In southern Bangladesh, communities in remote villages have little to no access to the internet. In these hard-to-reach places, even national newspapers are seldom seen. As a result, villagers are cut off from their neighbours, the rest of the country, and the world.
But in the village of Shonathala in the southern district of Patuakhali, where the houses are made of tin and the dusty roads become knee-deep in mud during the monsoon season, Hasan Parvez, 43, has worked to promote the voices of local people by publishing a community newspaper, which he writes entirely by hand.
Without the means to type his stories on a computer and to keep costs low, Mr Parvez handwrites the stories he gathers to publish in his bi-monthly, four-page newspaper called Andharmanik.
His primary goalis to spread hope and positivity while also highlighting the area’s challenges to help find solutions.
“My community newspaper is mainly read by farmers, sharing stories that matter to them,” Mr Parvez says. “For example, one story might tell how a farmer from a nearby village had great success with lentil farming. These stories help inform other farmers.”
He named the newspaper after the Andharmanik River, which flows through southern Bangladesh. Its name roughly translates to “gem in the dark”, and its life-giving qualities are the reasons why Mr Parvez named his newspaper after it.
As well as going out himself to find stories, Mr Parvez has a team of about 20 volunteers made up of farmers, fishermen, traders, seamstresses and housewives from the village and surrounding areas who give him news tips about their communities. Mr Parvez refers to them as reporters.
Once a month, Mr Parvez meets the reporters to discuss their stories before he decides what makes the front page.
Some of the stories have made national news and even prompted major change. After Mr Parvez reported that his village had no network tower, leaving people unable to use their phones because of the limited connectivity, word spread to a Bangladeshi communications company that subsequently set one up in his area.
In another report, he wrote about a sluice gate that had collapsed, causing saltwater to flood arable land. The local authority fixed the gate after the story was brought to its attention.
One of Mr Parvez’s biggest stories was that of a young girl called Rubina, who was made homeless after her father drowned while deep-sea fishing. Rubina, her mother and grandmother had to beg to survive.
“The image of Rubina desperately trying to care for her mother stayed with me,” Mr Parvez said.
The story was picked up by the popular Bangladeshi television show Ittadi and local officials stepped in to provide the family with support. “Young Rubina didn’t have to beg anymore,” Mr Parvez said.
Mr Parvez understands the struggles of making ends meet in Bangladesh’s coastal regions, where poverty is widespread.
From a young age, Mr Parvez took on odd jobs to support himself such as tilling the fields or fishing, but he also enjoyed writing songs and poems. “It was a habit of mine,” he said.
The idea to publish a handwritten newspaper came in 2016 after he met Bangladeshi independent journalist Rafiqul Montu as he made his way home after a day of fishing. Mr Parvez struck up a conversation with Mr Montu and invited him to read his work.
“I brought out a jute sack filled with papers … he looked through them and complimented my handwriting,” said Mr Pavez. “He asked me about my dreams, and I replied that having my work published would mean the world to me.”
Mr Montu encouraged him to practise writing reports that focused on human crises, possibilities and positive news, and in May 2019, the first edition of Andharmanik was launched. Mr Montu, who continues to mentor Mr Parvez, hopes to repeat this success in nine other coastal areas.
“I think this is an important tool for the voices of the marginalised people of the coast to reach the mainstream newspapers,” Mr Montu said.
Progress has been slow, however, due to technological obstacles and low literacy rates in rural regions of southern Bangladesh. In some areas the newspapers were closed after a few editions, Mr Montu said, while in others, not a single issue was published. Some areas are so remote that there is no feasible way to print the newspaper.
“However, my efforts continue,” he added. “One of the reasons why Hasan Parvez is successful is his dedication. Despite being a labourer, he has a strong inclination towards writing.”
Describing the production process, Mr Parvez begins by typing out the headline on A3paper at an internet cafe, and writes the rest of the content with a pen.
He then travels more than five miles to the nearest town to print 300 copies from a Xerox machine. After folding the pages, he binds them with a green paper strip and glues them all together.
“I let the papers dry in the sun,” he said. “When they’re ready, I can finally deliver them to my readers, hoping they find value in what I’ve put together.”
He delivers the papers from home to home and distributes them at tea stalls, grocery shops and vegetable markets. The newspaper can be bought for 10 taka [about 7p] which covers production and transportation costs, but Mr Parvez gives them away for free to those unable to afford it.
Mr Parvez does this without making any money for himself, saying the sheer joy of seeing his work being shared far and wide is reward enough.
When asked what he hoped for in the future, he said: “As long as I live I will continue writing this paper with my hand, it is a promise I have made to myself and to my mentor [Mr Montu].
“My biggest wish would be for the paper to continue after I am gone, and to have a positive impact on the people around me.”
With Usraat Fahmidah
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