Now she is 26 cm tall and her weight is only five kg now. Four teeth have grown on her upper jaw and two on lower jaw. She is a sweet baby. All people in the neighborhood love her. They often take her on their laps. She is Sidora Folia. She was born in the fateful night of Sidr when the people of the costal belt of the Bay of Bengal were running here and there to save their lives.

Some people rushed to the Caritas shelter-cum-primary school building situated at Kaninagar in Mongla upazila (sub district) under Bagerhat district.

It is 60km away from the Bay of Bengal and one km away from Sunderbon (the largest mangrove forest in the world).

Cyclone Sidr claimed thousands of lives, destroyed houses, crushed trees and crops and ruined everything it came across. In that perilous moment of nature a baby girl was born safely. To bear the memory of Sidr she was named Sidora.

Tapan Folia (36) and Shukhi Folia (26) are the parents of Sidora. They themselves gave a female term of Sidr. The couple has three children.

Tapan Folia is a carpenter and Shuki Folia usually catches fingerlings of shrimp from the river of Chilla, which is near their village.

They earned Tk. 140/-per day ($ 2 dollar) and maintained their family with hardship before Sidr had hit the area. They owned a hut which was smashed during the calamity. They lost everything they had.

The neighbors extended their hands to help the newly born baby by providing them with food, clothes, and other necessary goods.

Within a week Caritas Bangladesh started relief work for the affected people. They got emergency food and non-food relief from these organisations such as food, clothes, utensil materials, and bed items. They took refuse in a shelter and began their life again.

Shukhi is a member of Chitrali Female Group, organized by Development Extension Education Services (DEEDS) of Caritas. She received a loan from Caritas Micro Finance Program. She also became associated with “Improvement of Livelihood through Sustainable Agriculture” (ILSA) Program of Caritas to start a small trade (vegetable shop) with a grant amount of Tk. 4000.00.

She invested this capital and made a house on the bank of Chilla river. In this house they have a carpentry shop in one portion. Another part is used as the Mohila (woman) corner and the remaining area is used as their bedroom.

Now they can earn Tk. 200.00 daily .Their income has grown a little bit but the prices of essential commodities have gone so high that it is still very low to maintain their family expenses. As a result they cannot provide extra food for Sidora. The baby lives on breast feeding which is also insufficient. If a mother cannot get food properly how she produces milk for her baby!

While talking to Caritas personnel, Khusi shed her tears. She said, “So many persons come to see my baby that’s why community people think that we have got a lot of relief materials. In fact, we did not receive enough support. But I am very happy to get a cute baby during the Sidr.

Sidora got baptism from the Catholic Church two months ago. Her father Tapon Folia said, ‘God’s blessing is more important than anything. Had the cyclone shelter not been here, my wife could not have given birth to our daughter in a safe place. Probably my wife and the baby would have perished in the tidal surge. We consider this shelter a boon to us as well as to the people of this area.”