Bhola's Children

An exciting opportunity for our blind girls

2012-01-24T08:16:00.000-08:00

There is great news for our two blind teenage girls Rozina and Supia. Bruna has formed an extremely positive and helpful relationship with a well-established charity in Bangladesh, called Rishilpi. Bruna has now written:

Last November when Holger and I were in BCPS we talked with Ali of the possibility of the two blind girls, Rozina and Supia, to go to Rishilpi for a while to learn and train to become physiotherapists.

In Rishilpi there is a very good and professional physiotherapist and teacher that is blind! He is extremely good; everyday there are over 40 children that come with mothers to have physiotherapy and learn what to do at home.

It would be a wonderful opportunity for them to learn something useful, good and practical that will give them a better purpose in life and a better future. It will also give them a proper job in BCPS and if they are good and successful they could also help children outside BCPS in the local community

We hope that on the 7th February Rozina and Supia will arrive in Rishilpi with their escorts Shefali and Livia to start the greatest and most important adventure of their lives.

Livia, the volunteer Swiss nurse, will accompany the girls and stay for a while to see the medical department of Rishilpi to get some ideas for BCPS too.

Ali has permission from the girls' guardians, so they are all set to go.

A new baby girl in Bhola Garden

2012-01-11T04:14:00.000-08:00

We are all delighted to announce the birth, on 9 January 2012, of Shathi's daughter. Our lovely deaf Shathi married Dipok in January 2010 and they are blissfully happy together. They are now the proud parents of this beautiful little girl. All the children are thrilled with their new baby.

a new building for a new year

2012-01-06T06:30:00.000-08:00

Ali and the children send best wishes for the New Year. They all had a good Christmas and are now back in school or further training.

The married staff have moved into the new building and are very happy with their new accommodation. As you will see from the photographs of Monira and Surma, it is excellent and a great improvement on their previous rooms.

Some more photographs from our trip

2011-11-17T09:19:00.000-08:00

Dinah's report on her visit with Anne and Simon

2011-11-17T09:13:00.000-08:00

Simon Hamilton, aged 15 months, now has about 50 brothers and sisters, several uncles and aunts and a grandfather! The youngest visitor to Bhola thoroughly enjoyed the experience, got not a single mosquito bite and seemed to like the food. Pomegranates have now replaced blueberries as his favourite fruit..

It was a wonderful trip for all three of us – even the flights could have been worse. We had five hours in Bahrain on the outward journey and luckily persuaded Gulf Air to let Anne and Simon into the Business Class lounge with me. The rest of the journeys, although long, were relatively troublefree and it was a joy to make the 40 minute seaplane flight to Bhola, instead of the overnight ferry – the first time I had arrived that way. In the photograph Ronazid looks as if he is about to hit Anne – in fact he is holding an umbrella!

All the children were in great form, very pleased to see us and of course delighted to welcome Anne’s baby. There are several new young children. Some of our teenagers have left, either to work in Bhola or Dhaka or, in the case of a couple of girls, to get married. Shahti, who married Deepok a couple of years ago, is expecting a baby in December and is looking very large and happy. Two of our brightest deaf girls, Sonia and Salma, have been registered to attend the local school in January which is excellent news, fingers crossed that they cope.

Anne and I both liked our new House Mother, Shefali – as do the children. She is the only Christian among Muslims and a few Hindus, and so her sign language name is very easy: the sign of the cross!

We were also delighted to find a young man whom I had met three years ago – he and his friends were about to do a Masters in Special Education. Nuzrul is joining us for six months and it was a joy watching him with the children – he specializes in the deaf but is extremely clever with all ranges of disability. I think he will inspire our teachers and leave behind some useful programmes for others to follow.

We came hot on the heels of a representative of our major donor making her first visit to Bhola, and Ali was jubilant at having been able to show her everything. Much of the funding for the new tailoring building comes from her company and I am sure she was delighted to see it nearly finished – it should be ready by the end of the year. Apart from accommodation for volunteers and married staff, it has a lovely large airy tailoring room on the first floor – Asma can’t wait to move into it with her pupils and the machines.

The bottom pond is now back in use, only by the boys until building is over, but it was good to see them swimming again. For a relatively small property with a large building project, Ali Bacchu and the rest of the staff have kept everything very tidy – vegetables growing well and of course plenty of space in front of the hostel for cricket and badminton. There is still music, singing and dancing every afternoon before the children are let loose outside.

Once again we are harvesting the nuts at Supari Bagan (Nut Tree Garden). These are left to dry and sold next year when the price is high. So, until such time as we can build the workshops there, the land is earning some money for us.

We had our usual Friday picnic at Valumia. The top field had been ploughed the week before, so Bacchu and the boys set to work planting tomatoes, egg plants and broccoli. When we went back the following Wednesday, our last morning, to say goodbye we were amazed to see a sea of green – and they hadn’t even needed to water the plants in… it is truly a magical place. Our little house will be very useful when plumbed in, and indeed we had lunch in it in style, with a few important guests – complete with a fan, the generator having been taken along on the trailer!

Unlike last year, when most of the children went home for Eid, Ali insisted everyone stay in the boundary. It is a long day. As Anne said, rather like Christmas but without the presents. It was nearly 3 pm before lunch was cooked, since the cow may not be killed until the men have returned from prayers at 9 am. After lunch we went to the Childrens’ Park down the road, where Ali organized the children into a game which immediately attracted a good crowd of spectators. As I said, they should have paid us to come in instead of charging us!

As you can imagine, it was wonderful to be back in Bhola again after so many months. All being well, I will get out there again early next year. Meanwhile it is good to know that Bruna is arriving at the weekend, so the children will have seen both their Mammi’s!

Message from Dinah

2011-08-16T09:36:00.000-07:00

I am happy to announce the arrival in the boundary of Shefali Halder, who will be acting as a mother or matron to the girls and younger boys. Her photograph is attached and I am looking forward to meeting her when I arrive, with Anne and baby Simon, at the end of October. Bruna will be meeting her later in November and I am sure we will all be happy to confirm her appointment as a very essential member of our family.

Shefali is in her early fifties, unmarried, and with experience as a dental nurse and of accounting. She comes from Dhaka but has no dependents in the city and Ali tells me she is happy to live in beautiful Bhola! She already loves the children and they love her. I am sure she will by now have learned sign language.

Still on the subject of staff, Ali is working with a lawyer friend, whom he and our Swedish colleagues have known for over 20 years. Their objective is to draw up a job description for a manager of the project, so as to free Ali to do what he does best: be with the children and spread awareness of disability on the island. Again, our Swedish friends have some potential candidates and with luck Bruna and I will meet some of them when we are over in the autumn.

All is fine in the boundary. Construction of the tailoring building is going well, with the staircase now in place. The washroom in Valumia is nearly ready for our use in November!

It is now Ramadan, of course, until the end of the month. The weather is still hot and rather wet, everything is growing well in Valumia. I am looking forward to eating some of these papaya!

2011-06-09T07:27:00.000-07:00

Several people have said it seems a long time since the last news from Bhola and accompanying photographs. This is because there hasn’t been much news, good or bad! It has of course been terribly hot, and they had their first big storm at the end of May – a large branch landing on the roof of the new tailoring building. It would appear that our construction is strong. Building is progressing well and the first floor is in place.

