Desk Report,
There was no money to buy even one egg for the two children.
Sharmin Akhter Ratna is a bright name in Bangladeshi shooting. She won gold in Commonwealth Shooting and SA Games, and represented the country at the 2012 London Olympics. But the story behind the glory is different – divorce, losing her father and various difficulties in life. Now she is fighting a new life struggle with two young daughters. Interviewed by Masud Alam. Life is always challenging. The habit of 18 years has suddenly broken, she has to deal with the shock of two young children. Mah-Nur Kaunain Roop is 9 years old. Afira Kaunain Raya is 2 years and 9 months old. However, the support of her family has kept me strong.
There was no money to buy even one egg for the two children.
But losing her father is what hurts me the most. He is my aunt’s stepson. We had known each other for a while. When we were in school, we first talked on the mobile for a few days, we liked it. Later, the family found out about it, and we got married. To me, love seemed like a dream, which she found somewhere else after so many years. At first, there were financial problems, and there are still problems. My father had a heart attack, and a year later, he died on October 24 last year. My father, Rafiqul Islam, retired from the army in 2008 as a senior warrant officer. He built a six-story house in Savar. That’s where I live. After the divorce, I didn’t even have the children’s school admission fees. It was becoming quite difficult for my father to pay for their expenses and his own expenses alone. The children’s father was not paying any expenses or had not paid them. At the beginning of the divorce, my youngest child was only six months old, and I was mentally devastated. I didn’t have money to buy even an egg for my two children! I was completely penniless, terribly helpless. Although my father and father-in-law helped a lot. After winning the individual and team gold in the Commonwealth Shooting in Delhi in 2010, the then General Secretary of the Bangladesh Shooting Federation, Bablu Chacha, gifted me a rifle, with which I participated in the 2012 London Olympics. But after the separation, I was forced to sell it in December 2023, for 220,000 taka to pay for my children’s school fees and my own expenses. I also had to give up my beloved rifle for my children. Now, though, my mother is taking care of everything. My mother and sisters are taking full responsibility for me and my children. My elder sister Rafia Akhter is a cash officer at Janata Bank. My elder sister Ayesha Siddika Kangka is completing her BBA and preparing for a job. My younger sister Amina Siddika is doing her honors in English at Rajni City University. I am the eldest. I have no income of my own now. Of course, I am a little worried about the future of my children. Still, I am trusting Allah.
