As part of a women empowerment initiative by ‘Travelettes of Bangladesh’, four women have gone to five districts in Barishal on their scooty bikes. The four women are: Dr Sakia Huq and Dr Mansi Saha of Dhaka Medical College (DMC), primary education teacher, Jannatul Ferdous Shubha, and final year student of Dhaka University, Shansun Nahar Suma.

From Apr 6 this year, the four travellers went to 21 districts of Bangladesh in four stages. On Aug 27 last, the fifth stage of their voyage began with a trip to Patuakhali.

This time, they also had BAF Shaheen School’s class ten student Mushfika Rahman Nijhum.

On Aug 28 morning, they exchanged views with female students of Patuakhali Collectorate School.

On Aug 29, they went to Borguna and met more students and visited the local historical sites.

On Aug 30, they arrived at Jhalokathi via Pirojpur. On Sept 1, Saturday, the ladies went to Halima Khatun High School and talked to female students about liberation war, child marriage, self-defence, food nutrition and adolescent health.

The headmaster of the school, Fakhruzzaman, said: “There was a lot of interest among the students over the discussed topics.”

A student enthused: “We learnt a lot about adolescent health issues from our scooty sisters.”

The leader of the female travellers, Dr Safia Huq, said: “We were treated with respect everywhere we went; it was our privilege to share ideas about current day issues which also includes, road safety, proper social interaction and other topics.

A major subject of our discussion is the glorious liberation war, she added.