At the moment they are making the septic tank at Valumia. The vegetables are growing well – no connection there!

All the children are fine. Ali has been working too hard, and our top priority this summer is to recruit a strong support team for him. We are working closely with our fellow trustees in Bangladesh and are getting help from the Swedish Support Group, many of whom have worked in Bangladesh and have good connections.

Happy Bengali New Year

2011-04-15T07:44:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was Bengali New Year’s Day. The children were in high spirits, having been at the children’s park – just up the road – until late in the evening. Most of them, apart from one small deaf boy, are over the chicken pox.

Ali, as usual, asked for our prayers for the construction of the first roof last Sunday. He is always nervous about these moments in the building process, with 50 men and boys running up and down ladders at great speed with baskets of cement on their heads. It was also extremely hot. All went well, there were no accidents, and as you can see the first floor is looking good.

They now have to stop building for two weeks. Never one to let the grass grow beneath his feet, Ali tells me they are building shower and toilet facilities at Valumia. This is above the tube well. We of the fair sex who regularly spend whole days at Valumia are delighted that the pressure will be off…

News from Ali

2011-03-16T09:14:00.000-07:00

Dear all

The construction work is going on in full speed

Two of our children has got pox their in leave all other children are OK.

Its very hot at day time and last night is cold. we have send one boy with double club feet for operation in the Zibontory flooding Hospital run by an NGO as a test one we have lot of children with club-feet.

Lots of love from your children

Dinah's photographs February 2011

2011-02-21T02:31:00.000-08:00

Dinah's report on her recent visit to Bhola

2011-02-21T02:22:00.001-08:00

My recent visit to Ali and our children was extremely happy and relaxed. The weather was perfect – hot during the day, cool at night. Everyone was waiting for me to arrive and throw the first trowel of cement into the first six foot hole for the first steel pillar for the new tailoring building.

That was the easy part. This new building was to be sited on the larger of our two ponds, filled in with sand last year. The eight outer pillars presented no problems – up in no time. Ali knew the internal pillars would need deeper holes, being over the middle of the pond. But nobody expected the water to come in so resolutely. Holes were dug, water was pumped out and carried out in buckets, sides of the holes were shored up with specially constructed walls – I have never seen men, boys and girls work so hard. Eventually it was decided to remove all the sand from the middle of the site, carrying it on heads to the lower pond which had been drained. This was happening on my last morning and I had a depressing vision of leaving everyone with this mammoth task, coming back to London and asking Ali daily on the phone if they had managed to hit terra firma. Then we looked at the dry land between the proposed site and the existing old buildings, decided to measure it and found it was exactly wide enough to use one row of pillars and move the building across. This has many advantages – fewer foundations, and we might even dispense with an internal staircase, since access to the first floor rooms for married staff can be from the roof of the adjacent old building. In addition, the infilled land will make a wonderful extra vegetable garden.

Because we had so much building work, there was no time for our traditional picnic – disappointing for the children but a reprieve for the last of the ducks which had been destined for our main course! We did have one full day out, but with only a handful of the children representing each disability. This was what Ali calls his awareness programme, when we visit a school or college in the hope of educating them in the hope that fewer will give birth to children with disability. Ali speaks for well over an hour and never loses the audience’s full attention. This time we visited a high school in the south of the island, and hope to spread the word to parents of other disabled children in the region. I was delighted, in any case, to welcome three new boys in as many days while I was there, and several other children look as if they will join us. We often need an older sibling or parent to stay until they are settled in, which we are more than happy to fund.

We now have an excellent playground for the children in front of the hostel, and it was a joy to watch all the children, young and old, play games of every kind after the last lessons of the day. Together with the work they are doing on the foundations, they are getting plenty of exercise!

The children also thoroughly enjoy Valumia, where all the vegetables have flourished since the floods of last October. Our land at Valumia is a magical, beautiful and peaceful place especially now that the boundary resembles a building site! We also love visiting Supari Bagan, our new plot of land a ten minute walk from the boundary where, in due course, we will build our wood and metal workshops.

It was a joy to see Ali, the staff and all the children so well and so happy! I have come back full of faith in our project, only sad that it will be more than eight months until I return.

Thank you all once again for your support,

Ali reports on cold weather in Bhola

2011-01-12T02:15:00.000-08:00

Children has get 3rd set of warm cloth in this winter its very cold

now in Bhola. Its impossible to walk with out shoe socks are cold too

in the building. small children has 4 blankets and sleeping together

but at night one or two is on them other is you know how it is.

Children are getting some vitamin tablet so no one is sick or catch

cold thanks to Almighty and all of you are helping to the children.

The last cloth was send by Zakirvhbi from Dhaka.

Children are working in the Velumia field for growing vegetable its

very good that their getting very good training so they can grow

themselves in home in future.

Lots of love from your children

Victory Day 16th December 2010

2010-12-17T09:02:00.000-08:00

Ali says:

Your children are also with thousands of children in the field at the day of Victory and get prize

Dinah's report on her recent visit to Bhola

2010-12-06T08:59:00.000-08:00

I went to Bhola on 15^th November. I had made the mistake of arriving just before Eid, which meant chaotic travel arrangements – I will cast a veil over my journey from Dhaka to Bhola – and rather a lot of dead cow. But much more disappointing was the fact that there was no school my first week and many children chose to go home after Eid. Although this meant I had time for all the necessary meetings with staff and fellow Bangladeshi trustees, I did miss the children until most of them returned before I left.

Bottled gas ran out on the island, so I suggested to Ali we take the remaining children and some staff to the district town of Barisal, 37km away on the mainland as the crow flies. Few of them had ever been there, so it was an exciting excursion which turned into a long day for some. All went well on the outward journey – around 2 hours with the car on a ferry, then a short drive over to the next ferry which takes 20 minutes to Barisal. We bought bottles of gas, had lunch with Ali’s relations and then went to the children’s park. Unfortunately we then missed the first ferry, arriving at 5.30 to see the next one disappearing towards Bhola Island and to get the news that it would not be back until 10 p.m. I had a slight sense of humour failure, but luckily Ali agreed that I and the smaller children plus a couple of staff would take a speedboat to the island. We were home by 7.30 but poor Ali and the others didn’t get arrive until 3.45 a.m! The water levels were so low in the river, the ferry didn’t return until after midnight.

We had our usual wonderful picnic at Valumia last Friday. This involves taking sacks of rice, all food and cooking utensils in the tractor trailer – quite a production. During the day the boys cut down a large tree and the wood was piled onto the trailer, along with children and cooking utensils, for the return journey. We girls of course did our ladylike gardening, weeding the newly planted vegetables which, we hope, will survive any weather now.

On Saturday we had a sports day which was huge fun. Ali really is a star at organizing all the competitions. Many of them took place on the sand laid where the tailoring building will go. This gave us the idea of putting sand on the land behind the boundary, where we have already filled in a pond, so that the children can use it as a playground while builders are at work.

The children are all well and happy. A couple of teachers have left and we are looking for replacements, but the number of small children hasn’t increased since last time I was there, so they seem to be able to cope. We have now promoted the teenage children to the role of ‘helper’: each will receive a small amount of money each month and each has been given an area of responsibility. They continue, of course, with their further education of tailoring for the girls, woodwork and metal work for the boys. Once we have built the tailoring building, above which will be accommodation for married staff, we will be looking forward to building workshops on our beautiful new land. It is a ten minute walk away and has been called Supari Bagan, which means Nut Garden. The nuts have already been harvested and will be sold when the price is high…

My bangla and sign language improve very slowly! We all have fun teaching me..

