Expatriate’s voluntary initiative making life easy for Bangladeshi women in France

When a new life begins on unfamiliar foreign streets outside one's mother tongue, an invisible wall arises with every step. On French soil, the voluntary organisation "With the Mind" has emerged as a trusted haven for Bangladeshi women locked in just such a silent struggle.

Spanning three years, this journey of transforming these women into confident individuals amidst the myriad complexities of expatriate life is not merely an institutional success, but a modern fairy tale of a new beginning.

Zahrin Haque Nupur, a former student of the Department of Psychology at the University of Dhaka, is the visionary and president of this organisation. She originally established it out of an urge to untangle the mental health knots of expatriates in a distant land. Yet, as the work unfolded, a harsh reality came to light: the root of their mental exhaustion lay in a profound ignorance of the French language.

To break down this language barrier, Nupur and her companions shifted their entire focus to the difficult yet inevitable arena of language education.

Recalling the early days, Nupur said, "The beginning was by no means easy. Coaxing Bengali women out of their habitual hesitation and solitary corners in an unfamiliar city was an almost impossible challenge."

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Yet, built brick by brick through sheer willpower, the organisation has today grown into a massive family. Currently, more than 450 women are enrolled in various levels of French language courses. At least 62 indomitable women have earned certificates in internationally recognized TCF and DELF exams, empowering them to speak up for their rights in French society.

A conversation with Fulmati Barua, who moved to France from Maheshkhali in Cox's Bazar, reveals how this education has brought a breath of liberation to the lives of hundreds of such women. Fulmati still vividly remembers that nightmarish first month when the kitchen door jammed, filling the apartment with smoke, while her inability to speak French gnawed at her with helplessness.

In Fulmati Barua's words, "Today, I do my own work. I take my children to the doctor. 'With the Mind' has given me all the language skills needed for daily life."

Beyond language education, "With the Mind" has also taken on a pledge to make women economically self-reliant. Through Kanika, who works in a French bakery, several women have already been integrated into the mainstream workforce with specialised training.

From online classes on small Zoom screens to physically organised picnics, workshops, and get-togethers—all these activities allow these expatriate women to rediscover their roots and forge new social bonds.

Furthermore, "With the Mind" is nurturing the seed of the mother tongue with equal care in the minds of the new generation growing up abroad. When Bangladeshi children born or raised in France drift away from their roots amidst surrounding cultures, this organisation works to introduce them to the alphabet and culture of the Bengali language.

With the noble objective of enabling these children to converse in their mother tongue even in a foreign environment and maintain a spiritual connection with Bengal's history and heritage, regular Bengali language training is provided. Driven by the visionary thought of preventing the pull of Bengal from fading in the dust of expatriate life, these women are sheltering the younger generation under the shade of their mother tongue.

Figures such as Tania Tunu, a French city councilor of Bangladeshi descent, have also praised the initiative. In the endless current of expatriate life, "With the Mind" is no longer just a language school, but a living inspiration for Bengali women to stand tall within a centuries-old unfamiliar culture.