"You educate a man; you educate a man. You educate a woman; you educate a generation.”  Brigham Young

Marufa Fatema (28), her husband Md. Alamgir Akter (36) and their daughter(3) from Bangladesh.

At the Tropentag conference I met a woman with no excuses to come to the conference, despite the fact that she was holding a 3 year-old toddler.

In her own words, Marufa Fatema, 28) University of Bonn, studying  Agricultural sciences and resources management, admitted to have full support from her husband in terms of alternating duties as a family.  She again admitted that the cultural understanding with her husband Md. Alamgir Akter plays a key role in the family duties.

Marufa Fatema’s husband, who holds a double master degree and is also presenting a poster at the 17^th  conference, emphasized that family duties should not be an obstacle for his wife to do her research and studies. The key to success of this family is through education, and he proudly admitted that their three-year-old’s old daughter can now speak three languages

Marufa Fatema, delivered explicitly  a message to take home for all women out there in the developing countries, as she is from Bangladesh, to get a mutual understanding with their husbands and get back to science. Balancing family and education is for men and women, husbands and wives.

Pacifique