Leelarani Das lost her husband 14 years ago when her second son was just seven months old. Her husband worked in the Bangladesh army. Leelarani is convinced that he was killed by his colleagues but conspired to make it look like suicide. Besides suffering the loss of her husband she was refused financial support from the government. Unwanted and abused by her husband’s family, too, she was forced to return to her father’s home with her two sons.

“I have many stories of change” she says, “I first heard about the ‘We Can’ campaign at another village when some people were discussing it. I wanted to bring the campaign to my own village of Badukhali. I have. Since then I have worked with more than 45 families and my family is very supportive of this work although initially they were hesitant.”

“My husband’s younger brother and his friends tried to take advantage of me after my husband’s death. It was very difficult. But I remained strong. I want to start a movement to allow Hindu widows to remarry. The community should support widows and arrange marriages for them because in reality widows have nowhere to go or no one to rely on. I was lucky because my father is there for me; until he is with me I have support. Everyone is not so lucky. According to Hindu law, the daughters cannot inherit their father’s land or property or get anything for that matter. From the in-laws side, if the daughter-in-law has sons then she is eligible to inherit. But if the father-in-law dies after his son, she is denied all rights. This is why I got no support from my in-laws.”

“I will continue working for this cause for the rest of my life. My work will survive even if there are no organisations to facilitate it.” Leelarani supports her family with what she earns as a teacher at the temple school. Both her sons are studying and support her in her work.