This post has me tearing up because you're exactly the type of woman I needed at the time I was growing up. Someone who would listen, and do what they can, even if that was just chillin' in their cool big girl apartment for an hour using their toys and electronics to my heart's content. Instead everyone around us did their best to cover up the abuse :') (I'm still close with all my siblings including my brother, thankfully.) I've been thinking lately about what I can do for my community even in my current situation, and this post has got me adding some ideas to the list!
As someone who once went through what they are, I recommend exposing them to blogs/videos/subreddits/tiktoks on life skills, healthy relationships, and basic feminism. I have a complicated relationship with the Internet, but I will admit that I'd be so f**ked without it because I was learning topics on there that schools and parents did not bother to teach me. Such as cooking, budgeting, saving money, keeping myself fit and healthy, how to find a support network, learning skills that would help me earn more money, but also healthy coping methods for living with multiple disabilities (some of which were left thanks to my upbringing), spotting red flags when dating, setting healthy boundaries, learning about safe sex and consent etc. And so, so much more. A lot of people don't realize how the Internet is helping to pull people from poverty and generational curses. They may not need these resources now, but let them know how much someone can learn off the Internet for sure. I can recommend some blogs myself if you want a good start.
Anyways on behalf of my own inner child, thank you so much for being there for these girls 🌻 They will certainly appreciate it when they are older.
SE Asian culture has a custom of shaving kids heads when they’re young. They believe it causes the hair to grow back thicker. That might have been behind the haircut. And yes, the culture for Islamic (as opposed to Hindu) Bangladesh also generally (as many Islamic circles do) believes that a “woman’s place is in the home.”
Those girls are lucky to have you as their neighbour. I hope they are able to and ready to leave home when the opportunity arrives.
This post has me tearing up because you're exactly the type of woman I needed at the time I was growing up. Someone who would listen, and do what they can, even if that was just chillin' in their cool big girl apartment for an hour using their toys and electronics to my heart's content. Instead everyone around us did their best to cover up the abuse :') (I'm still close with all my siblings including my brother, thankfully.) I've been thinking lately about what I can do for my community even in my current situation, and this post has got me adding some ideas to the list!
As someone who once went through what they are, I recommend exposing them to blogs/videos/subreddits/tiktoks on life skills, healthy relationships, and basic feminism. I have a complicated relationship with the Internet, but I will admit that I'd be so f**ked without it because I was learning topics on there that schools and parents did not bother to teach me. Such as cooking, budgeting, saving money, keeping myself fit and healthy, how to find a support network, learning skills that would help me earn more money, but also healthy coping methods for living with multiple disabilities (some of which were left thanks to my upbringing), spotting red flags when dating, setting healthy boundaries, learning about safe sex and consent etc. And so, so much more. A lot of people don't realize how the Internet is helping to pull people from poverty and generational curses. They may not need these resources now, but let them know how much someone can learn off the Internet for sure. I can recommend some blogs myself if you want a good start.
Anyways on behalf of my own inner child, thank you so much for being there for these girls 🌻 They will certainly appreciate it when they are older.
SE Asian culture has a custom of shaving kids heads when they’re young. They believe it causes the hair to grow back thicker. That might have been behind the haircut. And yes, the culture for Islamic (as opposed to Hindu) Bangladesh also generally (as many Islamic circles do) believes that a “woman’s place is in the home.”