a SLAM for a parallel world!

About Me: A Tale of Opportunities from Oppressions

"I grew up in a rural village in Bangladesh, immersed in the struggles of financial hardship and social insecurity. My journey to higher education was an uphill battle; I am the first in my entire family to pass the college and graduate. As a child, I dreamed of becoming a medical doctor like a zombie! The early separation from my mother, when I was sent to the capital to 'BECOME SOMETHING', was deeply upsetting for me and on the process, I turned out to be a NURSE."

The Accidental Beginning

"My path into nursing was accidental, not driven by passion. After narrowly failing the medical admission test, family pressure compelled me to join nursing college out of necessity. Initially, entering the profession felt like a "BIG CATASTROPHE'."

"As a nurse, and particularly as a male nurse in Bangladesh, I faced a profound identity crisis. I was constantly regarded as an "extrinsic species" as an ''OTHER"', becoming the subject of mockery from school friends who used me as proof that male nurses existed. I hid the pain socially but a cried lot being lonely!

The Turning Point

"I recall a day in my clinical placement about a 78 years old surgery patient whose own four sons, established and rich, abandoned and neglected the fragile couple. After the hospital discharge he waited for 3 hours, just see me one last time before a leaves. He hugged me, cried for minutes holding me and called me more than his son for just the routine care I provided. This aha (!) moment taught me that nursing is not a task to shout for respect, but a task to touch the hearts of the patients. Something I would have never learnt in my nursing books."

The Systemic Truth

Professionally, the situation was no better. The public perception of nursing is terrible, and systemic stagnation and neglect left the profession with limited career growth, autonomy, and societal respect."

Bangladeshi nursing is probably the only nursing in the world where, 

as a nurse, 

you join the service, 

you retire, and 

you die holding the same designation of 'Senior Staff Nurse', 

no matter how far you go!

The following comment is sufficient enough for me to highlight the disturbing public and internal perception of nursing in Bangladesh:

“Most of the Nurses working in the government sector do not have any professionalism; intolerable in their attitude. Nurses holding the top most positions in different levels are worthless and it has become the rule!” – Brig. General Nasir Uddin (2014)

Centuries of deprivation have made nurses marginalized, and now the same system blames nurses for what they never let them do.

The systematic oppressions motivated my pursuit of an adaptive change to this fractured world I live in!

From Stagnation to Scholarship

"I started pushing the system since my very first day in nursing school. As an RN, I explored non-traditional roles, contributing to public health and curriculum development initiatives. However, I learned that individual efforts are not enough; viz. my project on integrating 4IR technologies in Nursing failed due to a lack of legitimate power and system dominance. Thus I confirmed my need for expertise to be a voice for nurses in the policy and systemic reform. Gradually, I started growing academically, socially and professionally."

My UMass Goal: My BIG Idea to Nurture

"My long-term vision is to use research, evidence, and advocacy to create new possibilities for nurses, especially those trapped in systems like the one I come from.

This transition is not just relocation, It is a shift in mindset.

I now say what I once hid.
I now believe what I once doubted.
I now imagine a nursing future that is more just, more autonomous, and more human.

My journey began in oppression.
My work now is to transform that oppression into opportunity; for nurses, for communities, and for the world we serve.

@slam | a SLAM for a parallel world!