North Penn High School teacher Syeda Mirza left her home in Bangladesh at age 21, with her education career already gelling. As Julie Shearer reported in The Knight Crier, it took her a while to find her niche in Lansdale.

Mirza, a special education paraprofessional who works to ensure classroom inclusivity, left South Asia for Canada and then New York City.

Neither suited her.

A friend’s recommendation, however, brought her to Montgomery County.

Mirza’s relocation, however, hasn’t broken her ties with Bangladesh. She and her siblings continue supporting an orphanage built to honor their mother — an orphan herself — who passed away in 2006.

“My dad gave us a big piece of land, then we built up the brick structure,” Mirza said, describing the institution’s founding.

“Our plan was for 100 girls to live there, ages 4–18.

“They come in, barefoot and most of them don’t have parents, or one parent lost and the other left to a different place. … They are truly orphans.”

The site isn’t just educational, it’s a residence, a haven from abuse that can infiltrate Bengali girls’ lives.

“We keep the whole organization run by women,” Mirza said. “… We are just happy because the girls are safe.”

More on Syeda Mirza is at The Knight Crier.

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A vlogger evaluates the safety factor for females in Dhaka, Bangladesh.