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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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. (more…)

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.

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. (more…)

Heidelberg, 25 May 2010

Sorry, this entry is only available in German.