Another Wedding

2010-11-09T13:21:00.001-08:00

Monira, a deaf girl, and Muntu marry

Laily gets married!

2010-11-08T12:01:00.000-08:00

Laily and Rofiq Marriage ceremony Laily is with one leg and Rafique don't have any disability. They meet each other in Dhaka when she was in training.

Please pray for them for there happy life.

All the children injoy the marriage it was in the boundary Bholas children
Alibhai

flood update from Ali, late October 2010

2010-11-08T11:55:00.000-08:00

"Dear all
I thing you have seen the picture from Velumia and you have seen how much damage we have in Velumia:
1. Papaya tree the good fruit it was about 167 papaya tree in Velumia and in the boundary, about half of it fall down when it was heavy rain. The rest of the plant die now a days, in every tree it was so much papaya

2. Plantation, Vegetable are totally damage the field look like playground in the boundary and also in Velumia.
3. Other fruit trees some die witch can’t except the water others are still alive.
4. Paddy field is not damage totally some part of it is not so bad.
5. Damage, in the boundary Bhola garden are the wood, some Iron, some machine partly damage some should be repair may be some will damage the electric Motors
6. Fish in the pond first and second night we worked heard but after it was not possible to stop the fish to go out. so some fish was gone too.
7. The construction of the new building was not start fully but the sand was washed out a lot. and it will be late to start again.
8. Boundary wall and the wall for the tin shad building is not fall down but the water was coming threw so partly damage down part. Main problem that we don’t have time to go back and replant all the vegetable and the fruits tree as well as the paddy. We are trying to plant the vegetable we will buy the plant for plantation, we don’t have time to make the seedling and start again. The price is very high Directly we have lose of GBP 7000, for the crops and for the other damage is costly more than GBP 10,000. That was a rough idea.
Thank you so much we have start for the emergency work, all the staffs and children are working very heard.
Lots of love from your children"

2010-08-12T01:37:00.000-07:00

Diary and Experiences of

Mohoram's Bhola Island trip to a charity

Orphans with disABILITY:

what a struggle going on in Bhola Island (Bangladesh)

As I am a wheelchair user and young one, it was my own decision that I will go to Bhola Island, largest island of the country Bangladesh, to visit a welfare organization named “Bhola’s Children” (www.bholaschildren.org). Normally the people go to Bhola by launch from Sadarghat (Dhaka) to Bhola launch ghat via Chandpur district. It was very tough to make this trip alone with a wheelchair and bags. Finally I had done it and I hope this travel reports (informal) will interest to you all.

The main aims of Bhola’s Children are to provide accommodation, education and medical treatment for orphaned children with disABILITY on the Island of Bhola (Bangladesh).

26th of July 2010.

I left my residence, the Centre for the Rehabilitation of the Paralysed (CRP), my employed organization around 1.30PM. I reached at Sadarghat (Dhaka) near 4.30PM by bus and the rickshaw journey. It was mutual understanding with bus service provider that they will help me to carry my wheelchair and bags by their staff. I paid for me and also for wheelchair but I am not happy to pay for wheelchair rent. This is my first launch journey, that’s why I did not have any experience about sitting or bedding. My friend who lives near the Sadarghat (Dhaka), he bought a new bed sheet for sleeping on the floor of launch. It is common way for cheapest journey, really interesting. My wheelchair was burden to the launch authority as it is took bit place. They were expressing this boringness by their face not by speech/talk, but finally they accepted it. Launch left the Dhaka just at 7.00PM. It was very simple journey but I enjoyed so much. No traffic jam, no horn, no any stoppage to take more passengers, no much noise, no visible fasting competition. It was moonlight night and I was enjoying till 12.00AM. It was my idea and commitment to me that I will not sleep tonight but after 12.00AM I found everybody gone to sleeping world and that’s why automatically I did feel that I have to go for sleep. I have gone to sleep with wearing blue coloured jeans, which was not so easy to continue till next morning, but I had to.

27th July 2010.

A voice entered to my ears that “please get up, we reached at Bhola, take preparation to leave the launch”. I rose up about 5.45AM. It was not expected to me because the launch authority yesterday told me they will reach at Bhola not before 7.00AM. Okay, it was terrible to leave the floored bed earlier but when I faced that a fresh air creating impression to my body, it was really peaceful moment. I made a call to Bhai Mr. Howlader M A Ali, founder of Bhola’s Children to receive me from the launch ghat.

They came to me by 10 minutes and took me to organization. It was bit unexpected that the people of the launch did take the rent for me even they did not ask about the rent. Some how it is positive and someway it is negative but I took it positively as it is Bangladesh, one of the poorest and politically unstable country of the 3rd world, because most of disABLED people don’t have any earning way to pay for all the cost. Launch business is not small business, if one/two disABLED passenger(s) do not pay or half for each trip, it will not create any hamper to the business.

I took a great bath at the centre by 30 minutes because I did take bath before 24 hours ago. 24 hours is big time for me because I take bath 2 times each day, even when I go to abroad. After bath and wearing official dress Bhai made a brief about the culture and behaviour of Bhola Island’s people, centre’s staffs, all the residents, irregular clients and it was near about 6.30AM. After a cup of black coffee I took a visit to all places of the centre excluding ladies hostel.

The centre is about 97 decimals lands and secured by a medium high wall, 10 minutes way from Bhola Island’s launch ghat, 15 minutes away from the Bhola city, attached with Bhola intercity road. Very easy and good communication between Bhola’s Children and Bhola city and other places of Bhola Island. You will be happy if you pay a visit to this organization for a single time. I am sure many of politicians and big businessman, they don’t have any info about this organization forever. You will say first, “Orphans with disABILITY? What a struggle going on in Bhola Island (Bangladesh) by Bhai.

The life with disABILITY is a recognized battlefield for forever, if s/he is an orphan, is it not more than battle field? I think yes and I hope everybody should support my voice and thinking. Bhola’s Children are the brain child of Mr. Howlader M A Ali, around 55 years old men who is attached with disABILITY field for last 30 years. He is one of the pioneer leaders of Bangladesh for the disABILITY movement for last 3 decades. In addition, he did invest most of the time of these 3 decades to create and modify the assistive devices and its technology for all kind of disABLED people. If you look the profile or index of the disABILITY movement of Bangladesh, his name will come to you all automatically. In 2004, he thought I need to do something for Island based disABLED people and he started this project in Bangladesh’s largest island based district Bhola by giving all the stuffs of his life & family, even a single tea cup. Now he lives inside the centre at a very small single accommodation which is not minimum well decorated, he does not want it too. There are about 61 residents and about 90% are orphans with disABILITY. Near 5% disABLED and other 5% orphans only. Most of them are speech and hearing disABLED and near 20% other including blind, physical and mental. It was a different world to me. The children talk by using Bengali sign language even who is not a speech and hearing disABLED. Some times break the sign language rules because everybody don’t much training/education on the Bengali sign language.

There have no professional hired cook at all. The residents are cooking for all clients even for the residence based staffs. They select who will cook for this week and for next weeks, even a blind one also.

