Mati Bangladesh - Self-directed community development
Who we are
MATI ("earth") is a small development organization, which operates in one of the poorest countries in Asia, in Bangladesh.
The Germans and Bangladeshis established Mati in 1997 jointly.
A relationship which has proven itself up to now due to the collaboration with German
Donors. Lenen and Andrea Rahaman, a German-Bengali couple that built MATI and that leads the project locally has adopted Freiburg as their German home.
The Mati projects are located in northern Bangladesh, where we are working at four sites. The headquarter is located in the town of Mymensingh. Other branches are located in villages in the range of 60 km around. The northern part of Bangladesh is structurally neglected. That`s why 80% of the people in the rural area live below the poverty line.
What do we do
We seek proximity to the poorest of the poor and therefore work in close partnership with them. They know best their problems and have concrete ideas about what they really need. Together we develop our projects, use indigenous knowledge, local resources and appropriately adapted technologies.
Lack of money as a result of unemployment and underemployment results in more than one third of the population to chronic malnutrition. Lack of educational opportunities and poor medical care keep people trapped in poverty. Many households are over-indebted.
We help people to help themselves and also help those who can`t help themselves. Our work is mainly focused on basic health advice, providing education / training / education and supporting measures that generate income. While doing this we turn our attention to the socially most disadvantaged women and girls.
Health and Nutrition
Our clinic is open to people who can`t afford a doctor. Especially women and children are often not treated because the scarce budgetary situation of the family does not permit this. Our clinic treats about 200 emergency cases per month and gives financial support to much needed surgery in the hospital. The nurse also visits the villages where we work regularly because for many families even the 60 cents fare to the city are too much, since this is half a day income.
To improve the health situation also requires a sufficient, balanced diet. Our vegetable garden project supplements the standard dish "rice with salt" with essential vitamins. As such the women use the sparse land around their homes to feed their families and in addition can generate a small income with the sale of vegetables.
Interest-free loans
With interest-free loans for women, we support income-generating activities, e.g. we help with the purchase of cows, goats and chickens, or with starting a small nursery.
Education
Since 1999, MATI has built a primary school in the village of Huzurikanda which is geared to the needs of the poor and provides free education for 300 children from surrounding small farmers and day laborers families. These families could otherwise not afford to send their children to school. Since many families chronically suffer hunger, the children also receive a free warm meal at school.
The teachers originate mainly from rural conditions and therefore are well suited to understand the living conditions of the children.
The future lies on the way to school.
For children from poor families education is still a very expensive commodity. Therefore Mati supports these children with the help of sponsors, who have expressed their willingness to take on the cost of education of a child, and as such enable him or her to attend a secondary school. This sponsorship especially protects girls against too early marriage.
Training
Furthermore Mati offers training programs in various areas: sewing and computer courses, agricultural training, accounting and carpentry. High in demand by women is the sewing training because they can work with a sewing machine from home and as such can generate an income still caring about the children and housework.
You can support the following MATI projects via the foundation “Stiftung 100”:
• The MATI ambulance enables basic health care to poor people. € 100 euros finance the medications needed for a month. The primary care of a patient in average costs 50 cents. With a higher amount of donations we can finance much-needed operations.
• With 50 euros you fund for one child the schooling for one year at the school of MATI, and thus contribute to the fact that it does not have to work in exploitative conditions, or girls are married off early.
• With 120 euros annually you commit to a school sponsorship for a girl to secure her education, and to protect her from premature marriage.
• With 150 euros you fund a sewing training course for a woman, incl. sewing machine that she takes home at the end of the course to earn an additional income for her family.
Please indicate on your bank transfer the relevant project keyword, e.g. "MATI Ambulanz (Mati ambulance)” or “MATI Schule (Mati school)” or “MATI Patenschaft (Mati sponsorship)”, or “Mati Nähausbildung (MATI-Sewing Training)" so that we can allocate the donation.
The following are the details of the donation account of the foundation “Stiftung 100”:
Stiftung 100 * Account number: 7918 9351 00 BLZ: 430 609 67 * GLS Bank
IBAN: DE66 4306 0967 7918 9351 00 * BIC GENODEM1GLS
(Please note that we need your address for the shipping of donation receipts that allow tax deduction. Please send us an email or put a respective entry on the bank transfer sheet, if we don`t know your address. Thank you.)
Stiftung100 * Freiburgerstr. 27 * 79279 Vörstetten
Phone +49 (0) 7666 8839909 * Mobile: +49 (0) 171 30 96 138
stefan.naundorf(at)stiftung100.de * www.stiftung100.de
About MATI: www.matibangladesh.org / requests: mati(at)matibangladesh.org