Introducing myself and my journal: My story of finding elephants

About Me:

Let me tell you a secret story about circus elephants! Elephants are
kept in captivity by a very weak chain! Because these elephants spend
year after year in this condition, these mighty creatures totally
forget that they have limitless power!

Similarly, there are more than 10 million girls and children in South
Asian countries who literally do nothing, just spend their lives by
doing household chores and gossiping. They have never had the
opportunity for an education, and can’t imagine financial freedom!
Just think what the world economy would be, if they were able to use
their potential.

Now, I will start my story about finding those elephants. I was born
and raised in a very small town in Bangladesh. In my community I was
the first girl to graduate from a university. I could have had a good
job in an MNC (multi-national company) after completing my graduation
in finance, but I made a different choice: something touched the core
of my heart. One day on my way to university I saw a very small girl,
about three or four years, old selling candy on the road. A man
kicked her very brutally because she was asking him to buy some candy!
I was shocked and discovered that these street children are treated as
if they were street dogs. Because I have a four year old niece, who
goes to school and can buy any toys she wants, I felt especially sorry
for this young girl.

I realized that this discrepancy between my niece’s life and the lives
of the children on the street is fundamentally due to the lack of
financial freedom as well as education. I along with my friends were
determined to make a difference. We started a small initiative at my
university campus by going into the slums and attempted to persuade
the children to come to us to begin to learn basic reading and writing
skills. Again and again we failed. However after a heart and soul
endeavor, we were able to convince six slum children to begin their
education, so that they could at least write their names. In four
years, more than 250 children have gone through our program. Now they
are heading towards a better life!

Previously, I worked as a volunteer for many international
organizations like European Union, DFID, UNO, National Youth Project,
etc. Currently, I am also affiliated with some international youth
organizations like IYC, WYA, etc. I have also taken some professional
degrees regarding the structuring of social development organization.

Presently, I am researching and working on my project to take this
initiative to a greater level! My mission is to create a non–profit
organization, which will both provide free education to
underprivileged children as well as, set up various learning programs
specifically for girls, such as spoken English, computer learning,
etc. To sum up, my dream is to turn my small project into a giant
International Organization, whether by partnership or by sole
establishment. I am working hard to turn my dream into reality.

Apart from that, I am a fun loving person!!! I love to travel, explore
new places, taste new food and make new friends. Well, I also love to
dance and do some dancing when no one is around!

My Passions:
Empowering the poor community

My Challenges:
Funding & finding proper mentors

My Vision for the Future:
An empowered community

My Areas of Expertise:
Development Studies- South Asian Context , Research on root cause of the poor communities