All the residents are allowed for all the necessity, even for personal things. They live there in the centre like the home and Bhai takes care as like parents. Current basic activities are as follows:

1. Residence based education for all disABLED resident.

2. Vocational training on Tailoring, making Assistive Device for disABLED people, Crop Farming.

3. Informal training to the disABLEDs on capacity building and life leading attitude to the common society.

4. Etc.

Work with orphans with disABILITY is not common in the world, even not so easy to do it. The attitudes of the workers, behavior of the staffs, costs of operating are not common in our country as well as in the south-east Asia. The current monthly operating cost is BDT 2,00,000.00 / USD 2,898.00.

After breakfast, I went to the new project which is just bought from a villager for a technical training centre in the future and it is about 52 decimals. The theme technical training centre is one of the most important future projects of this Bhola’s Children. Technical training is one demand sector in the world, that’s why the board of trustee decided to take this project. Personally I also believe this reality.

After half past 10.00AM, we were going to another new project namely Bhelu Mia, named from the place, which is about 11KM far from the centre. Normally we used bike to go anywhere in Bhola except any invitation and launch ghat. Bhelu Mia project is mainly to build the residence for the orphans with disABILITIES who have no any place to go in the future. They will live there forever and will crop the foods, cultivate the animals, etc. The centre will do marketing the items be done by themselves. It is about 230 decimals lands newly bought from a rich man who is personally a professor. I invested there about 3 hours time and got the idea from Bhai what is going to happen there in this project Bhelu Mia. Also I listened the personal life history of Bhai, which is carrying maximum similarities with Tony Blair’s or Barack Obama’s childhood.

Currently there in the Bhelu Mia project have only a tin shed small 2 bedded accommodations for 2 juveniles. Maximum of the land is like a pond and seasonal fish cultivating is going on. Another reality performance is going on to continue in this project which is really rare in the world. The responsive 2 juveniles for the security of the project are disABLED. They buy necessary commodities, cook the foods, clean the wears, takes bath at a same place, all other things. Wonderful thing is: one is blind and another one is speech and hearing disABLED. It is a common theory in the world that the resident based activities can not go/run for blind and speech and hearing disABLED at the same time at same centre. But what you will say when you will see this different thing and at a grassroots level in a poor country Bangladesh, even a small residence based centre Bhola’s Children? It can be a model and we can learn from Bhai how he is doing it. We can not forget it, every length starts by a step. The day was busy to me and totally successful.

28th – 30th of July 2010

These 3 days I passed with Bhai by project understanding, because I am one of the possible drivers to drive this project in the future.

I backed to Dhaka by same way journey and enjoy, started on evening July 30th and I reached at Sadarghat (Dhaka) at 7.00AM next day July 31st. Unfortunately it was rainy day and it was bit tough to get a vehicle to come to Savar (Dhaka), my employed organization CRP because my duty is to be started from 10.00AM. Thanks.

What can not be forgotten from my memory/knowledge–

* The acceptance of resident children. They had taken me as a long time friend. They have honoured me as an accompanier.

* Mutual understanding between Bhai and all other staffs and residents.

* Fresh fried hilsa with chicken soup made by Laily Akter, a resident.

* Bhai’s safety in driving the bike and vehicle (micro bus for the outside based student with disABILITY).

* The Bhai, a man with full humanity with good administrative & managerial performances.

Motion of interest: it may be an element to do something different in the field of your interest as well as in the world. You can find or lose everything if you are not aware about your liabilities or responsibilities to the society. The human being who does not carry these emotions, I do not believe s/he is a real one, who can run him/her properly or s/he can take responsibility for others or a group.

Md. Mohoram Ali

A young with disABILITY (Bangladesh)\

E-mail: MMA.1986@gmail.com

Offices:

Centre for the Rehabilitation of the Paralysed (CRP) Dhaka (Bangladesh), www.crp-bangladesh.org

WWW.BEZGRANIZ.COM - portal for the disABLED

Moscow (Russia), www.bezgraniz.ru

Glossary –

Bhai – It is a Bengali word same as brother and we use it to most honour to Mr. Howlader M A Ali).

Sadarghat – Main / principal station where the launches arrive and begin journey in Dhaka city only.

Ghat – Station where the launches arrive and begin journey.

2010-06-24T09:06:00.001-07:00

Bruna and Dinah walk for Bhola’s Children: 112 kms
to Santiago de Compostela

Last October, Bruna and Dinah decided to walk the
last stretch of the Camino de Santiago, to raise money
for our new workshop and tailoring room.

Unfortunately Bruna slipped on the ice before Christmas
and broke her ankle. The following day, Dinah did the
same but only broke her wrist. We hoped that Bruna’s
ankle, by some miracle and much help from Swiss doctors,
would recover and enable her to walk the whole way,
rather than resort to taxis. As you will see from her account,
she made it – as did Dinah, for whom it was the second time
but whose legs, even though four years older, behaved
impeccably.

We knew we had the good wishes of Ali and the children
every step of the way.

2010-06-24T09:06:00.000-07:00

Feb/March 2010 Photos from Bhola

2010-03-15T12:07:00.000-07:00

Outside the Circus

The Big Farewell

Luckily Dinah remembered her gardening gloves!

Dinah driving the tractor!

First Sale of Valumia Vegetables!

New Children with their new clothes

Dinah's Trip to Bhola

2010-03-15T12:02:00.000-07:00

Dear all,

I got back last weekend from my seventh and most enjoyable visit to our children. Bhola Garden really has become a second home for me, and I enjoyed every moment of my time there – even when we had power cuts and there was no water on the third floor!

The weather could not have been better – hot sunny days and relatively cool nights. All the children were happy and healthy, apart from a couple who had been sent home to nurse chicken pox. The last thing Ali needs is an epidemic!

I was delighted to see seven children new since my last visit. Four of them are very young, which fits in with Ali’s plans to keep the age level down. Three are deaf, one has downs syndrome, one suffers from cerebral palsy, one is a slow learner; and dear little Hasnur is partially sighted. Ali hopes to take her to a specialist in Dhaka, in the hope of getting treatment. The new children had new clothes, material chosen by yours truly on an entertaining, three-to-a-rickshaw shopping expedition with Asma and Rozina, and made in her usual quick time by Asma and her helpers. My photograph shows them just after presentation, plus Rozina who was given a new dress to replace one destroyed by poor little Khadija…

Work at Valumia continues to keep us all occupied. Several of the men and boys worked there most days alongside Ali’s nephew Rabi and a team of daily labour, digging out the moat round the lower field so that it can be filled with water for fish. We, the gentler sex, were put in charge of clearing vegetation from the bank and I was pleased to have remembered my gardening gloves. Plenty of our own fruit and vegetables were on the menu, and we had the great excitement of taking our first crop of tomatoes, cabbages and eggplants to the wholesaler who sold them all without taking commission. Ali has so many loyal friends and supporters in the town.

A happy time was had by all last Sunday morning, when we caught fish in our pond by the simple means of taking out all the water and picking the fish out of the mud. Needless to say, I continued to be a vegetarian!

The other great excitement was delivery of the trailer. It is now painted, yellow and red so as to be truly visible. I had my doubts about Ali’s driving skills, especially reversing in our small space, but was delighted to hear on Monday that he had successfully driven it, and all the children, to Valumia to collect firewood. So now Ali can add tractor-and-trailer driving to his many other skills.

