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Dhaka, 21 February 2012
On the occasion of International Mother Language Day 2012, Ekmattra published a newsletter with reports about the Children’s Village Haluaghat and the latest adventures of Ekmattra’s children:
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 Construction site of the future Children's Village Haluaghat, photo taken on January 5, 2012 Dhaka, 8 January 2012
Almost a year has passed since our last visit to Bangladesh. When we visited last, the construction of the children’s village had just started and it was difficult to imagine how it will be once complete. Meanwhile the project in Haluaghat has taken some shape. We would like to share our impressions with you, and also tell you about our encounter with the Ekmattra children.
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Dhaka, 9 April 2011
 Guest contribution by Farhana Hossain, Ekmattra
In the present crowd of hundreds, maybe thousands of restaurants and fast-food corners of Dhaka city, a new name has added its own grace and individuality – Roshayon. On the first day of April 2011 the restaurant with a twist of exciting fusion-food just had its inauguration at Mirpur. The location is easy, near Sony cinema hall at Mirpur 1 main road. The food, the interior and the total ambiance is as unique and interesting as the name Roshayon. It means “chemistry” that speaks about so many things together. Read the rest of this entry »
Heidelberg, 16 November 2010
 KlinikTicker, Heidelberg University Hospital Magazine, November 2010
 Promod Mankin opening the construction of the Ekmattra Academy Dhaka, 6 September 2010
Guest contribution by Mahmudul Hoque Moni, Director, Media and Mass Communication Department of Ekmattra
On August 17, 2010, the foundation ceremony of the Ekmattra-Dutch-Bangla Bank Academy was held in Halughat, Mymensingh. Bangladesh’s honorable State Minister for Cultural Affairs Promod Mankin opened the foundation of the Academy in a blissful evening.
The Ekmattra-Dutch-Bangla Bank Academy is going to be a platform for the advancement of the disadvantaged children of Bangladesh. A young bunch of university students dreamt of such an academy in 2003 and formed the organization Ekmattra for that mission. Finally, with Dutch-Bangla Bank Limited’s announcement to bear the bulk of the costs of the construction, Ekmattra materialized the dream into reality. Read the rest of this entry »
Haluaghat, 14 August 2010
Dutch-Bangla Bank Limited (DBBL), a joint venture commercial bank between Bangladeshi parties and the Dutch company FMO, recently announced to bear the bulk of the costs of the construction of the Children’s Village Haluaghat. In recognition of this generous commitment the children’s village will be named Ekmattra-Dutch-Bangla Bank Academy.
On August 17, 2010 Ekmattra and DBBL will officially celebrate the start of construction on the Children’s Village Haluaghat. On this occasion DBBL’s chief executive officer will hand over the first check in front of a high-profile audience including Bangladesh’s State Minister for Cultural Affairs Promod Mankin, the governor of the Haluaghat Upazila and the Japanese ambassador to Bangladesh. More than 1000 people have been invited to Haluaghat for this milestone event. The program will start at noon and end around 2.30 p.m. local time.
The whole event will be filmed and photographed. We will report about the event and the details of Ekamttra’s agreement with DBBL shortly.
Dhaka, 17 June 2010
 Dhaka's population in million people Bangladesh’s capital grows at an enormous speed, especially as a consequence of the migration from rural areas that can be observed since the 1960s. The result is an increasingly overburdened infrastructure. Power breakdowns and water supply failures are frequent. At almost all times of the day, routes shorter than five kilometers mean a driving time of about 45 to 90 minutes because of the extreme traffic density. We experienced this again today. It had been our goal to have as many meetings as possible. At the end of the day, due to the traffic and the resulting delays, we had only managed to have two. Read the rest of this entry »
Haluaghat, 15 June 2010
Approximately 180 km north of the capital of Dhaka with its 14 million inhabitants, not far from the Indian border, lies Haluaghat, one of the most fertile regions of the country. This northern region of Bangladesh is relatively safe from natural catastrophes, which is one of the reasons Ekmattra chose this area a couple years ago to look for a suitable building site for its planned children’s village. And they found just the right place. Two sides of the one hectare large piece of land are enclosed by two separate streams, which swell to small rivers during the monsoon season. Read the rest of this entry »
Dhaka, 12 June 2010
 Pupils at a class for street children held by Ekmattra Our partner organization Ekmattra operates a school for street children at a community house in Mirpur in the north-west of Dhaka, providing an education to those children living on the street or in slums, who wouldn’t have had this opportunity otherwise. These children are taught three times a week by experienced volunteer teachers in fundamental cultural techniques – reading, writing and basic math. These classes are supplemented with courses in common knowledge, sexual education and manners. We had the opportunity to visit a class consisting of ten students in Mirpur today with our local volunteer Saifur Rahman and his wife Senjuti accompanying us. After a new letter of the Bengali alphabet was introduced to the students, they took up a traditional dance and sang Bangladeshi songs for us. After some encouragement from the kids we gave them a rendition of the German children’s song “Alle meine Entchen”. Our Bangladeshi friends were clearly amused by this and were reluctant to let us leave by the end of the lesson. We left deeply moved by the unbroken joy and overwhelming energy of these children who have struggled to survive since the day they were born. Read the rest of this entry »
Dhaka, 11 June 2010
Since 2004, Ekmattra has been running a rehabilitation centre for Dhaka’s street children in the city’s Northwestern district of Mirpur. On weekdays, the children attend the local school together with other children from the area. In addition to a householder who provides around-the-clock care for the children, there is a cook and two other employees and contact persons for the children. The shared meals, excursions and the solving of minor conflicts convey visitors an intimate and friendly atmosphere. Read the rest of this entry »
Heidelberg, 25 May 2010
Sorry, this entry is only available in German.
