Travelettes of Bangladesh

171,003,868 – that is the current population of Bangladesh, estimated to be around 2.19 % of the world’s total population. Amongst this mass population, the number of females is approximately 84,469,297. As Bangladesh is a male-dominated and underdeveloped country, it is slowly advancing with opportunities for females, in regards to traveling within the country.

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Travelletes of Bangladesh is the first and largest female empowered travel organization of Bangladesh with more than 55,000 female members. Dr.SakiaHaque along with Dr.ManoshiSaha are the proud founders of Travelletes of Bangladesh and have travelled all over the country under the program “NarirChokhe Bangladesh”, with 2 motorbikes. This is the first time that any female has ever done this and as Bangladeshi female, I feel proud of these 2 brave individuals, who beat the prejudice in the society's eyes and against all odds created an organization to empower females through travelling.  

Dr.Sakia always had a strong desire for travelling, to see the beautiful places all around Bangladesh but due to not getting permission from her family, she had to suppress her wishes. Once she got a chance to enter a medical college in Bangladesh her parents became a little lenient. Thus she started looking for a female partner to travel with. Everyone around her would say no to her outmost request due to various reasons, as a result, she started looking for travel buddies internationally by messaging in different Facebook groups. While a lot of people were interested, only one person came through, Corina Tomasschett, a native Swiss. Together they travelled all around Bangladesh for a month. They experienced unique things, stayed on a boat, travelled on top of the bus, cycled around the beach, ate snails.

Discovered hidden springs, stayed with tribal people. Initially, her parents were furious but later they came around as Dr.Sakia had a female partner to travel with. Later Dr.Manoshi joined them towards the end of their trip.   After a while Dr.Sakia thought it was time to bring more people in their circle thus started “Travellets of Bangladesh” by creating a Facebook group to motivate Bangladeshi females to travel and enhanced awareness on travel-related topics such as hotel booking. This organization aspires to educate young females on issues such as menstruation, self-defence, our liberation war, and Bangladesh, by organizing workshops in different districts.      

NarirChokhe Bangladesh

NarirChokhe Bangladesh (Bangladesh through female’s eyes) is a project initiated under Travelletes of Bangladesh in 2017. The main aim of this project was to visit the 64 districts of Bangladesh to spread awareness about female empowerment. Dr.Sakia and Dr.Manoshi along with 4 girls travelled all around this beautiful country, arranging workshops in several districts and talked to around 40,000 young school-going girls regarding several issues concerning female empowerment. She raised awareness about traveling rights of females, their independence, as well as conducting self-defense workshops. Dr.Sakia addressed issues which are a taboo topic in Bangladesh, female menstruation system, and other issues concerning their reproductive system. Their goodwill was featured in several high profile countries such as Italy, Belgium, and France. BBC also created a documentary featuring Travellets of Bangladesh to support their cause.

Achievements:   Travelletes of Bangladesh was also invited to several international problems to represent their organization and confer about female empowerment.

• ZafigoX in Malaysia 2018
• Global Program for women leadership in New Delhi, India, 2019
• ChangeMakerXchange Chine, Hangzhou, China 2019

  They also won Joy Bangla Youth Award 2019. In 2020 Dr.Sakia received the prestigious “ The Diana Award 2020” from Bangladesh for the changes she has made on society.   It is not always easy for Bangladeshi females to travel to any place within the country where their mind desires, as Bangladesh has a conservative society. There is freedom but not all places in Bangladesh is female friendly due to the lack of education among both the genders. Dr.SakiaHaque and Dr.ManoshiSaha have beaten the odds of that and created a female-oriented empowering organization to lift each other and on the process of creating a better future for Bangladesh. Travelletes of Bangladesh have yet to go a long way and they will only be able to fulfil their mission when all females in Bangladesh can travel freely without anything holding them back.   Google Map: Click Here

Written by: Ramisha Rahman  

Reference:  Travelfesto BD, Travel Festival.      

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