DAM at work

DFED organises Free HealthCamp in Narsingdi

Progress review meetingheld in Jamalpur

CTC reformation and activa-tion meeting

Drug addicts at high risk ofsuicide

Teenage girl’s journey fromBangladesh’s rural area toUNMonis Participation at UNGAheld on September 20 to 28, 2015

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Contents

ECDHE-bulletin of Dhaka Ahsania Mission

Mission Barta

On 9 September 2015, Ambassador of Nepal toBangladesh Hari Kumar Shrestha paid a courtesy visitto Ahsanuallah University of Science and Technology(AUST) to thank Dhaka Ahsania Mission (DAM) forits humanitarian help after the devastating earthquakethat hit Nepal on 25 April 2015 and caused deaths and

destructions of unprecedented scales. Pointing to theintensity, magnitude and the ground realities, he said,Bangladesh and Nepal are in the danger zone and facethe common challenges of natural calamities. We mustlook at the building code, planning and designing ofstructures. We must develop and put in practice the

Nepalese Ambassador visits AUST

disaster response mechanism in order toface such situations in the future. High-lighting the post-earthquake initiativesbeing undertaken by Nepal – which in-cluded relief, rehabilitation, recovery,reconstruction and rebuilding. The Am-bassador stressed on the need for bilat-eral, sub-regional and regionalcooperation in coping with the situa-tions.The Ambassador said, all calamities arelessons for the future. It was now hightime to assess the level of our awarenessand the degree of precaution we wereundertaking to handle them. He said, theearthquake had a paradigm shift for us.To respond to such situations, a societymust think of planned settlement. Out-lining the task of rehabilitation, the Am-

bassador said, it was a gigantic task. Forinstance, apart from collapse ofdwelling houses, churches, UNESCOHeritage Sites, and other important his-torical installations, the earthquakedamaged more than 12000 school build-ings which need urgent reconstruction.The Ambassador encouraged the stu-dents and the teachers of the universityto visit Nepal and see for themselves thereconstruction and rebuilding work cur-rently going on and share their knowl-edge and skills in the process. Hethanked Bangladesh saying it was oneof first nations that came forward tohelp Nepal after the earthquake.In his Presidential speech DAM Presi-dent Kazi Rafiqul Alam thanked theAmbassador for Continue Page 6

September

DAM at work DAM E-Bulletin 2 3

Voluntary CommunityWorker of MadukariGanokendra underJhenidah Sadar Upazilawas donated fifty thou-sand Taka from the gen-eral fund of DhakaAhsania Mission (DAM).Head, Administration andHuman Resources ofDAM Md. Anowar Hos-sain Chowdhury handedover the cheque on 9 Sep-tember 2015 in presenceof Education TeamLeader Md. ShahidulIslam, Assistant Directorof Finance and AccountsDivision Nilufar Yeasminand Project Manager ofDAM CLC Md.Modasser Hossain. Whilehanding the cheque, Pres-ident of Madukari

Ganokendra Md. NurulIslam said, we have beeninspired by the ideal ofthe villagers to work forthe welfare of the people.DAM has come forewordwhen Rabeya Haque hasfallen in danger. RabeyaHaque said, I am gratefulto DAM and the membersof this institution.

It is mentionable that vol-untary communityworker of MadukhariGanokendra RabeyaHaque took part activelyin the activities of declar-ing illiteracy free villagein 2009 and in the activi-ties of making a completesanitized village in 2004.

50 Thousand Taka donatedfor treatment

DAM Foundation forEconomic Development(DFED) organised a day-long Free Health Camp

for Pregnant Mother andChild at Narandi ShorafatAli Government HighSchool Premises of

Monohordi Upazila underNarsingdi District on 22September, 2015. A spe-cialist team of doctors onGynecology and Childrenexamined 167 pregnantmothers and 142 children.Assistant Education Offi-cer of Monohordi UpazilaRaton Kumar Sen inau-gurated the camp. Chair-man of Sukundi UnionParishad Abdul GaniFarazi and Head of DAMFoundation for EconomicDevelopment Md.Asaduzzaman spoke onthe occasion. Free IronCapsule, Postikona andKrimi Nasok tablet weredistributed among theAnemia attacked Preg-nant Mothers alongsidetheir health checkup.

