Nabila Ruhi

“My name is Nabila Ruhi, and I am from Geneva camp in Mohammadpur, Dhaka. Our family consists of 11 members. We are 5 siblings- 4 sisters and 1 brother. Two of my married sisters and their kids also live with us. My mother is a housewife and my father was the breadwinner of our family. Unfortunately, he met with an accident and got burns on about 25% of his body. As both his hands were affected, he was unable to work anymore. That left the financial responsibility of supporting the family on my elder sister and myself. I couldn’t afford to study any longer.

In 2014, I received a scholarship from OBAT Helpers for my studies. After finishing my HSC (12th grade), I received my BBA degree from Bangladesh University. In 2015, I got a job at PARAA studio as a Project Facilitator in Camp Mapping and Survey. This project was funded by OBAT Helpers. After working there for two years, I got an opportunity to represent our work in front of Mr. Anwar Khan, the Founder & President of OBAT Helpers. I then got a chance to visit other cities in Bangladesh where OBAT was working. This trip was the
turning point of my life and I gained a lot of knowledge from it.

After returning from the trip, I suffered from a complicated ophthalmic issue and lost 90% of my vision. The doctor informed me that I would eventually become totally blind and needed surgery to repair the issue. I was also volunteering as a Think Tank member at OBAT. During one of the meetings, I met
two kind-hearted people who are also supporters of OBAT: Mr. Niaz Ahmed (President of AWARD, an NGO) and Mr. Husam Ahmed (OBAT’s supporter residing in the US). They came to know about my vision problem and decided to pay for my entire surgical expense. I was able to see clearly after the surgery and became more confident day by day. I tried to pay it forward by helping others around me.

I now volunteer for both OBAT Think Tank and AWARD. It’s been 7
years since I have been a Think Tank volunteer; it is wonderful to engage in different activities that help our community. At AWARD, I am a part of helping patients with special needs, transporting them to hospitals for treatment and regular follow-up. We also try to provide them with guidelines on health-related issues.

I am very thankful to OBAT for supporting my education and send me prayers for all its supporters.