunteer for the Uttaran Wash project funded by WHH and AA at Bhasan Char. As a Rohingya girl, she lives in Cluster 51 with her parents and three brothers. After an interview with the Care & Maintenance Officer (CMO) of the CiC Office at Bhasan Char and Uttaran field staff, she was recruited. Before starting her work, Rina received extensive training from Uttaran-WHH, including theoretical and practical hygiene promotion aspects.

“My workplace is in Cluster-60, and every day, I walk to the field directly from my house at 8:30 am. I divide my activities among six houses. As I conduct hygiene promotion activities, my work duties consist of visits to households to identify and address any hygiene-related issues and checking the wash hardware to ensure functionality and cleanliness.” Rina shares her daily routine.

There are eight hygiene promotion volunteers who work in four clusters, and Rina is one of them. Making a healthy environment and disease-free life by changing the behaviour of the community people is the main target of hygiene promotion activities. For example, by conducting handwashing sessions with soap and water, Rina educates people on how clean hands save us from several diseases.

Abul Hasan, the Hygiene Assistant of Uttaran-WHH, briefed the role and responsibilities of a hygiene volunteer, “Changing the behaviour of humans is one of the most difficult tasks in the world. So, the task of a hygiene volunteer is quite challenging. However, volunteers are trained in different methods to communicate at the household level with the individuals directly.” By doing a session on ‘Food Hygiene’, Rina shares the importance of having safe, healthy, and fresh food. In a session on Solid Waste Management (SWM) with practical by segregated organic-inorganic wastes and pair bins, Rina makes the people understand the proper disposal of waste to keep the environment clean and healthy. Every month, the Cluster Cleaning Campaign (CCC) is organized by the hygiene team with the participation of community people to clean the whole cluster.

While checking the conditions of the wash hardware, if Rina finds any reports to repair, she sends them via WhatsApp and Kobo Collect. The repair team collects the data and repairs it immediately. When Rina sees any dirty, unclean area, she mobilizes the people to clean it. She also monitors the toilets and bathing cubicles to ensure cleanliness and hygienic condition. Besides the regular work, Rina supports the team if any other activity needs to be done, like surveys, distribution, day observation, etc.

“As a Rohingya, it is a prestigious job for me to work with Uttaran-WHH. I am learning every day and trying my best to do my job fruitfully by improving the behaviour of the people to make a better society. I wish to return to my country one day and to do so, I want to be more confident, educated, empowered, and skilled. I believe that working at Uttaran-WHH will help me achieve my targets. I am so grateful for having this opportunity here,” Rina shares.

In the chaos of Bhasan Char, Rina stands not as a hero but as a force for good, shaping destinies with every stride. Hers is not just a story; it’s a simple tale of resilience echoing through the challenges of life.