“I like reading the best,” says eight-year-old Babul Miah, as he runs his fingers across a page of Braille. He is a happy and outgoing boy with lots of friends, and it’s clear how much he enjoys school. It is difficult to believe that two years ago his future prospects looked unlikely to amount to more than begging on the street. Babul has been blind since birth. He lives in Purba Syed Nagar village in the Narshingdi District of Bangladesh with his widowed mother Jarina Akhter, his two brothers and two sisters. Babul’s father died last year and now his mother and 16-year-old brother are the only breadwinners in the family. Despite living only five minutes away from Purba Sayed Nagar Primary School, he did not attend school like the other children in his village because the head-teacher did not feel that the school could manage to teach a child who was blind. He has received Braille books, a tailor board and a writing frame to allow him to write.
Check out this story submitted by Arafe from Bangladesh to the Reading Changed My Life Contest. Click here to access all photos and videos submitted to the Reading Changed My Life Photo and Video Contest, and click here to get involved in helping children learn and grow.
Picture of the Week: Babul’s story
Babul shares his story as part of the Reading Changed My Life contest.
January 04, 2013
by GPE Secretariat
|2 minutes read
![Credit:Arafe Credit:Arafe](https://assets.globalpartnership.org/s3fs-public/styles/standard_blog_banner/public/Babuls-story-367x372.jpg?VersionId=q.m3QDj95w668Lt2y5hQVfJiF8jwKU2T&itok=30rFhp8H)