Abdul Bari Bablu
Age: 20 years
Occupation: Businessman of agricultural products
Education: Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC)
Address: Purbo Charbata village, Purbo Charbata Union, Subarnachar Upazilla, Noakhali district

Mr. Mohammad Soleman is making living with a monthly average income of BDT 10,000.00.

Mr. Soleman is a friendly young entrepreneur taking care of his father’s firm known as Nargis Poultry and Feeds. Once the broiler chickens of the poultry were attacked by an unknown disease. It made his father, the known senior citizen of the community, Mr. Mohammad Pir Box very much worried. So he sought informational help to local Pallitathya Kendra (Rural Information Centre) on November of 2005. He made a query to the Help Line over the Help Desk by mobile phone-to-mobile phone information service mode. But it was too late to receive information from the Help Desk in Dhaka. As a result, 300/400 broilers died due to the disease.
Then on January, 2006, another group of broiler chickens of the same poultry got sick. Mr. Soleman got worried and sought informational help from the centre. He paid a visit to the centre on January 28, 2006 and received information from an agriculturist at the Help Desk through mobile phone-to-letter information service of the Help Line by spending BDT 10.00.
Then Mr. Soleman took steps accordingly and was surprised to see the cure of the broilers. He applied the advised doses of medicine appropriately and 300 broilers got cured fast. Since then, Mr. Soleman has gained complete trust on the centre and its’ effective information services.

Field Information Collection Date: April 8, 2006

Mr. Mohiuddin is a teacher at Ram Govinda High of his village. He earns a monthly income of BDT 5,000.00.

Mr. Mohiuddin’s 6-year old son Tanvir Ahmed has been stuttering since his birth. Both of Tanvir’s parents was very worried about this cute little boy who refused to take picture. They tried their best for his treatment locally in their eager efforts to ensure his normal speaking ability, but failed.
In the mean time, Mr. Mohiuddin learnt about the local Pallitathya Kendra (the Rural Information Centre) that provides information services in different thematic area, including health using different ICT channels. He got the information from his known villagers.
Then Mr. Mohiuddin came to the centre on November 11, 2005 and received the key information about Tanvir’s future treatment through mobile phone-to-mobile phone service mode from the Help Line by spending BDT 35.00. There was no other service provider available in Mr. Mohiuddin’s area to deliver validated information.
Mr. Mohiuddin was advised to go for surgery for Tanvir with addresses of two health facilities of Chittagong city, a place which is chosen by the information seeker himself while communicating the Help Line.
In December 2006 Tanvir went through a surgery in Chittagong. Since then he is able to speak with 80% clarity than previous time. Both of his parents are very happy about the received service from the centre. Moreover, the family is extremely grateful to the infomediaries of the centre. Due to Tanvir’s success in speaking, Mr. Mohiuddin is planning to seek more information from the Help Line to ensure 100% clear speaking ability of Tanvir through modern treatment.

Field Information Collection Date: April 9, 2006

Ms. Rokeya Begam Ratna is a homemaker. She is looking after her family that has a slim monthly income of BDT 1,200.00 on average, other than the annual income of agricultural produces.
Ms. Rokeya is known as a very naive person in her village who is very helpful by nature. Ms. Momena, wife of Mr. Kabir Ahmed and mother of Mr. Jamaluddin borrowed BDT 5,000.00 from her. Ms. Rokeya lent the money at once due to the urgency of Ms. Momena. But when the payment came to near, Ms. Momena started showing illogical alibis. This attitude shocked the lender. Then Ms. Rokeya discussed about the issue with some of her neighbors and they advised her to go for the rural arbitration meeting.
Then several arbitration meetings were taken place presided over by Mr. Oli Shaodagor, an expert arbitrator of the area and these meeting run for the following two years . In the last such meeting, accused Ms. Momena paid Ms. Rokeya BDT 2,200.00. But the lender Ms. Rokeya kept asking the borrower Ms. Momena to pay the full amount as early as possible.
At this point, the borrower went to the local NGO Shagorika to get a verdict through their legal aids with an expectation to get a final say from them in her favor. Due to this request of the borrower, Shagorika arranged a local arbitration meeting that also gave a verdict in favor of the lender.
When Ms. Momema failed to get a rural decision in her favor in this regard, she got mad at Ms. Rokeya and started giving the lender threats by her husband and son. The repeated threats made Ms. Rokeya worried a lot. She started looking for a permanent settlement to this.
In the mean time, Ms. Rokeya became known to an infomediary of the local Pallitathya Kendra (the Rural Information Centre) along with its different information services, including information on the area of law and human rights.
As the last resort, Ms. Rokeya came to the centre in February, 2006 and met with a lawyer of the Help Desk. That lawyer went to local chapter of the government legal aid organization BLAST along with Ms. Rokeya. But BLAST refused to play a role about the issue due to the lesser disputed amount. Then the Help Desk lawyer learnt from another organization NLAO that usually the Union Parishad (the grass root chapter of the local government in Bangladesh) arbitrates on such issues with similar amount of money.
The lawyer asked the infomediaries of the centre to proceed with Ms. Rokeya’s problem in the local Union Parishad.
While the infomediaries started their effort on behalf of Ms. Rokeya, somehow Ms. Momena learnt about the move of Pallitathya Kendra. Ms. Momena did not waste any time but to rushed to Mr. Oli Shaodagor promising him to pay the lender BDT 2,000.00 as early as possible and apologized for the given repeated threats to Ms. Rokeya.
Within a few days of the promise, she made a payment to Ms. Rokeya a sum of BDT 1,000.00.
Ms. Rokeya became surprised and thankful to the centre and to its infomediaries for their heartiest effort to solve her problem. Since then, she relied on the centre’s effective services for her various problems. In one of such visits, Ms. Rokeya came to the centre on June 15, 2006 to receive information about the usefulness of eating fruits, which she received from Jeeon CD Content at free of cost.

