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.

Maqsuda arrived in Bangladesh in the first week of November 2011, Rainer one month later. They left together for Houston, Texas during the first week of 2012. During this time, we visited Ekmattra’s shelter home for street children in Dhaka as well as the construction site of the Children’s Village Haluaghat in northern Bangladesh.

At Ekmattra's rehabilitation center in Dhaka

It is hard to tell who was more excited about our meeting again after almost a year – the children or us. It was great to see the progress our little friends in Dhaka made, both personally and in their studies. They told us about how their lives went since we met last, about the many programs Ekmattra had organized for them, about their hobbies and friends. We told them about our motorcycle trip through Africa last summer, about meeting lions and elephants and about similarities and differences between African, Bangladeshi and Western culture. The Ekmattra children had just finished their year-end exams, and all of them passed with good grades! We thought they deserve a reward for this great accomplishment and treated them to traditional Bengali sweets. Many of these children were living on the streets just a few years ago, earning their living through begging and odd jobs – not dreaming of going to school. Ekmattra did an extraordinary job at getting all of them admitted to local schools and helping them adjust to this new environment. Once introverted and not very confident about themselves, many now proudly tell us about their achievments at school, and their plans for the future – that part of the timeline they did not have the freedom to think about in their earlier lives. We visited Ekmattra’s shelter home once again shortly before we left Bangladesh. We said or goodbyes and hope to meet again some time in 2012.

Maqsuda inspecting the construction site of the future Children's Village Haluaghat

Construction site

On January 5, we went on a five-hour drive from Dhaka to Haluaghat to check the progress made at the construction site of Ekmattra’s children’s village. We were happy to see that the foundations of all buildings are built. Also, the concrete frame of most buildings is completed. The village pond is taking shape and the village garden is flourishing. Ekmattra’s dream is becoming a reality – slowly but steadily. Given the many obstacles one is faced when realizing a project of such a dimension in a faraway corner of rural Bangladesh, the progress that has been made is impressive and we are hopeful that, next time we visit Bangladesh, we will be able to spend the night at one of the new buildings.

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.

It was a wonderful experience for the local people of Haluaghat, a remote sub-district of Bangladesh. Ekmattra invited more than 1000 locals to attend the ceremony. The program was supposed to start at 5 p.m. but enthusiastic locals and visitors from the capital started to gather as soon as early afternoon. Suddenly, hard rain encumbered the preparation and the program had to be postponed to the evening. Meanwhile thousands of people broke their religious fasting with a pack of food (iftar) given by Ekmattra.

Ekmattra and friends

All the guests reached the location on time and finally the program started at 7.30 p.m. Many journalists, well-wishers of Ekmattra and distinguished cultural personalities graced the occasion. The program started with the recitation of holy words from holy books. Then details of the Academy were presented to the audience. The local distinguished guests thanked and welcomed Ekmattra into the locality.

In his speech, the representative of the Embassy of Japan, Mr. Takanori Uehara, promised to help Ekmattra and to support its current and future projects. Mr. Saem Ahmed, Executive Committee Chairman, and Mr. Yasin Ali, Managing Director of Dutch-Bangla Bank Limited expressed their solidarity with the objectives of the Academy and declared to donate 24.7 million BDT (i.e. about 277,000 EUR or 355,000 USD) for its construction. Then they handed over a check of six million BDT (i.e. about 67,000 EUR or 86,000 USD) to Ekmattra as the signing amount.

Handing over the first check for the construction of the Children's Village Haluaghat

Bangladesh’s honorable State Minister for Cultural Affairs Promod Mankin delivered his priceless speech in front of the audience. He honored the activity of Ekmattra and promised to give his full support. Then he asked the people of his region of origin (Haluaghat) to help construct the Academy.

Finally, the minister opened the foundation of the Academy at 9 p.m. Ekmattra distributed pens (with the academy’s name and date of foundation on them) among the audience as the symbol of excellence of the Academy.

The total construction budget of the Ekmattra-Dutch Bangla Academy is 35.8 million BDT. Dutch-Bangla Bank will bear the bulk of it. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed between the parties. Ekmattra has already started the construction work. The Academy is designed by the famous Bangladeshi Architect Mr. Iqbal Habib.

Memorial plaque of the opening ceremony

Ekmattra is determined to end the construction within a year and enroll more than 100 disadvantaged children into the Academy in January 2012.

Press review:

• The Independent: “DBBL launchs Ekmattra Academy“
• The Financial Express: “DBBL donates Tk 24.7m to Ekmattra“
• Dutch-Bangla Bank Newsroom: “DBBL donates Tk. 2.47 crore to establish EKMATTRA-Dutch-Bangla Bank Academy“

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.

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.

Donations from Germany

We travelled to Bangladesh with a total of 3100 Euros to directly take part in the funding of the dam project. The money was acquired through the profit generated by the beneficiary concert “Bengali Blast” and generous private donations. To prevent erosion, the banks of the streams are being fortified and plants are applied. Furthermore, dams will be erected to ensure a stable supply of water in times of shortage for the sanitary facilities and irrigation of the fields.

The riverbed before (left) & after (right)

Accomplishments

Since the purchase of the property a lot has changed in the serenity of Haluaghat. The first crops were planted, a well was dug, two big ponds were excavated and cottages were constructed. The local workers, together with professionals like architects, surveyors and Ekmattra employees, are a guarantee for the success of the children’s village. The local residents are provided with work, which makes it possible for them to identify with the “project Children’s Village” and they are learning new skills at the same time, which they later will be able to use in their own village – all of which are eco-friendly and require minimal expenses.

First Impressions

Workcamp with local students

We were very impressed as we arrived in Haluaghat for the first time after a four-hour drive. A lot has changed since last year. Beside a small cottage, which was present the year before, two new buildings were erected. They are mainly used as a sleeping opportunity after a hard day of labor.

On the first day of our stay in Haluaghat we were brought up-to-date about recent developments. This was done by the responsible architect of the renowned architectural bureau VITTI and two of his employees. The surveyor marked the spots on the perimeter where the different buildings of the children’s village will be erected, which enabled us to get a realistic impression of the dimensions the future village will actually have for the first time.

In the afternoon 20 students from the surrounding schools gathered on the property to receive instructions on the upcoming workcamp.

Workcamp

Maqsuda, Cathleen & Marc working with local students on the irrigation system of the Children's Village Haluaghat

The workcamp took place a week later. Armed with hatchets and baskets we set to work under the hot midday sun in 20 minute shifts. A big challenge lay ahead of us: We had to lower a part of the riverbed to create a steady downward slope. As it turned out, we had underestimated the task. Our initial excitement to finally “work hands on” decreased rapidly as temperatures rose. Even the students, who were participating in one of the legendary workcamps, were hardly able to return to their home villages after dinner. Still, everyone felt a deep sense of satisfaction at the end of the day. We hardly felt the heat that night – we were too tired from this exhausting, yet fulfilling day.

We were woken up the next morning by loud noises. It was the first signs of the upcoming monsoon, which hit the metal sheet roof of our cottage with thundering force. Shortly after that we could hear voices coming from outside and, upon opening our cottage’s door, witnessed a spectacle none of us will forget too soon. Everyone had left their sleeping places and was excelling in a ceremony between raindance and liberated gestures, the climax of which was the leap into the warm, rainwater-filled mud pit. The stream’s current had increased and so it was decided to postpone the work of the day.

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