Spotlight

What's your Project for Bangladesh?

Elita Karim
Photos: Kazi Tahsin Agaz Apurbo

23 year old Farah's recent tweet on Twitter:
FarahNKhan

Calling all #Bangladeshi youth to voice out against the #Tipaimukh dam! Feb 1 12 IMP DAY! @elitakarim @dailystarnews @starcampus

On Md Fazlul Rintu's Facebook wall, a third year student of Economics:
Sign up for the Community Clean Up project three days in Dhaka, starting with Lalbagh, Rajarbagh and Badda.

Excerpts from an email sent from a certain youth group organisation:

It is time to get into action and give a rest to panel discussions. While groups meet up for meets, we have decided to invite the 'doers' and start work to make a better Bangladesh.

These are just a few examples of what we see online in social networking sites, almost every other day. Young people in Bangladesh are not only trying to work towards a better Bangladesh on the streets, but are also trying to get people aware online and gather as many young students and workers as possible. While a young group in Noakhali trains the underprivileged in their local swimming clubs and actually succeeds in getting a few of them compete in the nationals, there are other groups trying to educate the young domestic workers in particular city colonies. While a group takes up the initiative to clean up the small roads and slum areas for the sake of the city dwellers in the capital city of Dhaka, there is another group somewhere in Satkhira, trying to rehabilitate teenaged girls and help them lead normal lives, who were otherwise stigmatised in society as a result of being forced to work as sex workers in brothels.

Students had played the most significant roles in fighting for independence, for our rights and also for our identity, especially in this part of the world.

According to the elders in the families, those who had witnessed the revolutions, not to mention our history books, students had played the most significant roles in fighting for independence, for our rights and also for our identity, especially in this part of the world. Similarly, even today, the youth can change the country for the better, only if they come together and fight for a common cause.

“I have always been interested in world policies, policy makers, world events and have always followed up on politicians all over the world,” says Tahmina Sultana Rumki, a third year student of International Relations. “Obviously, being a policy maker or a politician had always been my interest. I think Bangladesh needs young policy makers who can connect with the world outside Bangladesh and also have the sensibility to work for the common people in the country. But things seem very difficult in the 'politics' front for me to pursue with my dreams!”

There are many young people out there who think alike, however, even though the ambition to be a leader or a policy maker is a grand one and not to be written off, one can do a whole lot for the country no matter what one's profession is. For instance, Shaila and her young neighbours in Chittagong had started a 'teach-at-home' system for domestic workers living in their building. It was difficult in the beginning, according to what they say, but they continued with their efforts. “It was difficult in the beginning because none of the women would spare their domestic helps for a couple of hours and some of them even thought that the idea was a bad one. What is the use of educating these people, they would ask. It seems we were spoiling them further, by giving them a dream they would not be able to achieve!” Not only did they fight to change the views of the conventional thoughts and opinions coming their way, they also had to go through the breaking up of the team due to higher education and even marriage. “It still is not a very big group, but my friends and I still try to continue with our efforts of educating the domestic workers. Eventually we would want to spread to other colonies and buildings in the city,” Shaila adds.

This country is brimming with young and fresh talents; there are tons of resources, which the authorities can make, use of. Sadly, however, while many eventually move abroad, others are not given the platform to realise their full potential. On the other hand, there is a growing need for the young to unite and to start working from 'small' to eventually making a 'big' impact.

For those who are seeking projects to take up, for the betterment of Bangladesh, please know that there are hundreds of opportunities here, only if you are ready to take the chance and compromise a little bit of your sanity!

There are many young people out there who think alike.

The other day, going through the newspaper, a report caught everyone's eyes, where it said that Bangladesh was second to India when it came to air pollution. Young people can get together and form groups to first investigate as to how the environment and air is being polluted and what can be done to minimise it. Groups of students can also get together and educate people in the rural areas about family planning to curb population growth. What about the traffic jams which we suffer through every day? Traffic jams alone push the young generation behind in Bangladesh as compared to their counterparts in other countries. Where a young student can complete four tasks in a city in Malaysia, one can barely work on two tasks in Dhaka, simply because it takes hours for one to commute from one place to the other in the city. One project that young people should work on today is on eliminating corruption. The evils of corruption have seeped and crawled inside officials, educators and also in the medical professions, not to mention the very recent forms of corruption seen in the railway sectors.

This country is brimming with young and fresh talents; there are tons of resources, which the authorities can make, use of.

There is so much to work on, to make a better Bangladesh, and it will happen only if young people unite. Once they come together and start taking those small steps, Bangladesh is bound to change, and that too for the better. Not only will the youth be able to shift the mountain-like mindsets of the people in this country, but they will also be able to eliminate poverty from the face of this country, once and for all.