Sawsan
Eskander
It is easy to be disheartened when one talks about improving the conditions
of underprivileged women, especially in South Asia. However, I’m always
left with a sense of optimism after interacting with a group of individuals
willing to bring about a change in these women’s lives. Such was the
enduring effect of the event organized by Adhunika and co-sponsored by
eb2000 (an expatriate Bangladeshi organization) on Saturday August 7th,
2004. I was awed by the sincere dedication and enthusiasm shown by the
members of this organization. I now strongly believe that there is a better
tomorrow awaiting the women of Bangladesh.
The event took place at the aesthetic, warm and
welcoming residence of Ranu and Hasan Ferdous, who were kind enough
to let us use their house for the event. As planned, people started arriving
in the late afternoon.
We were welcomed with the popular, mouth-watering Bangladeshi snack,
Chatpati, which was prepared by the hostess, Ranu Bhabi. Needless
to mention, the excitement we all felt at the sight of this delicious meal
was palpable. While people were in this state of euphoria, leaflets were
passed around that described Adhunika’s past activities and goals. The
preparation of these leaflets was an interesting and entertaining session as
Labiba Ali, Mark Rozario, Atiq Nabi, Syed Yousuf, Shahnaz Yousuf and I put
together our ideas and varied writing styles in a single piece. I watched
with immense satisfaction as the number of pamphlets diminished rapidly
throughout the evening.
The meeting was initiated by Shahnaz Yousuf’s introduction to Adhunika
followed by a detailed description of both implemented as well as
foreseeable future projects.
Currently, Adhunika has been providing free IT training to underprivileged
women in Dhaka. The organization’s goal is to continue to provide this
training in order to equip these women with skills that will allow them to
achieve success in the modern corporate world.
The next topic of discussion was the implementation of a program that would
ensure the self-sustainability of the IT training school. Valuable
suggestions made included having fee-based membership and applying for
grants from international donor agencies or corporate foundations.
Another idea for fundraising was the proposal to initiate fee-based training
classes for women from more privileged backgrounds, providing the
organization with a constant source of income as well as decreasing its
dependence on donations and grants.
Furthermore, Atiq Nabi – a long time member of Adhunika discussed the
opportunity of networking with various companies in Bangladesh in order to
construct a curriculum that would conform to the employers’ needs, with the
view to providing recruitment to Adhunika’s trainees. Meanwhile,
Sezan Mahmud – a guest to the event mentioned the possibility of City of
Ohio Ohio contributing several computers to the training school. Though
these computers are obsolete in the technologically advanced environment in
the US, they would undoubtedly be very valuable for the IT classes, which
require very basic software and minimal features. In line with the above
possibility, Hasan Bhai elaborated on the options of shipping computers to
Bangladesh at a minimal cost.
The group also had a brainstorming session to generate ideas for Adhunika’s
expansion and publicity. Finally, the organization received donations from
all the attendees, which included donations made by a few people who
couldn’t attend the event. The enthusiasm generated during this meeting
reaffirmed my idealistic beliefs that organizations such as Adhunika play an
important role in ameliorating the condition of women in Bangladesh and our
world today.
After having achieved the meeting’s goals, it was time to relax and
socialize. The evening’s entertainment began with musical performances by
Jibon Biswas, Sezan Mahmud and Subhra Goswami who played the
harmonium and sang some classical music. The atmosphere was rich with
culture and serenity as we were taken on a journey to the world of
Rabindra Shangit. One of the noteworthy performances was an original
song composed by the singer Sezan Mahmud. Throughout this enjoyable evening,
Novita, Nadia and Salma did an excellent job in capturing significant
moments on their cameras.
Finally, we couldn’t resist the fabulous feast brought by Madhury and Salma
that stared right back at us hinting to be devoured. Certainly, it was time
to proceed to the table where the food was served !
