I
come from Dhaka, capital city of Bangladesh where I used to live with my
family, parents and sisters and was engaged as a lecturer in the department of
Architecture in a private University. I grew up observing my parents’
aspiration for education and their perseverance as government servants. My
father retired from his service as the director of Housing and Building
Research Institute (HBRI) this year and my mother is engaged as an associate
professor in a public medical college. I am the eldest among my siblings and growing
up in a family that prioritizes education. Three of us has developed an urge
for higher studies and career success as well.
I graduated in
2012 from a public university in architecture which was situated in a different
city and being distant from my family I learned to live by myself and cope with
all the odds. Returning home upon completion of B Arch, towards the beginning
of my career as an architect, I found myself ensnared in such a milieu where an
average architect’s role was devoured into excessive commercialization of
architecture unequivocally belonging to the aristocrats of the society. I
realized, the scope to work for the wider community would be my salvation. I
decided to remain in academic arena where I could engage myself in research to
find ways to impact people’s lives. The challenge of housing scarcity in the context
of growing population and climate change shaped my career interest greatly. I
have observed that Bangladesh govt. and international organizations have funds for
development but most of the projects often fail to address the long term
betterment of people’s lives as it tend to expect immediate outcomes. Moreover,
both in personal and career life I have
observed the challenges of women, and their invisible role toward our society
has also influenced me to want to advocate for them. These realizations made me
look for broader aspects of lives and provided me with an urge to step out
globally to understand how the whole world is dealing with the struggles. This
is when I decided to study urban planning and pursue higher degree abroad.
To aspire to
follow own dreams for a woman from the global south is a challenge indeed and
the Fulbright award has provided me the opportunity to live my dreams. My
acceptance by the DKG world fellowship program provided me with not just
financial assistances but more with high hopes and confidence to dare to dream
and go for it. I am personally motivated especially for being accepted by a women’s
organization as I look forward to represent world’s women. I aspire to stand by
women of the world to empower them to live their dreams; I want to work for the
world to become a place without disparity of race and gender; I dream of
representing women, and the world fellowship program by accepting me as their
grantee has incepted more confidence in myself by proving that I am worthy. At
present I am a graduate student at University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign in
department of Urban & Regional Planning where I am concentrating on the
sphere of housing, race & gender, refugee settlements etc. I plan to pursue
PhD following my master’s and continue teaching in the University as well as
research endeavors back in Bangladesh. I dream of working the UN someday and continue
to serve for humanity.