We now have five blind or partially sighted children. Ali and I visited Razia’s father, our erstwhile nightwatchman who always slept on the job, and persuaded him to let her come home to us, which made us all happy. We all worry about lack of any teaching for the blind. We can’t afford a qualified teacher, I tried very hard to inspire our present teachers to involve them in classes. The two sets of dominos were a great success, all the blind children used them to add up numbers and it was good for my Bangla number skills too. I can now go past baro, twelve! I will be searching for more simple games for our blind children before my next visit. They all love using my iPod, and I wonder if anybody can spare us an old one no longer in use after an update? Ali could record books on them.

Ali’s birthday, the second he has celebrated in his 57 years, was an occasion for a great party with wonderful singing and dancing, icecream eaten in the fingers (!) and a three-tiered birthday cake. The following evening, my last, we took everyone to the circus – a first for the children. Ali was worried about old Mammi sitting on a hard, narrow plank for several hours but in fact I thoroughly enjoyed it, loved seeing the children’s joy, and was twice visited from beneath the tiered seating by the clowns – one very short and one tall – asking if I was enjoying their antics.

This Friday 12th March is the third anniversary of Bhola’s Children registration as a charity. It is hard to believe how much we have achieved in these three years and it is all due to you. Ali asks me to send messages of love and thanks from him and from our staff and children. I of course add my own heartfelt thanks to you all,

Dinah

News from Bhola, January 2010

2010-01-30T12:52:00.000-08:00

Dear all,

Winter has ended in Bangladesh, and spring
has arrived with some good news.

Our lovely Shathi has married Dipok.
Shathi is a deaf Hindu girl whom we all love.
Dipok is also Hindu and has worked in the
boundary for over a year, running the metal
workshop. Although he is a few years older
than Shathi, we are delighted with the marriage.
He will look after her very well and, of course,
is proficient in sign language. They are both
living in the boundary and I am longing to see
them when I arrive next month.

We have bought a tractor and you can see Montu
ploughing the lower field at Valumia ready for sowing.
The other photograph shows the upper field full of
delicious vegetables which I am looking forward to
sampling.

Arm out of plaster, all ready to go and help on Bhola!

Ali and the children send you their love and
thanks for making so many things possible,

And so do we all at Bhola’s Children

Dinah

Anne's December 2009 visit to Bhola

2010-01-30T12:36:00.000-08:00

Bhola, January 2010
We arrived en masse into Bhola Garden on the 2nd
January: Ali, myself and seven members of a Swedish
family who had lived and worked at the local training
centre, now sadly defunct, more than 15 years ago.
In touch with Ali ever since, for the adults at least it
was a homecoming and they were delighted to meet
Bhola’s Children, and the children to meet all of them.
This, followed by two Japanese guests, friends of the
local chair of Trustees, meant the celebrations lasted
several days.

In the midst of one of the coldest winters recorded in
Bangladesh, the children shivering in hats and
cardigans at 14 degrees Celsius, coughs and colds
not enough to dampen their enthusiasm, the
welcome for all of us was as warm as ever, and the
grounds, including the new house, looked pristine.

Early on in the week saw the switching on of a solar
panel, fixed neatly to the roof of the new building, that
ensures one room on each floor now has light during
the many, many electricity blackouts. In addition, with
the material available now, there has been a huge effort
in the workshop to make beds for all the children.
Within a couple of weeks, nobody should be sleeping
on mats on the floor any more.

Even in the few months since August, there are
significant changes as new children have moved
in and others have graduated to the next step in
their life experiences and training. Monira, the deaf
and dumb carpenter, has left to live with family
and to work in Dhaka, and Rabia, another deaf
girl, has gone to be married. Coming up behind
them, Shati and Fatima, again both deaf, have
finished school and are going into Bhola town to
learn more advanced tailoring. For Shati too,
there are tentative plans of marriage. Eyaruddin
and Sahid, the two very talented deaf boys
who graduated from the classroom in the
summer and have been working in the fields
and in the boundary since, have just started
a 3 month programme at agricultural college
20km away. This will enable them both to take
more responsibility for our land in Valumia,
to help train others how to make the most
of the many land resources in the Bhola area.
As Ali says, nobody with a little land and a
little knowledge should ever go hungry.

Sunday was picnic day in Valumia, where
there is an abundance of vegetables, grown
in careful rotation to ensure constant variety,
from cauliflower to green beans, broccoli to
sweetcorn, to the staples of lal shack, a red
leafy local vegetable, and lentils for dhal.
The pond is teeming with fish too, best caught
by hand whilst wallowing knee-deep in the mud,
avoiding the bite of the sting-ray that causes a
nasty, if temporary paralysis! Ali hopes to purchase
a labour-saving tractor and trailor, funds permitting,
before the end of this dry season to aid the
cultivation further.

Sofia and Rosina, both fully blind, continue to
entertain with their considerable musical skills
singing with the harmonium and keyboard, and
dancing classes remain enthusiastically attended.
Hafsa, Sonia, and Hassan, so long the little ones,
are now seniors in the classroom, doing very well
in their studies. Their places have been taken by
Farhana and Sharmin, two small deaf girls and
Rakib, with cerebral palsy, all of whom are still
settling in. There is a constant stream of enquiries
too; at least half a dozen parents arrived over
the course of the week, their children suffering
conditions from rickets to cleft palates, from
deafness to autism, not to mention the various
adults brought in horizontal and often in plaster,
looking for crutches and other assistive devices to
ease various breaks and strains!

Outside the boundary, the big news is the arrival,
this week of the gas pipes which will supply the area.
The recently built gas plant has been dormant whilst
the government got itself together, and suddenly
the work has started: not only are the main roads
being dug up for tunnels, the pipes are actually
being fitted at an enormous speed. For Bhola Garden,
this will mean that the new kitchen can be put fully
into commission and reduce the need for dangerous
of open fires or the very expensive bottled gas
sometimes employed.

Ali, of course, continues to work far too hard,
but his dedication and encouragement are invaluable.
With the young adults manning the workshop, the
tailoring section and the cooking, and with Ronazid
as administrator, one of the constant anxieties
remains over Ali’s succession, and more immediately,
the need for an experienced and mature female
member of staff to work generally alongside him.
Ali is currently in negotiation with a woman he
thinks is right for the job, but it’s a long and difficult
process... watch this space! And also, for news of
the next huge project, the building of a new and
productive workshop that should generate income
once we raise the £100,000 to set it all up.
All fundraising ideas gratefully received!
As always, it was a wonderful visit, far too
short with the arrival of the seaplane, an outing
in itself for the children, taking me back to Dhaka.
Bhola’s Children send a ‘big hug and many, many
thanks’ to all the donors and supporters out there:
‘don’t forget your children’ Ali says, ‘come and visit us,
please.’ Er, just maybe not all at the same time!!

Anne Hamilton

Bruna's November 2009 visit to Bhola with Holger, Jelena and Isabella

2010-01-30T12:27:00.000-08:00

Dhaka was a cultural shock for my new companions:
the traffic and noise, impossible to believe and describe!;
the dirt and the heavy polluted atmosphere, incredible!;
the millions of men around the streets doing nothing,
shocking!; being always surrounded and stared at as
rare 'extraterrestials' disturbing and surprising!. But
with the help and guidance of very happy and smiling
Ali, Shamin (student/teacher in our home) and
Sumon (Ali's son) we all got involved in the 'Bangladeshy
way' and went around Dhaka to buy the special items
for the newly built kitchen in Bhola ('European' cooker,
extractor, water-heaters, etc) and the new computers,
printer, projector, etc. with money donated from
Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Germany.

