Despite having all the delicacies we want, how many of us think about the under-privileged children of our age who are living in the streets without any facilities? This is the harsh reality that very few of us think about them and even fewer come forward to help.
Alokito Shishu is one of the leading volunteer organisations working with these under-priviledged children since 2015. Their main focus is establishing quality education along with effective life skills amongst these children. The goal of this organisation is to teach them so the under-privilieged children can get financially and socially independent with one single belief — “Every child is special”.
They started with only 30 children at Rabindra Shorobor, Dhaka. They primarily teach the children how to read and write in Bangla, English, and Mathematics for the elementary level. Moreover, they also have some basic aspects like teaching social norms and ethics in their syllabus. Besides academics, they also arrange for the recreation of children through art, dance, music, and drama. Time flies fast and within only 5 years, they have become a family of over 600 members.
Besides, Alokito Shishu also arranges different cultural and religious festivals. The children are gifted with new clothes and food every Eid. They also have different arrangements on national days like International Mother Language day, Victory Day and Independence Day.
During the Covid-19 crisis, they came forward with “Gift for Good”. They distributed masks, hand sanitisers, and spread awareness among the under-privileged. They also focused on the day labourers who lost their jobs during the ongoing crisis. They provided single meals to more than 3,000 jobless poor people and supplied daily food items to more than 10,000 families.
“Gift for Good” is an amazing initiative by Alokito Shishu with the aim being to support the under-privileged communities during this Covid-19 crisis. Alokito Shishu runs the “Gift for Good” campaign with the financial help from the Food Bank Network, ASHA, Hope for Bangladesh, and other local youth organisations. More than 200 local volunteers have been working in almost 15 districts to supply necessary goods since 15 March.
When asked about working with Alokito Shishu, one volunteer happily said,
“I forget all the pain of carrying these bulky packages when I see the smiles from the receiver. Their smiles are what gives us the strength to go back to work the next day.”
The August issue of TDA, Youth in Philanthropy, intends to honour those youth-led organisations which are working selflessly to bring about a change in the society.
Approached by Sanjida Tamanna.