DFED organises Free HealthCamp in Narsingdi

OBITUARYSyed Kamal UddinHaider, son of Late SyedSaadat Ali of Khulnapassed away on 10th Sep-tember at the UniversityHospital of South-Man-chester (UK). He was 75.He was buried at Chad-derton Cemetary, Oldhem(UK).Haider was associatedwith many social worksin Bangladesh andabroad. He established aninstitution for the poorand under privileged boysand girls for their educa-tion and technical trainingin association with DhakaAhsania Mission.

Mobilization, advocacy andsustainable integration of

the survivorsTwo previous ANIRBANmembers and 3 newANIRBAN members seatwith BCTIP team at Jes-sore on 22nd September,2015 at BCTIP office.BCTIP project Coordina-tor briefed about projectgoal and objectives, ac-tivities and involvementof ANIRBAN underBCTIP project in commu-nity mobilization, advo-cacy and sustainableintegration of the sur-vivors. Previous ANIR-BAN member discussedabout ANIRBAN objec-tives, constitution, roleand responsibilities ofANIRBAN before thenew/potential members.

2 DAM at workDAM E-Bulletin3

DAM-Marico CLC proj-ect of Dhaka AhsaniaMission organised aprogress review meetingat Melandah Upazila ofJamalpur district on 14September 2015 to ensurethe access of dropped-outchildren from primary ed-ucation.Executive Director ofDhaka Ahsania Mission(DAM) Dr M EhsanurRahman presided overthe program and the Teamleader of Education Sec-tor Md Shahidul Islamdelivered the welcomeaddress. Shahidul Islamsaid, Dhaka Ahsania Mis-sion has brought 6,980out-of-school childrenunder the purview of thisproject in Jamalpur dis-trict. The project is im-

parting standard primaryeducation to 3000dropped-out children inMelandah Upazila.Acting Deputy Commis-sioner of Jamalpur dis-

trict, also the chief guestof the meeting said,Dhaka Ahsania Missionis a unique voluntary or-

ganization, which is im-parting quality educationin Melandah upazila. Up-azila Chairman AKMHabibur Rahman and Up-azila Nirbahi Officer Jhon

Keneday Jambil spoke asspecial guests.Dr M Ehsanur Rahmansaid, Dhaka Ahsania Mis-

sion has been working tocontribute in educationthroughout the country.Among others, MelandahUpazila education officerJewel Ashraf, RegionalManager of DAM TapanKumar Sarker, officersfrom various level of Up-azila administration, rep-resentatives from civil

society, journalists ofprint and electronic mediawere present on the occa-sion

Progress review meetingheld in Jamalpur

12 September 2015, Islamic Foundation & Dhaka Ah-sania Mission (DAM) jointly organized a Advocacyworkshop with officials under different ministries tosupport policies and programs on HIV and AIDS, with

the support of Save the Children in Bangladesh underGlobal Fund RCC phase-II program. The meeting waschaired by Muhammad Taher Hossain,director ofImam Training Academy,Islamic Foundation.

Advocacy workshop on HIV/AIDS

DAM at work DAM E-Bulletin 4CTC activation is one ofthe key activities of Na-tional Plan of Action forCombating Human Traf-ficking 2015-2017. TheCTCs are from union todistrict level. Five CTCactivation meeting tar-geted during this quarter.Two CTC reformationand activation meetingwere held in two unionsShorupdaho and Shukh-pukuria of Chowgasa Up-azila, Jessore on 22ndSeptember, 2015 and 30thSeptember, 2015. Beforethis reformation and acti-vation meeting, the CTCin Shukhpukuria did notformed according to gov-ernment order. DAMBCTIP Project Coordina-tor, Rafiqul Islam pro-vided a copy of a lettersigned by assistant com-missioner, LGRD section,DC office Jessore toUNO Chowgacha to pro-vide information of traf-ficking of Chowgacha