We finally arrived at Bholas Children Protibondi
School where we were welcomed by all the
children and staff. I was worried my new
companions were not comfortable enough, I
was worried that they would find it difficult to
be surrounded by so many deaf-dumb children
eager to talk, waving their hands so fast, making
funny faces; being always followed and touched;
worried by the lack and confused verbal communication
because the level of English is still very poor in our
home; I was worried about the same type of food
everyday; about the continuous power cuts and
'no connection' that made it difficult to use the
computer to keep the 'web journal' of our adventure.

But Bholas Children Protibondi School is a real
magic place. Within two days we all seemed to
be in such a natural harmony all together, Jelena
kept filming the everyday life and activities
surrounded by many fans and eager 'actors';
Holger became immediately very popular among
the girls. Isabella at the beginning found it hard to
relate to so many 'complicated' children, but very
soon she was playing with them, communicating
in sign language, laughing, teaching them games,
rowing the boat on the pond.

Our time in Bhola kept flowing like a smooth
river, full of activities, excitement and fun sharing
with the children school lessons, singing and
playing the keyboard with Rozina and Sofia;
swimming and playing water polo in the pond,
with Ali the referee blowing the whistle and
waving signs language. The last day Mammi
Bruna went in the water too to the delight of all!

One of the most beautiful days we had was
when we all went to Valimia, the land we bought
last year where we cultivate most of the
vegetables and fruits, teaching the children
agricultural skills for their future. In Valimia
we have also a big canal and pond where we
fish. It was really emotional to see our boys
and girls swimming together, fishing together,
throwing their nets and then slowly pulling it at
one time the girls catching the bigger fish! While
we were watching them being so happy together,
so excited, so free, I explained to Holger, Jelena
and Isabella about the uniqueness of our project.
In a Muslim country, where there is always a
division of gender and capabilities, in our beautiful
land and home, our children whatever is their
disability and gender are all together, they play
together, they work together, they learn together,
they fish together, they cook together, they enjoy
together, they really 'live' together, appreciating
anything we give them, any amount of time we
spend with them. They are genuinely and infectiously
happy.

Jelena has taken hours of film of our visit there. She
will obviously edit it preparing a version for the website,
planning also to make a DVD that we would like to give
to friends so that they can experience, at least virtually,
the wonderful atmosphere and achievements we have all
contributed to this special project, hoping to inspire some
of them to go to Bhola in the near future.

news from Ali, 30th Nov 2009

2009-11-30T06:50:00.000-08:00

Dear all

Greetings from Bholas Children Protibondhi School.

The Boat sank down in the river Megna that is not
our Boat which we use to go to Dhaka. News today
it was 74 dead body is recovered and many
hundred is still missing. It was lot of people
fully crowded every where it was full even on
the roof and in down where they keep the goods and
things. People was in down couldn¹t get out
mainly children and woman is killed.

We observed the Eid-ul Azha children get very
good food, went to river Megna had been very
happy full day, at evening seen the TV about
more than half night. Some Children went home
to join with their relatives.

On 3rd December we are going to observe the
International disability day. We will be
together with other School children, we will
have relay for a kilometer, sports, singing,
Dance, prize distribution etc.

If it will be any possibility for you to join
any where with the disabled children do it
please, you can see us there.

Lots of love from your children.

Dinah and Anne's trip to Bhola, August 2009

2009-09-03T11:10:00.001-07:00

Dinah's report on her and Anne's August 2009 visit to Bhola

2009-09-03T10:41:00.000-07:00

Dear all,

Anne and I had a wonderful time. We were incredibly
lucky with the weather: it was never too hot although
Ali says the temperature has shot up since we left.
There was rain most days, often in the early morning –
serious rain, which made the roads interesting! It was
lovely sleeping on the third floor of the new building, which
is extremely comfortable and relatively cool among the tree tops.

I will, however, try to avoid Ramadan in the future. The
children were up half the night and asleep in the mornings!
What is more, Anne and I were twice foolish enough to eat
rather too much of the delicious 7.30 snacks when we had
guests, forgetting we would be served a large supper
some two hours later.

We now have 7 geese and, I think, 8 ducks in the boundary.
They are loving the puddles, of course, and its great to
see them swimming along behind a boat full of children!
Still two dogs, and the occasional rat but none on the
third floor... The new kitchen has been built and is waiting
for its equipment to be bought and installed.

We spent a lot of time on the new land at Valimia,
which is pretty wet at present but being brilliantly
cultivated. One day we bought and planted over
100 fruit trees, and Ali will soon be sowing the next
crops of vegetables. As you can see from the attached
photograph, Ali has kindly built a nice little bench for
visitors to sit and supervise the work!

The children were all in great form and obviously
delighted to see us. There were about eight new
faces, and all the old friends came back to stay while
we were there, apart from poor little Sima with the leg.
Since her mother remarried she lives with her grandfather.
She seldom talks or laughs now, nor has she grown at all.
You who have been with us from the beginning will
remember Sima’s beaming face, even with her poor leg
in plaster or a metal brace. Ali and I went to see her
and suggested she come to live with us, but this would
mean loss of face for grandfather. We can only hope.

Fatima has almost finished her treatment and is
trying to find work as a beautician. She would like
to set up her own business in Bhola Town but is not
yet experienced enough, and there is no local work
for her. She could find a job in Dhaka but has nowhere
to stay…

We will explore the possibility of a new prosthetic
leg for Laily – kind friends have made suggestions
and offered financial help.

Ali arranged for Sima teacher and her cerebral daughter
Sonali to spend two residential weeks doing cp training.
Sima gave us all a brilliant presentation on all aspects of
caring for cerebral palsy children, and she has done
wonders with Sonali who is much stronger. We hope
she will teach Sahadut’s mother to do all the exercises
so that dear little boy will one day be running around.

All the other children are well and there were no illnesses
or visits to the hospital. We had a moment of panic when
one of our school children, a six year old autistic girl called
Tumpa, walked out of her house early one morning. Ali had
a phone call from Tumpa’s stepmother – her father works
abroad and her mother, a slow learner, lives in Barisal.
He shot off to search on his motorcycle, and other staff
read out her description on the loud hailer. Fortunately
this led to somebody reporting they had spotted her in
a house after she had crossed saturated fields and
streams, and she can’t swim. We think she was trying
to reach her natural mother, she had taken some clothes
and two pairs of shoes. Ali brought her home and she
has lived with us ever since. She is a darling pretty little
girl who speaks to one very earnestly, remembers things
one has done or worn, but of course cannot actually
communicate, so we had been very frightened indeed.

Anne and I lent our iPods to the deaf children and a
remarkable number of them have hearing, at least
in one ear. Anne had a programme of Bengali words
and two children, Rabeya and Earuddin, could repeat
the words after they were spoken. Ali is going to test
everyone once he gets new batteries for his machine.
Please keep your fingers crossed we can do something
for these children.

