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.
Ekmattra teacher, Cathleen, Marc, Khukie, Senjuti & Saifur
The teacher explained to us that the children who take part regularly in Ekmattra‘s classes are directed through a sophisticated program, at the end of which a talk is held with the child and its parents (if existent) to consider an admission to the organization’s rehabilitation center.
Dinner at Ekmattra's office
For the parents, in particular the mothers, of these children, Ekmattra is currently developing an advanced education program, which shall provide explanations on rights and development possibilities. We were fortunate to have the opportunity to attend a talk on this subject between some Ekmattra employees and mothers after visiting the class. This enabled us to get first-hand information about living conditions and problems of the parents.
Later that night we concluded our day in Mirpur by having dinner with the Ekmattra employees at their office and discussed our future collaboration.
