ASPIRE
A quarterly OBAT Helpers publication
January 2015

In This Issue
OBAT's President, Mr. Anwar Khan visits the camps

 

 
Anwar Khan (middle on the left) bouncing ideas with OBAT Bangladesh team

Mr. Anwar Khan visited the camps for the second time this year.  Here are some highlights of his activities from the visit:

 

Leadership and outcomes workshop: Mr. Khan conducted a three day workshop for his staff. The focus of the workshop was on performance measurement and personnel development. With his team, Mr. Khan reviewed personnel and organizational strengths and weaknesses and developed action plans for continual improvement in 2015.

Camp cleaning: All the staff of OBAT joined Mr. Khan in conducting a clean up of the camp premises in Market camp, Dhaka.

New year visits: On new year's eve, Mr. Khan visited some families in the camps, spent time with them and spoke to them about their needs and aspirations.

English language class: Mr. Khan also inaugurated a class for teaching camp youths to be fluent in the English language.

Scholarship convention
A student contributes her ideas at the convention
For the first time, a Scholarship Students' Convention was organized at Rangpur. Two hundred and thirty-five students from OBAT's scholarship program attended the convention. The event was also attended by all the teachers of the tutoring center as well as OBAT's staff. The main objective of the convention was to encourage a close relationship between the scholarship beneficiaries and OBAT, to involve the youth in camp development activities and to hear the students' feedback and ideas.
 
Scholarships light futures
From left: Saima, Sumi and Farzana
In the photo above, are three bright, young ladies who are studying in the 3rd semester of the BBA program with the help of a scholarship from OBAT. In October, they all also started working as Field Officers for Islamic Relief, a leading humanitarian organization. OBAT's scholarship program has helped nearly 850 students who cannot afford further education, to advance in technical fields of study. These students are hardworking and intelligent and represent the hope of their families to rescue them from poverty.

Light up the future of many more young ladies and men in the camps by contributing to the scholarship program here: http://bit.ly/1fnvrIn
OBAT's
Think Tank and CHANGE collaborate on developing renewable energy sources.

 

 OBAT's partner in Bangladesh, CHANGE received a grant from the U.S Department of State for a program which has been designed to mentor young innovators and engineering students with a specific focus on research and developing renewable energy products. CHANGE and OBAT THINK TANK are collaboratively going to implement this project.


The objective is to train up to twenty-five youngsters through an intensive curriculum. Fifteen of these participants will be from the camps in Mohammadpur. The rest of the group will be from different universities and vocational institutions. This group will receive two months of hands on training from certified, expert trainers on developing renewable energy appliances. Starting, 20th of December 2014 and ending on 20th of February 2015, three classes lasting two hours will be held every week. At the end of the course, the participants will  come up with five innovations which might have the potential to be launched at a national level.

Farewells and Graduations
Graduating student from computer center receives a certificate.
On October 18th, a graduation ceremony and farewell program was held for the students of the Khulna sewing center, Khulna computer training center and the embroidery training center of Khulna.  The 5th batch graduated from the sewing center, the 7th from the computer center and the 1st from the embroidery training center. Ward Councilor, Mr. Moniruzzaman Monir was the Chief Guest of the program and awarded certificates of completion to the graduating batches.
Gemmer Foundation awards grant to OBAT
Students at Syedpur tutoring center

 

The H.C Gemmer Family Foundation recently awarded a $3,000 grant to OBAT for the annual operating cost of the Syedpur tutoring center. This was the second grant received from Gemmer-the previous one funded the annual cost of the Syedpur sewing center. We are very thankful to the board of the Gemmer foundation for considering OBAT for this grant.

Where have we been since October?
Attendees at the Spirit and Place event, engrossed in a discussion.

 

Spirit and Place Festival 2014:

 

OBAT participated in the 2014 Spirit and Place Festival, with its partner, the Second Presbyterian Church on November 9th.

This year's festival was centered around the theme, "Journey." The event comprised of a documentary, discussion, and a large scale exhibit created by a human rights photojournalist, Katie Basbagill, from photos taken during her visit to the camps. The audience  also got the opportunity to engage in insightful conversations with the presenters who had journeyed to Bangladesh and returned with their unique and personal inspirations, ideas and reflections.

 
Global Gifts community give back night: 

Global Gifts held a community give back night for OBAT on November 21st at its Nora location in Indianapolis. The organization donated 10% of its sales between 5:00 to 8:00 pm to OBAT.

Meet and Greet brunch in Kentucky: 

On December 6th, a brunch was hosted by Dr. Tariq Muhammad in Kentucky to inform the local community about OBAT's programs. It was attended by OBAT's representatives, Mr. Anwar Khan and Mr. Rezwan Khan. We are very grateful to Dr. Muhammad for holding this event and to all the guests who attended and contributed generously.