Finally, our Christmas card. I had told the children when
we arrived that there would be a competition for the
best picture which would be our Christmas card this year.
We had several practice classes, when they improved
dramatically, with or without using stencils. Then on the
final day, to everyone’s amazement, dear Tasnur produced
a really lovely drawing which is attached. Tasnur is very
special for me, since she was the first I met of Ali’s children.
Aged about 12 or 13, she has graduated from classes and
is now training in tailoring, and nobody had any idea she
could draw. We love the image (photo below) which shows our house,
our children, our dog and trees flowers and vegetables,
and with the sun shining on us all. I will be ordering
cards in due course, and if anyone is interested in buying
some I would love to hear from you. All proceeds, as usual,
to Bhola’s Children and I promise you they will be cheaper
to mail than last year’s card!

Ali asked me to send you all love and thanks from him
and the children. We all thank you for your support,

Dinah

Dinah's Report, March 2009

2009-03-21T15:15:00.001-07:00

Dear all,

It will not be easy to keep this account short;
every one of my twelve days with Ali and the
children was packed with different events and activities.

I hope you enjoyed Birgitta and Christer¹s account
of Ali¹s birthday celebrations. They are members
of the Swedish Support Group for Bhola, without
whose help it would have been difficult to buy
the property two years ago. It was good that
they could see our progress and be present at
the party. Ali¹s birthday was a wonderful
excuse to christen the new building, and
the following day we moved most of the girls
into two rooms on the first floor. Then Asma¹s
tailoring section transferred into a third room.
This became a wonderful oasis of calm and industry,
I often sat with them during the heat of the day
before lunch and never failed to be amazed by the
quality of their work, much of which I have to say
is now in my house the presents at my farewell went
on and on, and I began to wonder whether Bhola
town sold suitcases.

Moving the tailoring section means Ali now has
his own bedroom, next to his office in the old
building, so we hope he now gets uninterrupted nights¹
sleep.

Everyone apart from Ali and I, although we did
join the first lunch, began taking their meals
in the new building. They sit on the floor and
Monira quickly made three trays on wheels so that
the girls serving could push the huge bowls round
the room.

During one of our rooftop meetings in the evenings,
Ali and I realized that a fire drill was needed now
that the children were living in the new building.
The first floor has access to the next-door roof,
but the second and top floors could be dangerous
with only one staircase. So the fire
brigade came to give us all much needed instruction.
Ali collected the 100 girls from the government
orphanage, along with their director and some
staff, and we had an extremely interesting talk
from six handsome firemen, followed by a very exciting
practical demonstration outside. Anne, we are
invited to the fire station in August!

The boundary is looking lovely, apart from the
building site in front of the construction.
Ali had waited till I arrived to make a decision
on taking down two large palm trees which gave
nothing except shade in the vegetable
garden. They boys and men had them down
before you could say knife and,
amazingly, dropped the huge trees in
such a way that not a single papaya
tree was damaged.

As you can see, the exterior of the
new building is finished and we all
think it looks beautiful. The ground
floor room is being used, although
food has to be carried a long way from
the existing kitchen, it will be a
while before the new kitchen is built.

The girls and Asma's tailoring are
in residence in the undecorated first floor
which only has basic plumbing, and we will almost
certainly leave the boys in their present rooms until
next year, when we have enough money to do the
work on their floor. But everyone is pleased with
the accommodation they have, and I will be more
than happy to sleep on the floor of the wonderful
guest room at treetop level, though I suspect beds
will be taken up for us. The roof terrace is a
joy, especially at sunset, and we had a couple of
roof meetings up there,which the mosquitoes loved
when they found a large area of white flesh.

We have knocked a hole in the wall leading to
the land behind the boundary, and will be completing
earth filling of the ponds quite soon. When I left,
digging of the septic tank had begun and when I spoke
to Ali yesterday, he reported it was almost finished.

The other good news was that the existing well
has sufficient pressure to get water up to the
top floor of the new building, which will save us a lot
of money. We were so happy when we tested it and it worked!

The new land at Valimia is wonderful. There is a
mass of vegetables, pumpkins, bananas. We went
over several times to work and to harvest, and
had our picnic there. Ali had finally managed
to persuade a family living in our house there to
move out, so the boys had a great fun knocking down
the shack and partly rebuilding a new, stronger one.
The girls did their usual vegetable-picking, looking
beautiful and asking for their photographs.
The large island in the far field, in which we have
planted 500 pumpkins, was only accessible by a

wobbly branch, which I spurned, so that afternoon
the boys built a wonderfully solid mud bridge and
we can now easily get to the pumpkin field. This
is where our group photographs were taken.
Picnics are great fun, I was having such a good
time I went over in the
first busload and came back in the second.
Muntu, who counted heads for me, said we got
30 into the microbus. And the generator!

I felt that classes were better run than in
November. We have a lovely new teacher, Masuma,
a 17 year old orphan who teaches well and has the
added advantage of being very musical so we are
not totally dependent on Rina for accompaniment.
The deaf children had their daily classes with Sima,
and everyone seemed to be working well although we
still need tuition for the blind. I met a nice young
man who will come every Friday afternoon to teach
art. I showed him the stencils I took with me, which
were a great success: small themed books with 6
stencils in each, the more able children soon
learned how to make a composition on one piece of
paper, and I am hoping to get our 2009 Christmas
card picture when I go back in August. I also bought
large simple Early Learning stencils which were great
for the less able and especially for the blind Mamun
caught on very quickly and by the last
lesson, was drawing the outlines and filling them
in perfectly. My photograph is of his first attempt.

We have a lovely Hindu singing teacher who comes
two afternoons a week. I always sat in on these
classes and am endeavouring to learn the words
of a splendid song which I believe is about boats
and fishing. The teacher very sweetly wrote the
words down for me in Bangla script! I will master it
next time, it certainly makes a change from
We Shall Overcome.

One lovely surprise, which Ali gave me when I
arrived, was that Sharmin and Shamoli were
coming back to Bhola with their 6-month old
son Shemanto. They arrived the same day as
us and it was great to see them again. Sharmin is
such a good worker, and Shamoli a wonderful
mother Surma could learn from her! Little
Shemanto is adorable and of course enjoying
suddenly having 30 brothers and sisters.

One sadness, for me and for all of us who
visit regularly, is that little Sonia has gone home.
She has been there for nearly 3 years and her father
has returned from Dhaka. I don¹t think Bruna,
Jose or I will ever forget the stern, fully covered
mother who come to collect Sonia on our first open
day. After being dragged off kicking and screaming,
Sonia moved in with us the following day. She is
such a character and we will all miss her.
Happily our other baby, Haftsa, is still with us
although her father is also planning to come back.
We made a wonderful trip to Haftsa¹s house and met
her family, and on the same trip we visited
Fatima¹s brother¹s family.
Fatima has become one of my greatest friends
at Bhola, she is such a lovely girl and so incredibly
beautiful with a natural grace, it is heartbreaking
to think her body might remain so scarred.
She is going monthly to Dhaka for treatment
but Ali says the extent of her burns mean
plastic surgery is impossible. I have a
sub-group of Fatima supporters who have sent
photographs of her injuries to burn specialists
in Dhaka and India, if it is possible I think
they will finance skin grafts.