Upazila for Country Re-port, 2012 with copy ofTOR of Upazila andUnion CTC. The UP

chairman and membersbecame motivated andagreed to reform the CTCcommittee according tothe government order. Aquarterly work plan hasbeen in both the unionswith activities like rescue,

rehabilitation, reintegra-tion and follow up of traf-ficked survivor,information collection

and record keeping onhuman trafficking, miss-ing and abduction, socialprotection to rescued sur-vivors and their families,awareness session/discus-sion on prevention ofhuman trafficking at dif-

ferent level etc. ThreeCTC activation meetingwere pending for lack ofcommunication withCTC members due to tor-rential rain during thisquarter. Besides that lim-ited time to implementactivities of quarterly tar-gets within mid-august toSeptember.Shorupdaho union CTCmember, Johrul Islam said,‘ If we prepare a list ofultra poor, and organizemeeting regularly withthem on the consequencesof trafficking, make themaware, then they will notleave his or her house with-out knowing informationabout safe migration.’UP member, Shagor Ali,(Shukhpukuria Union)said, ‘We are all responsi-ble persons, so we shouldwork from our own posi-tion. If anybody wants togo abroad, he/she shouldinform union parishad be-fore leaving.’

CTC reformation andactivation meeting

Five Networking andPartnership meetingswere targeted duringJuly-September quarter.Two meetings were held,one in Jessore Sadar andanother in ChowgachaUpazila. NGOs likeWVB, RJ, BNWLA,BACHTE SHEKHA,JAGORONI CHAKRAF O U N D A T I O N ,BOMSA, ACD, JJS,BLAST AND FPAB. Thegovernment service pro-viding institutions likeDepartment of WomenAffairs, Department ofSocial Welfare, Member

of Counter TraffickingCommittee etc were pres-ent. CBOs like Gonok-endra, member ofANIRBAN were presentin the Jessore Sadar meet-ing. In chowgacha, Dis-trict Child Affairs Officer,Women Affairs Officer,representative of Depart-ment of Youth and De-partment of SocialWelfare. NGOs WVB,Ashraf Foundation, RJ,CTC, UP member, CBOslike Kopotakkha Gonok-endra, AB Club-And-herkota, Divine group etc.From the networking and

partnership meeting, sev-eral categories of serviceslike Skills Training,safety net, life skills, loansupport, job placement,legal support were agreedto provide by theGO/NGO and private or-ganizations for referralservice for the survivors. Social welfare officer ofChowgacha Upazila said,‘We need disseminationof National Human Traf-ficking Prevention &Suppression Act, 2012among the mass people.We should not blame atrafficked survivor rather

create awareness to fam-ily, neighbors and societysurrounding him/her.’Assistant Director, AshrafFoundation (NGO, inChowgacha) said, ‘ If weprovide various servicesto the trafficked survivorfrom our own position,then the survivor will bein better position than be-fore and will be free fromvulnerability of traffick-ing. Then we can talk thatwe made a success in pre-vention of trafficking.’Local journalist ShahanurIslam said, ‘If we worktogether and disseminatethe success story of theANIRBAN Survivors,then local people can getlessons from their successand became aware.’

Networking and partnership for referraland reintegration of Trafficked Survivors

DAM at workDAM E-Bulletin5

The drug addicts are at high risk ofsuicide, because they suffer fromcrisis due to intake of drugs in anuncontrolled way, depression, inde-cision due to excess use of drugs,failure to be free from drugs aftertreatment, and non-cooperaion andsuspicion from family and othermental problems for drug addic-tion.Speakers said these while address-ing a press briefing at Dhaka Ahsa-nia Mission auditorium atDhanmondi in the city on 10 Sep-tember 2015. Ahsania Mission Female DrugTreatment Centre organized theconference marking the World Sui-cide Prevention Day-2015.President of Dhaka Ahsania Mis-sion (DAM) Kazi Rafiqul Alam,deputy director of DAM and inter-nationally certified addiction coun-cilor Iqbal Masud, eminentpsychologist Dr. AkhtaruzzamanSelim, among others, spoke at theprogramme. Councilor of AhsaniaMission Female Drug Treatment

Centre Jannatul Ferdous presentedthe key-note paper.Citing statistics of World HealthOrganization (WHO), the pro-gramme was told that around20,000 people on an average annu-ally resort to self-killing inBangladesh.Refering to a report of ShaheedSohrawardy Medical College Hos-pital (2010), the speakers said thatabout 65 lakh people are now atrisk of suicide in Bangladesh.While presenting the keynotepaper, eminent psychologist Jan-natul Ferdous said 90 percent ofthose committed suicide had moreor less mental problem. The ten-dency to suicide increases whenmental problem arise, she said,calling for taking up steps for pre-venting the problem.The tendencyof suicide is more prevalent amongthe youths, aged 25-30. Drug ad-diction, poverty, family feud, tor-ture, sickness, failure in love andexaminations, sexual harassmentand unexpected pregnancy are re-

