Chhinnomulder Pashe Amra: Standing by the pandemic-affected
Moved by the plight of people’s suffering during the pandemic, students of Development Studies at the University of Dhaka banded together to help street children, flood-affected people, victims of gender-based violence and farmers
Kumari Akhi Bala's small family comprises her mentally impaired father, physically handicapped sister and her mother who works as a domestic help.
Her family depends on the scanty wages her mother earns from working in different households.
Education is a luxury when you cannot even supply the basic meals for a family. Thus, poverty forced Akhi Bala to drop out of school.
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Despite that, Akhi Bala wishes to strive hard for a better life. To fulfill her dream, Chhinnomulder Pashe Amra - an initiative formed by some students of Dhaka University - provided her a sewing machine.
Apart from bearing Akhi Bala's educational expenses, this sewing machine is also a long-term source of income for her family.
It all started during the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic when lives, as well as the livelihood of people were put at stake as the country went into a lockdown.
Lamia Mohsin and Ashik Sufi Islam - two Development Studies students from Dhaka University - came up with the idea of helping lockdown-affected people, engaging some of their seniors and juniors from the department.
While various initiatives were taken from aid-relief agencies and youth-based organisations to support workers from the informal sector, these students observed that little attention was given to the street children of Dhaka.
Through raising funds for the vulnerable street children, "Chhinnomulder Pashe Amra" started its journey in April 2020.
"Our funding source was our department alumni, students and teachers. We used Go Fund Me and managed to get donations from the expat Bangladeshi community in Australia. We got a number of anonymous donations as well," said Lamia Mohsin, founder of the initiative.
Asking how it started, Lamia answered, "It was first in Dhaka's Shahbag, Kamalapur and Mirpur areas where we would distribute food packages to street children. Later on, we sent food packages for the students of a school at Geneva Camp, Mohammadpur. Then, we distributed lunch meals to 400 children in Sadarghat and Kamalapur for two days."
Followed by the success of their endeavour, the group carried on various projects that benefitted different target groups.
In July 2020, they started raising funds and distributed relief among the flood affected people of Sunamganj, Sirajganj, Kurigram, Lalmonirhat and Jamalpur.
"Food distribution was our first phase. During the second phase of our programme, it was monsoon and flood inundated the northern regions of Bangladesh. We reached 800 families and assisted them with cash and food incentives," Lamia said, speaking of their relief activities in the flood-affected areas.
Helping students in Thanchi, Bandarban
From November 2020 to January 2021, Chhinnomulder Pashe Amra supplied educational materials for school students in 300 areas of four paras in Thanchi.
"In Thanchi, there are many para-based schools. We were provided with a list of materials such as books, notebooks, stationery items, school bags, etc. from those schools. After collecting funds, we supplied the materials," Lamia told The Business Standard.
Apart from that, Chhinnomulder Pashe Amra also sponsored boarding facilities and yearly fees of some school students in Thanchi.
Project Ushnota
During winter, Chhinnomulder Pashe Amra distributed blankets to a rehabilitation centre for mothers and children in Kushtia. They also provided winter clothes to people in Kaluaghat Union of Lalmonirhat.
Project Shwayong
Project Shwayong was an initiative to support the distressed women in Sirajganj who were subjected to gender-based violence and later estranged by their partners.
To make these women self-reliant, Chhinnomulder Pashe Amra provided them with sewing machines or domestic animals that could be a permanent source of earning.
Akhi Bala, whose name was mentioned earlier in this story, is one of the beneficiaries of this project.
Project Shwayong's initiative supports UN's SDG five and eight, which aim to ensure gender equality and inclusive employment generation.
Project Astha
Aiming to support the farmers in Kishoreganj, whose crops were damaged due to a norwester attack on April 4 , Project Astha was launched.
As the lockdown continues, Project Astha is working to help day labourers, rickshaw pullers and other informal sector workers with food reliefs.
"During Eid, we tried to reach the day labourers in the vicinity of Bailey Road and Hatirjheel and gave them food packages for Eid," Lamia informed.
Chhinnomulder Pashe Amra wishes to continue this project as long as the lockdown continues.
She added, "We get tonnes of messages from people who are involved in manual labour. We try to reach them, verify if they actually need the support and decide an action plan accordingly."