Heidelberg, 26 February 2010
 Charity Party "Bengali Blast" On the 25th of February 2010 a charity concert for the children’s village Haluaghat in Bangladesh was held in the Billyblues at the Ziegler under the name “Bengali Blast“. The rock and alternative-rock bands performing were 1, 2,… JETZT! from Heidelberg, Eat That Frog from Stuttgart and Die Kunstbanausen from Adelmannsfelden. The 90 guests and three sponsors present donated more than 1000 Euros, thus making the event a complete success for the street children in Bangladesh’s capitol of Dhaka. “We are very happy that the guests as well as the bands, some of which had to travel quite a distance to get here, had a great time at the Party and are overwhelmed by the willingness to support from the Heidelberg residents,” says Maqsuda Afroz, project executive and Ph.D. student at the Heidelberg Institute of Theoretical Physics. Read the rest of this entry »
Heidelberg, 25 February 2010
 Rhein-Neckar-Zeitung, 25 February 2010
Farah Haider, 24 February 2010
 St. Martin's Island, Bangladesh When we step forward from the jetty in the Saint Martin Island, we were looking for a luggage carrier. We had a heavy suitcase with us. To my surprise I discovered that 5/6 kids were trying to grab our suitcase. All of them wanted to carry our suitcase from the jetty to a rickshaw van. One of them was so little that my dad decided to pick him. That small kid was hardly 5 years old, very thin and weak. When I asked dad why he had chosen such a tiny kid, he replied: “All other kids are fighting among themselves for carrying the luggage, eventually they will obtain their customer one by one. But this kid is not strong enough to compete with others. I don’t want to encourage this kid for begging by giving him money for nothing.” Read the rest of this entry »
 Flyer "Bengali Blast" Heidelberg, 31 January 2010
As night falls on Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka, more than 200,000 children do not go home to a warm and cozy bed. Instead they roam the streets of the city, often barefooted and scantily clad, looking for a safe shelter to sleep.
Located in South Asia, Bangladesh is one of the poorest nations in the world with a GDP per capita of about 525 USD (2009). One of the most exposed and excluded groups of Bangladesh’s society are the street children, whose number the government estimates at around 380.000, 55% of which live in the capital of Dhaka. Approximately every second of these children (49%) is under the age of ten. Read the rest of this entry »
Tahsin Mahmud, 9 December 2009
 Kamalapur Railway Station After pushing my way away from the hustling and bustling crowd I entered the grand gate of the Kamalapur railway station. The terminal was almost abandoned. I placed my travel bags on one of the fixed benches and settled myself right beside it. Why was it empty? Oh well, I was too sluggish to take out my calculator sized mobile phone from my tight jeans pocket. I looked around and searched for the “Big Ben” of Kamalapur. But sigh! I forgot this was Bangladesh! And the Big Ben can only be in London. Anyways, I forced it out and realized that I was one and a half hours early. What do I do then? Oh yeah! Observe the daily life of the street children dwelling in the station. Here are some of my clinical observations which I would love to share with everyone. Read the rest of this entry »
 Dhaka at night Tahsin Mahmud, 2 December 2009
I jumped out from the bus and walked back home. I could not even think of taking a rickshaw on the way as I was running out of cash. I probably had a ten taka note and some two taka notes in my pocket. I desperately needed to go back home as fast as I could as it was already dusk in Dhaka city. Well, it is absolutely unsafe walking down streets when night approaches. And if caught by any robbers or street gang, I could be even tortured and embarrassed for just having two taka notes… I fast-walked towards a dark alley, when suddenly someone poked me from the back. Initially I was staggered and my first thought was to run away from the world! But I was brave enough to look back to see a small girl staring at me. Read the rest of this entry »
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