sponsible for the suicide, said Fer-dous.The speakers said it is possible tocheck the increasing trend of self-killing through change of outlook,fellow-feeling, sympathy andproper counseling. Right decisionat right time by all concerned canbring a positive result in eradicat-ing the bad practice, they said.They also called for providingproper treatment to the affectedpeople.“The affected people should getmental and other supports to pre-vent suicide. All concerned, includ-ing families and educationalinstitutions, should come forwardin this regard”.Disseminating relevant religiousmessage on suicide could act as de-terrent, said the speakers.They called upon all concerned, in-cluding the mass media, to raiseawareness among people about sui-cide and also motivate the riskypeople to take treatment for psychi-atric problem.

Drug addicts at high risk of suicide

DAM at work DAM E-Bulletin 6

Including Moni therewere 19 other child dele-gates from all over theworld includingAfghanistan, Mexico,China, Italy, Australia,Kenya, Norway, Tanzaniaand Nicaragua and theyexchanged their thoughtson specific issues andlearned about the culturesof each other. The firstday was spent in famil-iarising the young dele-gates with others andhelping them understandthe challenges each ofthem face back in theircountries.Moni conveys to NewAge Youth that languageis not a barrier for com-munication. ‘AlthoughEnglish wasn’t the firstlanguage of the other del-egates we managed tocommunicate well andbecame close friends. Iam no master at Englishbut I understood whatthey were saying. It wasamazing! Fay, the girlfrom Indonesia told mewhat she does at school.She also talked about herboyfriend and it wasamazing. Samir, fromAfghanistan said that hisschool emphasises onlearning English,’ Monisays.Moni also conveys thatshe had no idea that othercountries also had severeproblems about the well-being of children andyoung adults.Flora, the girl from Mex-ico conveyed to Moni thatchildren are used for drug

trafficking in her country.In Afghanistan, childrenare deprived of standardeducation whereas Indiahas the problems of childtrafficking.Moni delivered herspeech at the assembly onfour days; each day shewas allowed to speakthree minutes, with a totalof 12 minutes. ‘I trans-lated her speech at the as-sembly. Most of herspeeches were written byherself,’ Tahrim tells NewAge Youth.Moni also went to thelaunch of UNICEF’s#WeThePeople MediaYouth Hub at the UN. Shehad the opportunity tomeet top leaders person-ally at the event. She tookan autograph and talkedto Ban Ki Moon, secre-tary-general of UNGA.Moni and her fellow del-egates attended the open-ing ceremony of UNGAwhere Pope Francis andMalala Yousafzai werepresent, and they enjoyeda live Shakira perform-ance. She also met Savethe Children CEOs fromUS, UK, Canada andtalked about ending childmarriage.On the second day of theassembly Moni was theonly person to have askeda question to the formerBritish Prime MinisterDavid Cameron. ‘I askedDavid on his ideas oflessening gender bias-ness. Cameron stressedon leaders, teachers andparents working together

on the issue and takingaction,’ Moni says.On the fourth day Moniaddressed the speech tothe president of GeneralAssembly MogensLykketoft and discussedthe problems of childmarriage, teenage preg-nancy leading to in-creased school dropoutsand lack of health rights.She also talked about vi-olence against children inBangladesh highlightingthe case of Rajon Murderin Sylhet.Fortunately, Moni wasthe only girl of her familywho wasn’t forced to bemarried before she grewup. Three of her sisterswere school dropouts dueto poverty and were mar-ried off before turning 18.Now her parents finallyrealise that a girl canmake a change after see-ing the accomplishmentof their daughter.NHK, a Japanese news

TV channel already shot a45 minute documentaryfilm focusing on Moni’swork.Moni affirms that she in-tends to continue herstudies as long as she canand she wants to continueworking for social causes.‘If I don’t study well, noone will follow me. If Igrow up with dignity andachieve a good position,younger girls would getinspiration. I ask everyparent in this country tospend money for the edu-cation of their daughtersinstead of saving moneyfor their marriages. Todayparents may regret that anapparently good marriageproposal has slippedaway, but in future whenyour daughter grows upand succeeds, marriageproposals would come atyour door,’ Moni con-cludes.Courtesy : daily NewAge

