Christianity, in order to connect more with Bengali women. With help from the Christian Missionary Society, Cooke founded 15 girls' schools with around 300 students within the Calcutta area. Sister Argerita Bellasiny, Sister Brigida Janella, and Sister Agostina Bigo from Italy were called upon Father Marietti on 17 May 1868 to help with missionary outreach. The three would spread Christianity by going door to door, particularly focusing on poor and vulnerable widows. First Christian martyr Father Francisco Fernandez was the first martyr in Bangladesh; he died on 14 November 1602. He was led to his death because he had attempted to save Christian women and children from being captured and used as slaves by the Arakanese who are Buddhists. He was detained, chained, and beaten to death. Contributions Christians have greatly served the education and health sectors. This tiny community has some 1000 schools and about 100 health care centers and hospitals. In Bangladesh, the Christian community runs the country's largest cooperative bank in Dhaka. Having worked in Bangladesh as a missionary since 1952, Father Richard William Timm, C.S.C. won the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Peace and International Understanding, the Asian Nobel Prize, in 1987 in recognition of his work as a teacher, as a biologist studying plant-parasitic worms, and with Caritas on relief efforts. In the 1990s, many people opposed the aid of Christian NGOs, and therefore there was a spike in the number of protests and violence opposing the religious influence of Christian NGOs. Up to 52 NGOs were considered to be "anti-Islamic", with the intentions of "proselytising" the Islamic nation to Christianity, targeting the vulnerable; the outcasts, the uneducated, and the poor. Persecution Given the country's Islamic culture, Christians in Bangladesh often face the pressure from radical Islamic groups or threats (such as persecution and harassment) from the wider community. In 2019, several churches, such as Mohandi Assemblies of God church, were either burnt down or destroyed. To combat this, Christians would gather in secret or in small houses to practice their religion. Additionally, in 2020, it's alleged that several Christians have been detained by police for "unlawful conversion". Conditions have improved in recent years as Bangladesh moved from place 35 on the World Watch List of Christian persecution in 2015 to place 48 in 2019. However, a sharp rise of violence against Christians in 2019 sent the country back to number 38 on the list. Other