My name is Majeda Khatun. I was born in the slums of Dhaka in Bangladesh.

In 2005 (I think I was 7 years old, though nobody in our community had birth certificates at that time), an angel came into our lives. That angel was Maria Conceicao - a Portuguese lady who worked as Emirates Cabin Crew. She visited Dhaka on a stopover flight and was shocked at the poverty she saw. From that moment she made it her mission to change the lives of those living in the slums in Bangladesh and to raise us out of poverty. She has devoted her life to this mission - running marathons around the world, even risking her life to climb Mount Everest, all to raise awareness - and funds - to help the people of Dhaka break the cycle of poverty. Maria founded the 'Maria Cristina Foundation' (MCF) to support this cause.

As a child, my parents saw me as a burden. Not only am I a girl (seen as a burden to families in Bangladesh) but also because of my skin colour (I am much darker than my sisters which means it would be more difficult for my parents to find me a husband.) I am one of 4 sisters. My father is a Shopkeeper and my mother works in a garments factory. Despite working hard and very long hours, they could not afford to look after me. They could also not afford the dowry to pay for a husband for me. Although wary of Maria and her intentions at first, eventually my parents decided to use me as the 'guinea pig' and send me to school.

Thanks to Maria and MCF, our families started to understand the benefit of sending their children to school to get an education, a good job and - further down the line - support their families and the community. They started to understand the long-term benefit, rather than the short-term gain, of marrying off their daughters.

I am proud to say I am the first girl in my family to have been educated up to 12th Grade. I am also very sporty. I like to play rugby, run, and do spinning. I completed a 21k Marathon - the BIG BANGLA RUN and Dubai Marathon. Social responsibility is very important to me as well. I always participated In Let’s clean Bangladesh. I took part in the Active Citizen Young Bangladesh summit Youth leadership program in 2017. I also volunteered for the American Women’s club several times. And I took part in a number of USAID programs. I did two internships in Dubai as Administrator and Database Assistant. I achieved all of this because of Maria’s belief in a poor slum girl. My education has given me options. I can’t wait for the next step in my Journey.

Maria often says: 'If you can feed 6, you can feed 7.' Thanks to Maria, I promised myself I will help seven hundred students from the slums around the world.

To show my determination, on 20th June 2020 I will be running a 42k marathon to raise funds for my further education. My goal is to go to university in Europe and become an independent businesswoman. With your help, I will be able to do that and, in return, follow in Maria's footsteps to help raise hundreds of children and their parents out of poverty.

I thank you in advance for your help.