His five-member family no more starves now. They produce warm clothes and towels on a small weaving machine supplied for free by the Practical Action (Bangladesh), a foreign donor. They now dream of a better life.

Rafiqul Islam had taken shelter on the riverbank after the Brahmaputra devoured his homestead in Bhangamore village in Shaghata upazila about two years back.

His family turned destitute as they lost their belongiongs. He worked as a day labourer and his family often starved during Monga ( a pre-harvest jobless period).

Gaibandha is one of the disaster prone areas, affected by flood and erosion by Teesta and Brahmaputra rivers almost every year. Job creation for the river affected people is the most challenging work there.

Practical Action (former ITDG), a donor agency, came to the aid of the Monga-affected people in Gaibandha district. After a survey of the affected people and assessing their opinion, it launched a pilot project to train 50 members of 10 families on weaving and supply them machines.

It worked well. The families learnt weaving in a fortnight.

During training, each trainee got Tk 100 per day. They saved part of the allowance, which ultimately accumulated into a capital.

Practical Action initially bought them ten weaving machines at a cost of Tk 9,000 each.

The programme will be extended to other Monga affected areas, officials of the donor agency said while talking tot this correspondent.

All these weaving machines went into operation on October 15.

Three local NGOs -- SKS, PBKS and Ekota -- are running and monitoring the project.

A towel costs Tk 15.30 and is sold at Tk 30, said Rafiqul Islam.

"We can produce 12 towels a day if we are provided soft loan", he added.

Rafiqul Islam's wife Sajeda Begum said she and their sons and daughters help Rafiqul by processing the yarn.

This correspondent during the visit saw about 150 destitute families on the riverbank, all sheltered there after the mighty river washed away their homesteads.

All of them are interested to set up weaving machines, which will ensure jobs round the year, said Kamal Hossain Jilani, Field Project Officer of SKS.

Rafiqul's family, like others covered by the project, now remains busy as winter is bout to set in. They are supplying warm wrappers for women at a very cheap rate, only Tk 50 per piece.

"Our ultimate aim is to provide Monga-affected people with jobs. The weaving project is suitable for them and we will expand it", said Ataur Rahman, Project Manager of Practical Action.

The project is under its Char Livelihoods Programme (CLP) in remote shoal areas of Brahmaputra, he added.