Fulbanu does not remember exactly how old she is, but she knows she is definitely in her nineties. Fulbanu is the mother of eight and lives with one of her daughters in a slum in Hazaribagh, west of Dhaka city in Bangladesh. Like most people in her neighborhood, Fulbanu and her daughter struggle with having enough food to eat almost every single day.
Fulbanu says that once her life was easier. But in 1965 Fulbanu’s husband left home on a fishing trip and was killed by a group of men who were trying to rob him. With eight children at home and no husband, life became a struggle for Fulbanu and has been one ever since.
Now that her children are grown, most have moved out of the slum and into better areas, except for her eldest daughter, who tries to care and provide for her ailing mother.
Fulbanu would visit the Zakat Foundation of America office in Bangladesh for the food program that provides local residents with free meals. While visiting the Zakat Foundation of America Bangladesh Office, Zakat Foundation of America health workers noticed that Falbanu was not getting the medical attention that she needed so they decided to help her. Fulbanu now receives medical care through one of our free clinics and is getting the mental and physical care she needs.
“To me life is unbearable,” says Fulbanu. “It is very wonderful that I can get free treatment from Zakat Foundation of America clinic and also get food from them. May Allah give them great reward for that.”
With the support of generous donors like you, Zakat Foundation of America is able to help people around the world who are desperately in need.