Youth in Action

Adoring the Young Heroes

Fauzia Sultana

Imagine your neighbour, a single mom, asking you for a favour to look after her ten year old daughter on a Friday morning. You say yes out of courtesy, but actually you feel grumpy about the idea of having to kill your dear Friday morning sleep. Thanking you for your help, the neighbour says, “It is always reassuring, at times like these, when neighbours, like you, make one feel like one can count on them.” Well, what the neighbour says is surely very brief, but her words of appreciation make a big difference -- if it means something to you, you might just not mind very much, giving up your Friday morning nap after all!

The Youth of the Nation Award Ceremony applauded the young social heroes.
Courtesy: Jaago Foundation

Akku Chowdhury hands over the Life time Achievement Award to Valerie Taylor, Founder, CRP. courtesy: Jaago Foundation

Feeling appreciated is one of the most important needs that people have. Words of appreciation not only make one feel good but also motivate and inspire one to go on in life. In Bangladesh, where poverty alleviation or the right to education is a blazing issue, the youth are working, hand in hand with the entire country to mitigate such issues and hands down, they deserve appreciation. On May 2, JAAGO Foundation hosted the second ever Youth of the Nation Award Ceremony at the Shahid Shohrawardy Indoor Stadium, Mirpur, showing appreciation to those who have made noteworthy contributions for a better society. Youth of the Nation is a yearly award programme organised by JAAGO Foundation, a platform through which the young are recognised for their immense effort to make a better Bangladesh. The ceremony was undertaken this year with the objectives of awarding the most achieving volunteers, recognising the contributions of the foundation's most dedicated corporate partners and acknowledging exceptional contribution to the society. The ceremony awarded volunteers, institutions and corporate bodies under nine different award categories. The winners this year were Sunnydale as Best Partner School 2010, United International University (UIU) as Best Partner University, Black Group as Best Group in Wonderland 2010, Farhan Shirazi as Best Captain in Universal Children's Day 2010, Graphics People as Best Corporate Partner 2010, 1 Degree Initiative as Best Partner Organisation 2010, Gulshan 2 as Highest Fundraising Point 2010 and Ivdad Ahmed Khan Mojlish as Youth of the Nation 2010. Valerie Taylor, the founder of the Centre for the Rehabilitation of the Paralysed (CRP) located in Savar, was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award.

Apart from the 1500 young attendees and 200 corporate personnel -- Nauman Fakhar, Head of Marketing, Airtel Bangladesh, Asaduzzaman Noor, Member of the Parliament, Managing Director, Desh TV and renowned actor, James F. Moriarty, the US Ambassador to Bangladesh -- were also present at the event.

Korvi Rakshand, Founder and Chairman, JAAGO Foundation. Courtesy: Jaago Foundation	Asaduzzaman Noor, Member of the Parliament, Managing Director, Desh TV and renowned actor. Courtesy: Jaago Foundation

The two minute speech by the Ambassador to the US, delivered in Bangla, was perhaps the highlight of the formal segment of the event. The ceremony progressed with the distribution of the awards as well as some videos, skits and performances by the volunteers and children of JAAGO Foundation. The young and energetic evening ended with the official photo-shoot of the Universal Children's Day 2010 volunteers.

To build a better Bangladesh we all have our roles to play, especially the young generation. It is through organisations like the JAAGO Foundation that the youth of our country are getting the opportunity to exhibit their zeal and urge to contribute to society. But many a times, their contributions remain unappreciated and surely, the Youth of the Nation Award Ceremony is a sheer gesture of appreciation of these social heroes.