Field Information Collection Date: April 9, 2006

Mr. Ibrahim Khalil is a poor physically disabled beggar with great ambition to improve his livelihood. He is the son of Mr. Noor Ahammad and Ms. Manoja Khatun. He hardly makes a slim monthly income of BDT 1,000.00 on average for his 7-member family.
His family used to depend on his earning from begging. He usually begs in the adjacent area of the local Pallitathya Kendra (the Rural Information Centre). Thus he gradually learnt about different information services of the centre from the villagers and the infomediaries of the centre. He also learnt that the centre provides information on Non-Farm Economic Activities. This knowledge made Mr. Khalil become curious about visiting the centre one day.
Thus Mr. Khalil came to the centre on July 1, 2006 to receive information in connection with starting a business to stop his profession as a beggar and earn a decent living. The infomediaries advised him to start making of Thonga (paper-made packet to carry light-weighted items) at his home and sell those to the local stores. He did not has to pay anything to receive the information using CD Content and watching the video show on staring a thonga-making business with less capital.
He applied the received information  and started supplying thonga, charging BDT 18.00-20.00 per kilogram. Thus he was able to ensure a profit margin of BDT 5.00-10.00 against per kilogram. 
But he was not able to continue the business due to piled up outstanding accounts receivables on his side. The stores that took his stuff on credit did not pay him up timely. So he has to rely on his degrading begging profession again due to lack of BDT 2,000.00 of slim capital.
But Mr. Khalil is very satisfied about the received services from the centre and the willingness of the infomediaries to bring a positive change in his livelihood. But he prefers to receive such services from his home due to his physical constraint.

Field Information Collection Date: November 17, 2006

Ms. Rozina Akhtar Rozy is the daughter of Mr. Kamaluddin and Ms. Aleya Begam. Her 5-member family is having an average monthly income of BDT 2,000.00.
Ms. Rozy had problem with a severe teethache. Due to poverty, she wanted a cure without spending anything. She learnt about the health information services of the local Pallitathya Kendra (the Rural Information Centre) earlier from her neighbors and the known villagers.
Thus the severe toothache made her to visit the centre on June 14, 2006 and received information for a cure from the CD Content, for which she did not had to pay anything.
She did not waste any time in applying the information precisely and follow the rules to protect her teeth. And gradually she got rid f her teethache.
There is no service provider in her area to deliver the same service at free of charge. So she is very happy about the received service.

Field Information Collection Date: November 18, 2006

Mr. Mohammad Abdullah is the son of Mr. Abul Hossain and Ms. Anowara Begam. He is making a living for his 6-member family with a monthly family income of BDT 5,000.00 on average.
He works as an Assistant Kazi (a Muslim religious person in-charge of marriage registration) in his union. His office is located adjacent to the local Pallitathya Kendra (the Rural Information Centre) and few of the infomediaries of the centre is very well-known to him. So he is well-aware of the providing services of the centre through different modern ICT channels.
Therefore, for his profession, Mr. Abdullah needs to visit the centre frequently to compose marriage registration forms, divorce letter and other relevant document and take the print out. In addition, he also comes to the centre to learn about necessary information to improve his livelihood. In one such instances, he came to the centre on May 11, 2006 to compose a document by paying BDT 8.00. In another instance on May 21, 2006 he came to the centre to receive information about starting a business on making jute products and general diseases of fishes. The service mode was Jeeon CD Content in which case he did not had to pay anything. .
He is happy about the centre for serving the community with its effective services. But he thinks that the centre authority needs to solve the problem of internet connectivity, which is not available all the times. He suggests arranging of camps in a regular basis on different issues to benefit the community.

