Wondering how this day went? We arrived in Rangpur at night and started our tour early in the morning. First, we went to our preschool project at Huda camp and Ispahani camp No. 2, Rangpur with our OBAT Team. We currently have six preschools in Rangpur with a total of one hundred and thirty-three students. The best part of visiting our education programs is seeing how eager the students are to share their talent and school work with...
20th December, 2016 We began our day with our OBAT team including Dr. Rezwan, Dr. Kaiser, Arishaa, Immad Ahmed, Sohail Akhter Khan, Guddu, Sunny, Fakhruddin and local leaders of OBAT Saidpur, Halim Khan and Mahfuz. We visited the Arabic education center, in Bansbari, Saidpur where twelve wonderful kids had completed reading the Holy Quran. Along with excelling in school, these children are learning the Quran with meaning. We have nine preschools in Saidpur from which two hundred and fourteen students...
19th December, 2016 After an early morning journey from Rangpur to Saidpur with our OBAT team, including two honorable guests Dr. Rezwan Khan and Mr. Aftab Iqbal, we were ready for a busy day. We started our day by visiting Chamra Godown Camp in Saidpur, where we met with the camp residents and consulted with them regarding problems and solutions. We arrived at our pre-school in Chamra Godown camp before visiting our sewing center project for females in Golahat, Saidpur. Each...
Rangpur, 18th December, 2016 After visiting Bogra, we arrived in Rangpur. In the morning, we went to visit OBAT School situated at Alamnagar, Rangpur. We are proud to report that the OBAT Scout Team (of OBAT Junior High School) ranked in 5th position out of 475 schools. We were happy to visit every class and meet with incredible students. They are the future leaders of the country who dream of becoming doctors, scientists, engineers and so on. We look...
Bogra, Bangaldesh 17th December, 2016 On Saturday morning, we had a successful yearly meeting with our on-ground implementing partner, ISDCM. Afterwards, we made the long journey to Rangpur. On the go, we were able to visit different camps in Bogra, Bangladesh. The camps we saw were in need of infrastructure development after significant damage from a recent cyclone. We had an administrative meeting with Fakhruddin (SPGRC Secretary) regarding camp development and legal matters. He expressed his views...
December 16th, 2016 After a long night’s journey, we returned to Dhaka from Khulna with the OBAT team. Our team grew in numbers with Dr. Rezwan Khan joining us from Dallas, TX and Arishaa Khan joining us from New York City. Our first engagement of the day involved visiting AWARD, another organization which works for the camp dwellers of Dhaka on different issues such as education, health, sanitation and so on. We had a great meeting with...
December 15th, 2016 We started our day by visiting OBAT Primary School, Khalishpur, Khulna where we began by attending a guardian/parents meeting and had an interactive session where parents could ask us any questions. Parents consequently requested to increase capacity up to Secondary School Certificate (SSC) grades. Afterwards, during discussion with parents, they expressed some health concerns regarding their kids such as incidence of brain tumor, bone disease, eye disease and so on. Their parents requested us to do...
December 14th, 2016 We started our day in Khulna by visiting our preschool programs. The kids were busy taking a yearly exam. I cherish these moments, when I get to spend time with some of the kids. We have tried to inspire leadership qualities in our youth to make them more self sufficient- to help them and empower them with education, so they can take control of their own lives. We had the pleasure of meeting the executive...
December 13th, 2016 After an eight hour journey, we arrived in Khulna and were greeted by the members of SPGRC (Stranded Pakistanis General Repatriation Committee) and the local camp leaders. There was a small community meeting held at the OBAT Khulna Primary School. The community leaders welcomed me with open arms and discussed the various issues each camp was facing, while expressing their hopes and dreams for the future of the community at the same time. Some of the...
Dear readers, Every year, I visit Bangladesh usually once, sometimes twice a year. These trips are made in December when I can take time off from my position at General Motors to visit the people and place where my heart lies. I spend my time visiting with camp residents to find out their needs, meeting potential and current partners, monitoring and evaluating projects as well as training the youth and the staff. This year, I was joined by my daughter, Arishaa Khan,...
