Unsung Women Heroes: Sumi’s resolve to help those with disabilities
Shamima Akter Sumi
Shamima Akter Sumi, popularly known as Kabya Sumi Sarker, is a poet and prominent social worker in Mymensingh. Over the years, she has increasingly involved herself with multiple initiatives to support all who need help. I started supporting 32 disabled people at my village, Khaloipura, in Mymensingh s Fulbaria upazila in 2017, said Sumi. It was 2016, when my housemaid, Romicha Khatun, informed me that her five-year-old grandson had disabilities, but she could not manage any government allowance. Then I, with the help a relative, started trying to manage a [government allowance] card meant for people with disabilities. But sadly, the card was managed one and a half years later, and on that same day, the child died. That shocked me so much, she said.