Field Information Collection Date: November 18, 2006

Mr. Anjan Kumar Das is the son of Mr. Santosh Chandra Das and Ms. Atoshi Rani Das. He is making a living for his 6-member family with a monthly family income of BDT 15,000.00 on average, including his own earning of BDT 5,000.00 per month. He personally holds saving certificates in the banks and has insurance policy as investment assets.
He runs a dispensary near to the local Pallitathya Kendra (the Rural Information Centre) and infomediaries of the centre come to him every now and then  during their field mobilization tasks. Thus he is well-aware of the services of the centre. In addition, he has learnt about the effectiveness of the centre services from the community people. So he visits the centre frequently to receive various information and ancillary services.
Some of Mr. Anjan’s visits to the centre included on April 28, 2006 to receive information about losing weight according to age and height from the CD Content by spending only BDT 4.00. He also received the service through the letter-to-letter information service mode from the Help Line. Mr. Anjan also made a visit on November 15, 2006 to fill up US Diversity Visa.
He is very satisfied about the received services from the centre. He has some suggestions to add more services to the centre to benefit the community. In this regard, he thinks that a photocopier will be very helpful since the nearest one is located at Khasher Hat, which is three and half kilometre away from the Union Parishad (the grass root level of local government), that houses the centre. He thinks that centre needs to have more human resources. The number of signboards about the centre needs to be increased. It will be better for the people, if the centre can provide them with one agriculturist and arrange a Health Camp with the participation of a female doctor for gynecology related complications and a male doctor for medicine. Moreover, he thinks that if the infomediaries arrange field meetings with the local people based on village locations in every week and go for the mobilization with some sort of mobile video arrangement, then the centre will be able to create mass awareness about the centre and its various effective services.

Field Information Collection Date: November 18, 2006 

Ms. Najmunnahar is the wife of Mr. Kamrul Hasan. She is looking after a family that has a slim monthly income of BDT 2,000.00 on average.
Ms. Najmunnahar learnt about the local Pallitathya Kendra (the Rural Information Centre) from her neighbors and the infomediaries of the centre during their field mobilization. Thus she learnt about different services of the centre and paid a visit there on April 4, 2006 to take print out of different designs to use in embroidery by spending BDT 5.00.
Ms. Najmunnahar used the designs and made some good-looking rural blankets known as Kantha (one of these is shown in the picture). Her works due to the designs brought some praise in her family and thus created a preferable position in her neighborhood.
She is very happy about the received service from the centre. But she will be glad if the centre can arrange a course or training on making of clothes and accessories using Blocks and Boutiques.

Field Information Collection Date: November 18, 2006  

Mr. Noor Hossain is the son of Mr. Nuruzzaman and Ms. Hajera Khatun. His 8-member family makes a monthly income of BDT 16,000.00 on average, including his personal income of BDT 7,000.00 per month.
Mr. Noor Hossain produces agricultural product and makes a living by selling these to the rural agricultural wholesalers. He cultivates coconut trees, besides fruits and different vegetables.
He used to have a problem in growing coconuts few years back. The upper portions of the trees used to affect by the harmful insects. And gradually the affected tree died and he lost about 15 of his coconut trees in this way. He was worried about this problem and discussed with his neighbors but could not solve.
In the mean time, Mr. Noor Hossain learnt about the effective information services of the local Pallitathya Kendra (the Rural Information Centre). Thus he came to the centre on March, 2006 to receive information about his affected coconut trees. He used letter-to-letter service mode of the Help Line and spent BDT 4.00.
He applied the received information accurately by spraying the prescribed pesticide and found all the dead insects on ground. Since then none of his 150 coconut trees ever gets affected and thus he got rid of his problem.
As a result, Mr. Noor Hossain is very happy about the services of the centre.

