The Beginning

Nearly 50% of the population in Bromley by Bow have their origins in the Sylhet region of Bangladesh, so there have always been strong links between the two areas. As a result, many of those involved in community work at the Bromley by Bow Centre (www.bbbc.org.uk) want to have a first hand experience of Bangladeshis and their culture.

In 2008 a team of young people, artists, community workers, clinicians and church members visited Bangladesh. After meeting with people in Juri, a small sub district in Moulvibazar district, the vision of a health partnership was born. Juri is the hometown of one of the Board members of Proshanti. The visitors stayed for a few days in local homes, taught in local schools and had an exciting time mingling with the friendly community.

But during those exciting few days, the visitors also got to know some of the challenges the community was struggling with. The visiting team were overwhelmed by the resilience, simplicity and the warmth of the community, as well as the beauty of the countryside. But they were also struck by the poverty, malnutrition, high levels of child mortality and inadequate number of doctors and teachers.  In particular they were concerned by the lack of health services for women and, even though there was traditional home based care as well as local hospitals, there was very little care for the poorest women.

Working with the local community, the visitors agreed to set up additional quality health assistance and training to complement the existing local health services. Over the next few months Proshanti was born. Proshanti UK is now a registered charity (registration number 1137179) and is a company limited by guarantee (registered in England and Wales, registration number 7108914).