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ASPIRE
Your Monthly News & Updates
March 2017
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Lots of good stuff is happening at OBAT and you are behind it!
Aspire is now being released monthly to keep you informed of the never-ending good news and the impact you are making.
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First board meeting for 2017
On February fifth, OBAT's board held its first meeting for the year. As board members are dispersed across North America, the meeting is held via conference call. Immad Ahmed, OBAT's Executive Director, who is currently in Bangladesh, updated the board on the new intiatives that were taken in 2016 and the progress that was made during the year. Two guests, Mr. Aftab Iqbal as well as Mr. Atif Godil (OBAT Canada's Executive Director), also joined the call. We are excited to move forward with implementing the goals for 2017!
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Ms. Jameela Ali visits the camps
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Ms. Ali at the Neuroscience Hospital
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The purpose of her visit was to observe OBAT's projects which coincide with her interest in women's development, environmental issues, and sustainable development as well as to volunteer her skills.
Ms. Ali visited all our health projects in Syedpur and Rangpur and will be providing a report on what she observed and areas that need improvement. Ms. Ali also
visited the neuroscience hospital to meet with patients and exchanged views about helping the community, with the administration and the founder of AWARD (a partner NGO of OBAT), Mr. Niaz Ahmed.
After her visit, she raised funds during her stay in Dhaka, to provide the families of patients with hygiene packs which she then distributed among the families herself.
Jameela Ali also visited the safe maternity program at Golahat. She was traveling through Bangladesh with an OBAT team who was visiting different cities to conduct staff trainings. In Khulna, she conducted a meditation and yoga session with teachers of the preschool and primary school. She advised them to meditate for five minutes with kids before and after class as it would boost memory and improve concentration.
We are very grateful to her for her visit, feedback, and insights for improvement of our projects.
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SB Nagar students at the REHAB competition |
OBAT students excel in national level art competitions
More than five hundred students from all over Bangladesh attended the Igloo, Little Art Champion at Badshudhara Convention City.Three of these students were from OBAT's English School. It was a great achievement for our students to reach the grand finale.
Another art competition for the OBAT English School was organized by Faber- Castell, world's leading office products company. Out of two hundred and fifty six participants, nine were selected to participate in various art competitions to be held at private and public schools in Dhaka.
The SB Nagar School students were not to be left behind. Fourteen students from the school and four students from OBAT's tutoring center participated in an art competiion organized by REHAB (Real Estate and Housing Assoc. of Bangladesh). The competition was held at the Radisson Blu Hotel and was presided over by Mr. Arfeen, Deputy Commissioner, Chittagong.
Congratulations to our students and teachers for their hard work and achievements!
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Mr. Jamal Minto visits the projects
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Mr. Minto with the scholarship students |
Mr. Jamal Minto, CEO and Founder of CMF (Canadian Multicultural Foundation, Canada) visited OBAT Primary School, Halishaher in Chittagong. Mr. Minto is originally from Sandwip, Chittagong and was excited to see projects run by OBAT in his home city. He visited classes and had discussions with students. He also visited OBAT's scholarship program students who are now learning computers at our schools' office space. Mr. Minto, committed to providing school shoes to all students of Halishaher School.
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Students, ready to set off on the sack race |
Exciting annual sports day at OBAT's Schools
OBAT's Elementary School in Halishaher held their Annual Sports Program at the school's field. Several notable guests from the Lions Club, International Human Rights Organization and a couple of social workers attended the event. A similar program was also held at SB Nagar School. The kids' excitement and enthusiasm was palpable and great to witness.
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Think Tank creates positive attitude change through
"Cle
an the Country Day."
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Think Tank members busy cleaning the camp
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OBAT's Think Tank group in Chittagong observed the Clean the Country Day at SB Nagar Camp. The youth participated in a rally which was held to create awareness and used colorful placards with motivating and inspirational messages.
They also cleaned the camp area. Think Tank members educated the residents to not throw garbage, polythene or other trash in streets and drains.
