The year was 2021, and the Women-friendly Space (WFS) was finally opening its doors to the Ukhiya host community. Among the first to step through was a woman named Farida.
Her journey to the facility was different from others. Farida, who lives with a physical disability, initially relied on local transport to make the journey to the WFS, at least four times a month—always accompanied by a WFS volunteer.
A year passed soon, and not once did she miss a visit.
Farida, aged 38, lacked the means to buy a wheelchair, but in 2022, she was provided one from the WFS, making “a world of difference” in her own words. She has been using her wheelchair to visit the facility ever since.
It was a sense of alienation that brought her to the WFS first, and then an absence of it that drove her to return again and again.
“I used to spend most of my time alone and had no one to talk to,” she recalled. “My world was quite small, confined to my house, and my family situation was not exactly great.”
More than the skills she honed, or the wheelchair that gave her a new lease on life, it was the friendships she built that continue to draw her back to the WFS.
A fun-loving person, Farida fondly speaks of her friends – Luna, Sohela and Nazifa, who visit her even on the weeks that she cannot make it to the centre.
Farida recalled that she always had a knack for sewing and could easily mend a rip even as a young girl. But her talents truly blossomed when she learned to expertly craft family-sized blankets, artisan hand-held fans and intricate embroidery at the WFS. Sewing helps her “unwind and take a break from her surroundings,” Farida confided.
When she spoke of the future of WFS, a knowing smile flickered across her face. "They'll need more," Farida said softly and with conviction.
"More sewing machines, more computers, more wheelchairs – there will be more and more women coming in, you see."
The conviction in her voice left no room for doubt in anyone who heard her.
With World Bank’s funding and UNFPA's technical support, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare launched the Health and Gender Support Project in 2021.
Through this project, UNFPA is supporting the day-to-day operationalization of 35 Women-friendly Spaces in Cox’s Bazar, bringing vital support and resources to 188,000 women and girls for the first time.
