Once, Dola was reading an essay about childhood memories when she asked her mother about her best memories. Her mother said that when a girl gets married at the age of 12-13, there isn’t much joy in remembering a girl’s childhood. This made Dola think very hard. Since then, she has been protecting girls of her community from child marriage and other forms of violence. She is renowned as a child & youth activist. About 12,000 students have learnt about child marriage through campaigns she organized in schools, and more than 700 child marriages have been prevented. Currently, she serves as the secretary for National Child Forum with 1,30,000 members across the country. She effectively collaborates with local administration and different national and international child rights related networks. Through her on-the-field initiatives, she raises awareness about child abuse and child’s rights. Throughout the pandemic, she and her team organized 70+ Facebook Lives, educating over half a million people about children’s rights. She also helped to provide food and medicine to needy families and people during the pandemic. As a result, a total of 45 families received food items and other necessities the pandemic. In the future, she wants to make sure that no child gets married before 18 years of age in Bangladesh. Her ultimate goal is to eradicate child marriage and child abuse forever. She plans to build an app and website, where anyone can file a complaint of child abuse and child marriage at any time and get immediate legal assistance. Dola also wants to educate more than 1 lakh children on self-defence and co-educational activities, by 2025.