Field Information Collection Date: November 17, 2006 

Ms. Shahina Akhtar is the daughter of Mr. Asadul Haque and Ms. Maleka Begam. Her family hardly makes a slim income of BDT 1,500.00 on average. Beside education, she also helps her parents in their farming.
Ms. Shahina learnt from her neighbors and the infomediaries about the local Pallitathya Kendra (the Rural Information Centre) and its various services on different thematic areas, including agriculture.
She asked the infomediaries of the centre about beans cultivation during their field mobilization. They invited her to visit the centre at her convenient time.
Thus she paid a visit to the centre on June 8, 2006 and received her desired information through the CD Content, in which case she did not pay anything.
She did not get the chance yet to apply the received information, but planning to cultivate beans in the upcoming season in their family yard.

Field Information Collection Date: November 18, 2006  

Mr. Kamrul Hasan Tutul is the son of Mr. Mohammad Shahnewaz Manik and Ms. Ojifa Khatun. His 9-member family has a monthly family income of BDT 30,000.00 with a monthly expenditure of BDT 20,000.00 on average, including his personal income of BDT 5,000.00 on average.
Mr. Tutul  comes to the market adjacent to the local Pallitathya Kendra (the Rural Information Centre) frequently. Thus he is well-aware of various services provided from the centre. In addition, few of the infomediaries are his close freinds with whom he communicates every now and then during their field mobilization about the effective centre services.
Once he planned to start pisciculture for the betterment of his livelihood. So he came to the centre on April, 2006 to receive information through mobile phone-to-letter service mode from the Help Line. Then he started his pisciculturing business and still moving according to the received information which he continues to take every now and then from the centre using different service modes. Besides agriculture, he has also taken information on different health issues from the centre.
He will be able to justify the effectiveness of his received information on pisciculture by April, 2007. But he already has a positive impression about the effectiveness of information center.

He thinks that Jeeon Content has already played a key role for the community people in creating mass awareness on different issues. Moreover, he thinks that the centre needs to have a separate agricultural section to serve more people of the community. He also suggests that a monthly Legal Camp and beginning of a Computer Training Programme organized by the centre will certainly benefit more people in creation of local employment opportunities.

Field Information Collection Date: November 18, 2006  

Mr. Zakir Hossain
Age: 32 years
Occupation: Mechanic to fix electrical problems
Education: Secondary School Certificate (SSC)
Address: Purbo Charbata village, Purbo Charbata union, Subarnachar upazilla, Noakhali district

Mr. Zakir Hossain is making a living for his family with a monthly income of BDT 8,000.00 with a monthly expenditure of BDT 4,000.00 on average. He saves the rest of the money.
He was present in the inauguration of the local Pallitathya Kendra (the Rural Information Centre) in 2005. Since then he was approached by the infomediaries of the centre several times during their field mobilization. In addition, he learnt from the villagers about the effectiveness of the services provided from the centre.
Beside his profession, he also produces different agricultural products and makes addition earning by selling those in the rural market places. Thus he cultivates bottle-gourds.
One day in November, 2006, Mr. Zakir found some of his bottle-gourd trees got affected by harmful insects. Then he did not hesitate to rush to the centre to receive his desired information from the CD Content free of cost.
He applied the information precisely by spraying the particular prescribed insecticide and found 60% of the insects of the affected trees were dead.
After the maturity of the previously affected bottle-gourds, he has already made BDT 400.00 by selling the bottle-gourds from 2 trees. If he had received the key information timely and applied that information precisely, then he would have saved his entire product.
Mr. Zakir is very satisfied with the received service from the centre. But he thinks that regular monthly Health Camp organized by the centre will definitely benefit the community.

Field Information Collection Date: November 17, 2006  

Mr. Abdul Ali Dulal
Age: 45 years
Occupation: Farmer
Education: Name sign only
Address: Purbo Charbata village, Purbo Charbata union, Subarnachar upazilla, Noakhali district

Mr. Abdul Ali Dulal is the son of Mr. Sayad Ahmed and Ms. Noorjahan Begam. He is making a living for his 8-member family with a monthly income of BDT 7,000.00 on average.
He produces different agicultural products, including bottle-gourd. He learnt about the local Pallitathya Kendra (the Rural Information Centre) and its effective information services from the villagers.
One day, he found his bottle-gourds got affected with some harmful insects. Then he did not waste any time visited the centre on October 18, 2006 to receive the desired information from the CD Content which was free of charge.
He applied the prescribed insecticide accordingly and earned a profit of BDT 5,000.00 from the sales of his insect-free bottle-gourds.
He is very pleased with the received service from the centre.

Field Information Collection Date: November 17, 2006