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Happy preschoolers in new sweaters- with Ms. Ali |
140 preschoolers stay warm with new sweaters
OBAT's Rangpur Preschool distributed sweaters among students who are aged five and above. OBAT's Executive Director, Immad Ahmed and Jamila Ali who is visiting from the US, enjoyed the distribution program as children were really excited to get new sweaters. We are thankful to our donors and to the Rangpur team for their support and hard work.
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Time for Chittagong teachers to
undergo training
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Ms. Nighat Shamim training the teachers |
In February's Aspire issue, you read about the Dhaka Schools' teachers receiving training. Next in line for training, was the Chittagong group. The teachers from the three Chittagong schools, Ferozeshah, SB Nagar and Halishaher were trained by Ms. Shamim Nighat and Mr. Sohail Khan. The focus was on attaining 2017 goals, developing excellence in English and Math and involving students in all activities in order to create leadership skills among them.
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Sunny conducts HCD training at Rangpur |
Increasing efficiencies among OBAT BD team
OBAT's Project Officers, staff and think tank members are an asset to the organization. OBAT believes in the continuous improvement of its team to increase its effectiveness and efficiency. During February, a team training was conducted in all the cities of Bangladesh which have an OBAT office. The training session covered using Google docs as a tool for information management and basic project management skills. Think Tank members received HCD (Human Centered Design) training as well. They also received training in conducting a camp census survey in their cities.
OBAT's Executive Director, Immad Ahmed led all the training sessions with the assistance of his executive intern, A.K. Sunny. They were also accompanied by Ms. Jameela Ali and Noor Hasan from OBAT Media Productions. The team spent three days in each city conducting trainings and observing the current projects.
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Lions Club's District Governor gifts a cap to a student |
Lions Club partners with OBAT's Halishaher School
The Lions Club of Chittagong, LEO Club, Quantom, Ain Sohayata Kendro and AFIK Foundation jointly organized a circumcision program for forty-five students at OBAT's Halishaher School. They also distributed garments, caps, towels and baby food as well as essential medicine. Lions Club's District Governor, Shah Alam Babul visited the program and met with parents and students. Mr. Babul was very pleased to see the program and announced that he will provide school bags to students achieving 1st, 2nd and 3rd position in exams.
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Volunteers at the rally |
International Mother Language Day observed in OBAT's projects
International Mother Language day is an internationally observed day that was designated by UNESCO as such in 1999. The day is observed every year in OBAT's projects as well. This year, OBAT's Think Tank organized a rally to observe the day. Think Tank students also visited a book fair and learned about new writers and about the days' significance.
Almost one hundred and thirty volunteers participated, including grade eight and nine OBAT's NLJ School students, OBAT's tutoring students and some teachers.
NLJ School also organized an alphabet competition for sixth and seventh grades and distributed gifts among winning students. OBAT's BLS High School also organized a rally and art competition and distributed gifts among the winning students.
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The building's exterior |
Addition of new building to OBAT's projects
OBAT has constructed a new building in the SB Nagar camp. At present, it is a single storied building. Later, two more stories will be added to it. One room of the new building will be used for the office and computer training
center and three rooms will be used for a preschool and an elementary school that will run in two shifts. At one time, it can accomodate two hundred and forty students. During evenings, the building will be used as a tutoring center for about one hundred and twenty students.
The building will also serve as an excellent venue for s
taff meetings and trainings, training programs for the youth and the community as well as for seminars etcetera.
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Help OBAT through Facebook
Facebook's appeal can extend beyond posting selfies and tempting photos of meals. Now you can use the social media site to raise funds for charities as well! Imagine the ginormous impact if all of our donors created a fundraiser for OBAT on their personal Facebook pages and invited their Facebook family to participate!
We promise, it will take not more than five minutes of your time.
Check it out!
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Inspired? Click here to DONATE to our projects
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OBAT Helpers Inc. | 317.203.0603| contact@obathelpers.org |www.obathelpers.org
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