Teenage girl’s journey

his kind visit and hopedthat this would open up anew window of opportu-nity for collaborativework with Nepal in thefield of technology, edu-cation, livelihood, health,social justice and envi-ronment.Earlier the Vice-Chancel-lor of the University Prof.Dr AMM Shafiullah gavea brief presentation intro-ducing the university.Elaborating his long pro-

fessional engineering ca-reer, the VC specially re-ferred to newlyintroduced curricula atthe university that dealswith the issues of earth-quakes.Held at the AUST audito-rium, the discussion ses-sion was attended, amongothers, by the Treasurerof the University Prof. DrKazi Shariful Alam. Morethan 100 students and fac-ulties attended the event.

Nepalese Ambassadorvisits AUST

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DAM at workDAM E-Bulletin76

You never know what is coming to-wards you and how an opportunitywould appear that you neverthought of. Moni Begum, a 16-year-old girl who never eventhought of visiting Dhaka, made anamazing trip to New York to attendthe 70th United Nations GeneralAssembly (UNGA) from Septem-ber 20 to 28. Moni advocated thecessation of child marriage and im-proving access to health care forevery mother and child. Her speechwas heard by 193 delegates fromall over the world; among themwere 160 head of states at the as-sembly. Moni’s slogan at the as-sembly was #LetHerGrow.‘I never thought that I might cometo Dhaka. And yet I had the oppor-tunity to visit New York and meetthe most influential people in theworld. New York life is so busy. Ihave learnt so many things withinthe short trip,’ Moni tells New AgeYouth.Moni presented her case confi-dently about issues like the nega-tive repercussions of child marriageincluding pregnancy related com-plicacies for teenagers, inaccessiblehealthcare, dropping out of

schools, getting deprived of repro-ductive health rights, about the pos-sibility of employing doctors formothers and children at every com-munity hospital, and making fur-ther progress on stoppingpreventable diseases among chil-dren.The girl from Kulaura of Sylhetlives in a remote village of North-East part of Bangladesh with herrickshaw puller father Morom Aliand homemaker mother HawaBegum.Moni has been active about socialissues at her school. She is a 10thgrader business student at Sultan-pur Girls’ High School in Sylhetand harbors the dreams of becom-ing a pilot, lawyer and a singer.She is an avid reader at her school’sreading club and passionately dis-cusses social issues with her peers.She believes in respecting the opin-ions of everyone. Moni got GPA4.94 at the Junior School Certifi-cate examination.Besides, advocating against childmarriage, Moni emphasised on is-sues regarding preventable diseasesand drowning, a leading cause ofdeath among children under the age

of five in Bangladesh at the UN As-sembly.As part of ‘Every One Campaign’,a five-year project of Save the Chil-dren, Moni got the opportunity toattend the assembly as she was ayouth leader who works in hercommunity against child marriageand its repercussions on a girl’s lifesuch as dropping out of schools,getting deprived of reproductivehealth rights. Moni also advocatesfor ending preventable diseasessuch as pneumonia and diarrhea.Initially, Moni was chosen after aquestion-answer session with 180other young leaders who partici-pated in the Save the Children proj-ect from several schools of Sylhet,Chittagong and Barisal.Later, she was shortlisted in the top15 and had undergone a thoroughassessment process in Dhaka.‘Dhaka Ahsania Mission andBangladesh Pediatric Association(BPA) was also a partner in theproject. They wanted to inspireyouths to engage in community de-velopment by mobilizing the com-munity to eradicate child mortalityand end child marriage. Moniemerged as the deserving candidateto go to UN as a delegate. She is adetermined and talented young girl.She was selected due to her confi-dence in speaking, writing andreading skills along with criticalanalysis that were better thaneveryone else,’ says Tahrim ZinathChaudhury, who has chaperonedfor Moni on her trip to New York.‘Moni is intelligent, talented, con-fident, and she is very outspoken.She is the voice of Bangladesh.Moni never fears to speak hermind. She feels passionately aboutthe issue of child marriages,’Tahrim adds. Continue Page 6

Teenage girl’s journey fromBangladesh’s rural area to UN

Monis Participation at UNGA held on September 20 to 28, 2015

E-bulletin of Dhaka Ahsania MissionMission Barta