Keys to homes, hopes of a fresh start for 100 flood-hit families

For widow Sajeda Begum, the key to a new home means more than a roof over her head – it means an end to the uncertainty that has haunted her family since floods destroyed their only shelter.
Clutching the key and standing beside her six children, Sajeda struggled to hold back tears as she looked at the new tin-roofed house in Ilsha village of Banshkhali upazila on Sunday.
Just weeks earlier, her home had collapsed after days of heavy rain triggered severe flooding in the area, leaving her with nowhere to live and no idea how she would rebuild her life.
Prime Minister Tarique Rahman handed Sajeda the key at a relief and rehabilitation programme for flood victims in Banshkhali.
“My husband died in 2018. I had been struggling to raise my six children with help from relatives. Then the flood took away the only home we had,” Sajeda told this correspondent after receiving the key.
“I did not know where we would live or what we would eat. At least now, I have a place where my children and I can live safely,” she said.
For Sajeda, the new home offers something immediate and precious: a safe place where her children can sleep and a chance to start rebuilding their lives.
New hope for Joynab’s education
Her eldest daughter, Joynab Bibi, is sitting for her HSC examinations this year. But after the family lost their home, continuing her studies became uncertain.
Her books, lack of a proper place to study and the family’s precarious situation all weighed heavily on her.
Sajeda said she raised the matter when she met the prime minister on Sunday. Tarique encouraged Joynab to continue her studies and assured her that she would be considered for a government job after completing 
her education, she said.
 For a mother struggling to rebuild her family, the assurance about her daughter’s future meant as much as the new house.
Sajeda also received Tk15,000 in cash, along with ducks and chickens to help her earn a living.
She was among 100 flood-affected families from Banshkhali municipality and nine unions who received new homes from the prime minister.
Each house measures 18 feet by 12 feet and has two rooms and an attached 5ft by 5ft toilet.
‘It feels like a chance to start again’
Abdul Alim of Ratnapur was another recipient. The flood destroyed his home, leaving him without the means to rebuild it.
“I could not afford to build a new house on my own. Holding the key today feels like I have been given another chance to start again,” he said.
“At least now my family has a safe place to live. I am grateful to the prime minister who stood beside us,” Alim added.
For residents of the coastal upazila, however, new homes and relief are only part of what they need. Their bigger demand is a lasting solution to Banshkhali’s long-standing problems with damaged embankments and waterlogging.
“We have two other major problems – weak embankments and prolonged waterlogging,” said local schoolteacher Md Rafiqul Islam.
“The prime minister has seen the situation himself today. We hope there will now be a permanent solution,” he said.
The prime minister, in his speech at the “House Hand Over, Donation and Relief Material Distribution Programme”, assured residents that the much-needed embankment would be constructed under development initiatives for the upazila.
He also distributed relief among flood-affected people, handed over keys to new homes to 100 homeless families and provided financial assistance to 15 people, including children with disabilities.