Feature

Making a difference

Sarah Z H

Many of us often feel worried by other's miseries. The will to do good for someone, unfortunately only lasts for a short while. We lack the firmness that is essential to keep us going. Yet, there are people who are brave enough to stand up, take responsibility and actually try to do something about it. It wasn't long ago that I had met a group of jovial youngsters who dared to make a difference. They were mostly young students. They wanted to share their affluence with those who were less fortunate around them. It all started when an A-level student, Sameer posted a journal on how he felt about the children wondering about in the streets of Dhaka in a celebrated socializing site. Later, on February 17th, 2007 another young girl, Sababa (AIUBian) came across his journal appreciating it immediately. She was moved by Sameer's compassion for those uncared children and set on to contact him over the net. Soon afterwards they met in Banani and deliberated their plans along with some other friends Priyanka, Shafayat, Sakif, Tushi, Rossy and Nahiyan. Subsequently a group of 8 active members was formed. Apart from the active members near about 30 youngsters is volunteering this group's activities. Without wasting anymore of their precious time these energetic young souls got to work instantly. They began working hard to name their group. After much effort they came up with a name they claim will work as an eye-opener for people who tends to sleep through all anarchy and that is "JAGO".

In the process they tried to grab the attention of students by sticking poignant posters on the walls of their respective institutions. This helped them raise funds for initiating their fieldwork. With the small amount of money gathered from the funds the members of "JAGO" did a survey on Banani slum to find out children in distress aged between 6-17.This group is working hard to raise more funds as they have plans to donate the money to the ailing children suffering in rumpled beds of Dhaka Medical College Hospital .

So far "JAGO" has had meetings with USAID and SAVE THE CHILDREN. According to the information given by the group members; they will be working on different projects in affiliation with these two organizations. Currently they are working on a project in raising awareness among children about safe drinking water in the slums of Banani. As astonishing it may sound; they are accomplishing all these tasks by the meager amount of money they have been able to summon up from their voluntary funds. In future they want to go for bigger projects like immunization and vaccination. The members of "JAGO" feel they have a long way to go. They also know that their path will rather be stony than smooth in reaching heights of success. But their youthfulness has allowed them to have faith in themselves. What they believe is their passion that will one day make them do exceptional things to better the lives of children in Bangladesh .

An Empty Page

Marzia Rahman


A piece of white paper,
a bottle of black ink,
a barren mind,
and me.

I want to write something,
a poem, a prose or a play.
I try to express something,
a thought, an idea or a vision.

My mind drifts the whole world,
my soul searches the whole universe,
for the right topic and the right theme,
they return with empty hands.

I cannot decide what to write,
tragedy or comedy, farce or satire.
I cannot conclude what to tell,
emotion or passion, ardour or fervour.

The empty page remains empty,
the full ink bottle remains full,
the untold thoughts remain untold,
and with me, left only a blank heart and a bare mind.

(Marzia Rahman is a school teacher)