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Tuesday, 05 January 2010 13:42 |
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On the other side of the world - Help for Hopeless in Bangladesh
Bangladesh is a country about the size of Iowa with a population equal to half the population of the United States. It has more that its share of slums and street people whose only source of food is begging and going through garbage in the cities. In the capital city of Dhaka alone, there are over 3.4 million people living in more than 5,000 slums. Bangladesh and many other smaller countries, often generally unknown, are off the radar screen when it comes to humanitarian aid. But they have just as great a need as third world countries that are better known. Rotarian Kent Demuth visited Bangladesh December 2007 while participating in a national polio immunization effort and saw first hand miles of slums and an endless parade of street people. This year the Rotary Club of  Temecula identified Bangladesh as a country to provide with humanitarian aid. Working with the 20-member Rotary Club of North Khulna, which is overwhelmed with the need, our club provides assistance through funding for mosquito netting, blankets and other humanitarian items. Mosquitoes are present year round in Bangladesh, and malaria is an ongoing scourge.
Blankets and mosquito netting were distributed at clinic sites and slums through the month of December. Medical aid was provided to a sixth grade student with eye problems. Blankets and mosquito netting were distributed to families in the village of Deana and Khadimul Islam Orphanage. And a gift that will keep on giving, a “Rickshaw van," was handed over to a destitute woman on Dec. 11 that will generate income for her family. Hasina Begum is a vegetables sales woman, and was passing human-dweller life with her 3 children. Now she will be able to collect vegetables from growers outside the city and will sale/distribute those door-to-door in the residential areas with the assistance of her eldest son.
Khulna Rotarian Hadi wrote to our club: "We raised a toast at our regular weekly meeting on 4 December at 6:30 pm to your club members and pray to the almighty for all of your health, courage to work for humanity and joy. We haven't had any assistance from outside of the club for a long time before this. After getting your fund, our members started participating in projects with great enthusiasm; seems like they just awake up from deep languor!"
Photos from Rotarian Hadi....
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Thursday, 26 November 2009 11:36 |
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Dear Fellow Rotarians,
Rotary Club of Khulna North was founded on 23 March 1980.
It is the second oldest Rotary Club of Khulna city - now almost 30 years old!
We hereby send you this mail in order to dedicate an international toast to your club members to be done next week during the Blanket and Mosquito-net distributing program with assistance of your Club.
We have 20 active members and look forward to meet you in Khulna, the port city of Bangladesh.
Our after office meetings are held every Friday at 6.00 pm at the A. H. Bhuiyan Rotary Complex, 24 Old Jessore Road, Boyra, Khulna-9000, Bangladesh.
Regards
PP Rtn. Sk. Abdul Hadi
Charter Member & ES
Rotary Club of Khulna North, RID-3280
Footnote: One of the Rotary Club of Temecula several International projects is support for humanitarian efforts by Rotary Club of Khulna, Bangladesh. This is a note from our good friend Rotarian Hadi.
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Monday, 04 May 2009 10:08 |
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Bangladesh officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a country in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma (Myanmar) to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south. Together with the Indian state of West Bengal, it makes up the ethno-linguistic region of Bengal. The name Bangladesh means "Country of Bengal" in the official Bengali language. (From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) The borders of present-day Bangladesh were established with the partition of Bengal and India in 1947, when the region became the eastern wing of the newly-formed Pakistan. However, it was separated from the western wing by 1,600 kilometres (1,000 mi) across India. Political and linguistic discrimination as well as economic neglect led to popular agitations against West Pakistan, which led to the war for independence in 1971 and the establishment of Bangladesh. After independence the new state endured famines, natural disasters and widespread poverty, as well as political turmoil and military coups. The restoration of democracy in 1991 has been followed by relative stability and economic progress.  Bangladesh is the seventh most populous country in the world and is among the most densely populated countries in the world with a high poverty rate. Bangladesh is about the size of Iowa with other 150,000,000 population.
Since independence more than 30 years ago, the Government of Bangladesh has invested substantially in the institutionalization and strengthening of health and family planning services, with special attention to rural areas, and the government is committed to HFA with PHC as the key approach. For the last 30 years, there has been a substantial improvement in the health status of the people. Despite these improvements, much remains still to be done. Mortalities rates, especially infant and maternal mortality, continue to be unacceptably high. The quality of life of the general population is still very low. Low calorie intake continues to result in malnutrition, particularly in women and children. Diarrhoeal disease continues to be a major killer. Communicable and poverty-related diseases that are preventable still dominate the top ten causes of morbidity. The Rotary Club of Temecula plans to partner with Rotary Clubs in Bangladesh during the 2009-10 Rotary year with a Matching Grant focused in these areas. |
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