Victory Day in Indianapolis:

The local Bangladeshi community held its first celebration of Victory Day (Independence Day of Bangladesh) on December 30th. It was a privilege for OBAT to partner with and sponsor the event. The event involved the showing of a movie, art competition for children, music and other entertainment. The children created hand made cards for the kids in OBAT's schools while the adults signed encouraging messages for them.

 

About OBAT


OBAT Helpers is a U.S. based non-profit, 501(c)3 organization committed to providing aid, support, education and economical empowerment to suffering and displaced people. Our immediate focus is the forgotten and ignored Urdu speaking community, commonly known as stranded Pakistanis/Biharis, who have been suffering silently in the many shanty camps across Bangladesh for the past 43 years. OBAT was formed ten years ago to empower the camp residents through its various projects related to health, education and micro finance.
 
We hope that you will continue your generous support and create hope for these unfortunate and forgotten people. Together, we are making a difference in their lives as we help them fulfill their hopes and dreams.
 

Please share this message with your friends and families and invite them to join us on this journey! 


 

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We value and appreciate your support tremendously. For questions and concerns, please email us at [email protected]

  

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Prominent newspaper in Bangladesh laud's OBAT's efforts.
The Daily Star, a prominent newspaper in Bangladesh recently published an article about OBAT's projects. Click here for the article.
OBAT welcomes new board member
Ms. Hannah Croucher
OBAT welcomes Ms. Hannah Croucher as the latest member to join its board. Hannah works with the Girl Scouts of Central Indiana as the Membership Development Manager.  She has been volunteering with OBAT's H2O (Help to OBAT) and was also a part of the OBAT team who visited the camps in May 2014. 
Camp youth receive English language and professional training
A training session is underway

The students from IBA (Institute of Business Administration) and BUET (Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology) are continuing with the tradition of helping the university going camp youth. Similar to the previous year, these students are volunteering their time to conduct courses for English language and professional training. The classes have been held since the end of November and are conducted for three hours a week. 

 

Camp kids celebrate World Children's Day
Children at the rally

On October 13th, World Children Day was celebrated by the children of OBAT's Sardar Bahadur Nagar School. The children participated in a rally and carried a banner which read, "We were born in the camps but we don't want to die there."

Board member, Dr. Ayaz Malik visits camps
Ayaz Malik at the Dhaka School
In December, Mr. Ayaz Malik, OBAT's esteemed board member visited the camps from the US. He toured projects in Dhaka and also participated in some of the Victory Day activities that took place in the SB Nagar School in Chittagong.
Blankets distribution keeps camp residents warm
A camp resident receives a blanket

A local welfare organization implemented a winter relief project known as, "Project Kombol" or "Blankets Project" throughout Bangladesh. The organization provided 400 blankets to OBAT, Bangladesh. These were distributed in the camps of Rangpur, Syedpur and Mymensingh. A donor from the US, Mr. Eijaz ur Rahman made a generous contribution towards the blankets as well.

 Mr. Imam ul Haque, Operations Director of OBAT, Bangladesh also donated 920 blankets amongst the students and teachers of the Halishaer, SB Nagar and Ferozeshah Elementary Schools. 

 

 

Khulna preschool celebrates annual result
Proudly holding up their report cards
Khulna Preschool celebrated their annual results in a ceremony held at the Khulna vocational center.The children were awarded prizes to encourage them. OBAT operates twenty-five preschools in different camps.
 
Victory Day
Kids from the Khulna School in the celebratory rally

December 16th is celebrated as Victory Day or Bangladesh's independence day. In the camps, children participate fully in all the celebrations. Some of these consist of entertaining contests and rallies.

Canadian guests conduct survey in camps
Mr. Atif and Ms. Mehwish Farooq  and carried out an (left) in Dhaka
Chartered accountant and businessman, Mr. Atif Godil and his wife, Ms. Mehwish Farooq, an early childhood education specialist from Montreal, Canada visited the camps in Dhaka in November. During their visit, they conducted a survey in the camps, talking to various camp residents to conduct a needs assessment as well as explore the various problems facing the camp residents. Ms. Farooq also visited the various educational projects to conduct an assessment and evaluation of the projects.

 

Staff attends Training  on Information Act
The training session

Some of OBAT's staff recently attended a training program at RIB (Research Initiatives Bangladesh). OBAT Helpers, Alfalah Bangladesh, AWARD and Council of Minority- all the organizations that are working for the camps' development, participated in the training. The subject of the training was the Right to Information Act 2009.

 

Shop at Amazon and help OBAT 

 

OBAT is a part of Amazon Smile. You can combine shopping and giving when you shop at Amazon. Amazon will make a donation to OBAT Helpers if you designate it as the charity of your choice.  http://smile.amazon.com/ch/47-0946122
The More You Know
Turn to Page 21 to read about OBAT's tenth anniversary in the news magazine, Pakistan Link.

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