Money continues to be a problem. The cost
of living has rocketed once again, Ali
and I retreated most mornings to the top
floor and did our number-crunching, but in
the end the draft budget we sent back to the
trustees made grim reading. If anyone knows
of any company or charitable
trust which might be interested, please do
let us know. One of our donors has kindly
recommended Bhola¹s Children to the person
in his company responsible for charitable giving,
and I have a meeting with her soon. Any
other such recommendations would be so very welcome,
since we private individuals are all feeling
the pinch.

It was a wonderful trip and two weeks are
certainly far better than one for me, giving
us all time to do everything we needed to do
and have time to just be together.
I think the high point each day for most
of us was teaching Mammi sign language and Bangla.
We had huge fun and I even managed to make a few
jokes. The low for me was the constant power cuts,
which meant no fans in the heat of the evening.
and the Islamic festival in the village, blaring
out heaven knows what over loudspeakers for three
evenings until late into the night. Otherwise, it
was pure joy and I miss them all.

Thank you for your continued support and interest,

Very best wishes,
Dinah

Ali's Birthday Celebrations & Christening the new building, 2nd March 2009

2009-03-21T15:10:00.000-07:00

Message from Birgitta & Christer Wallhagen and Lena & Lennart Backman, March 09

2009-03-21T15:01:00.000-07:00

Our experience of meeting with Bhola Children

To have the opportunity to visit Bhola Children
has made our lives richer. Getting together in
an atmosphere of love, where religion, disability or
other status is not important but the love of God
prevails.

The joy to live  in their own paradise on earth
without fear of not being good enough to be removed
or supported by the Community. Unfortunately it is
these people's experiences in these previous life.
They have been removed fromthe selected context.
It can not leave anyone indifferent. It's really the
way we all would face each other to see the possibilities
in every human being in spite of our limitations.
Remember when our newly won friends sang
together, "We shall overcome one day and we
are not afraid", it was impossible to hold
back the tears.

It is precisely this type of community that
we all need. Where our hearts meet in love and
grateful public intersection. This produces grace.

The day after we arrived, we got to attend the
inauguration of the new house children are now moving
into. Then it was more than a party. It was incredibly
gratifying to see how well the children have received it.
This was also Ali's birthday and the first time he had
celebrated it in 56 year, so knew joy no bounds.
We took part of the dancing  and were allowed to see
how the deaf girls danced with a great sense of rhythm
in their bodies.

What a privilege to be involved in the children's
joy who have experienced that their disability
has made them outcasts from the family and society
have brought them to a heaven on earth.  Where
everyone felt love for its own sake.

It is clear that we sent many grateful thoughts
to all people who have given of their abundance
to these children. Hope that the joy from the
children and young people is spreading to the people
who have opened their wallets and given to those
in need.


Birgitta and Christer Wallhagen
Lena and Lennart Bäckman

Bruna's Report, January 2009

2009-02-23T08:21:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends,
It’s nice to come back to you again with the latest news of our last trip to Bhola. This time we decided to go earlier, therefore, the Three Musketeers - Eleonora, Jose’ and Bruna - and twelve pieces of luggage (!) flew to Dhaka on the 2nd of January.

Because we thought it was better to travel ‘light’, Eleonora and Bruna already in November last year sent by ship to Ali and the children 14 big boxes with medical equipment, tools and machines for the workshop, ítems for the kitchen and the new building, stationery, different games (always educational of course!), all sorts of sewing ítems, including a new sewing machine for our fantastic Asma, arts and craft material and a football table and hockey table! We Italian girls still cannot grasp the ‘wisdom’ of cricket!.

This time we had organized to fly to Bhola chartering the amphibious plane of MAF (Mission Aviation Fellowship). Unfortunately although we were only four people flying, the luggage was still too much and too heavy, therefore we Three Musketeers went ahead with some pieces while Ali and two pieces of luggage went by overnight ferry.

The trip to Bhola took only 35 minutes and we arrived in bright sunshine It was still very emotional to see so many people at the side of the river looking at our ‘mechanical’ bird landing softly on the water, recognizing immediately the familiar faces of Mantu and Mosharef, the always very excited and smiling Saladin that sat at the back of the Toyota van on top of the luggage!!.

In the boundary the children welcomed us with three beautiful bouquets of flowers, hugs, kisses, cries of ‘Mummy…..mummy, auntie….auntie…uncle…‘ all eager to help to carry the heavy suitcases. Obviously we couldn’t miss noticing the new big building, nearly finished, a little overwhelming even if we had already seen many photos of it. We could also see many men working and some of our very proud boys helping.

We saw new faces among the children and the staff; we recognized from the photos Fatima, the young woman that had terrible burns mainly on her chest and arms, with the most beautiful face intact; we finally met Ronazid, Ali’s main help and substitute that joined us two months ago. It was an immediate good, positive feeling. He is a very gentle, polite but not shy man; communicative and attentive. We saw him many times later interacting in a very natural, warm way with the children. He shared with us an immediate understanding of many situations, some problems and possible future resolutions and a willingness to be really part of Bhola's Children Family.

I must admit that this time our stay was much more challenging because of the effects of the still on-going works of the new building. Although we three had the same rooms like last year, the girls had to sleep on the floor in the next door classroom making the life of always sensitive Jose’ very difficult! Eleonora and I used ear plugs , therefore we could not hear so much of the girls chatting, baby crying, 5 am clattering of the Hindu kitchen …. the usual life of a home full of girls!.

Talking to Ali and observing the children, we realised that after a successful successful beginning there is now the need to involve better more qualified teachers, introduce a new bigger and more specific curriculum and above all a teacher and material specialized in blind students. It is always good and inspiring to see children with different disabilities to study, work, live together and help each other, but there is also now a need to give at times more specific guidances and learning techniques according to the different disabilities. Obviously it is a passing phase, but it was good to be able to analyse with Ali the present new and unusual situation, already introducing positive and effective remedies, planning future ones, learning and understanding the evolution of this fantastic unique project.

We organized a beautiful, exciting celebration of the Epiphany on the 6th of January when in Italy is tradition to give presents to the children. As usual Jose’ made the most beautiful drawing on the board of the Three Wise Men; we prepared then all different colourful bags full of personal presents for boy/girl, man/woman, including very colourful wooly scarves (it is actually quite cold in January), deodorants, perfumes, shower gels, shampoos, beads kits, car models, etc….. I told the story of the Italian tradition symbolizing the Three Kings coming from three different countries to bring presents to Jesús, and how we three, coming from three European countries liked to give all of them our presents on this special day. It was a very happy, funny, cheerful and exciting time. Everybody was so thrilled with all the goodies and surprises found in the bags. Needless to say, nearly everybody has been wearing the wooly scarves since!.

Although we didn’t manage to go for a picnic, we went to see the new land that is really big and very nice. We talked of the different ways to use it and above all of the immediate works needed, but wisely Ali agreed that we should wait until the new building is finished.

It wasn’t only a time for distributing gifts. We talked a lot of the future of Bhola's Children considering how much has already grown and once the new building will be finished how it will change even more. There is always the issue of Ali being in charge of everything, being very tired and thin. The need of finding more people like Ronazid that can take some responsabilities away from Ali. Creating a team where also others can take decisions within an area where they should be responsable. It is difficult for Ali to trust others, but we discussed a lot about the problem reaching the conclusion that Ali and all of us need to take some courage and even risk to put different people in charge, even to make mistakes, but it is the only way to train future teachers, helpers and carers.

It was a short but very intense visit, somehow more demanding that the last one, more challenging and in a way more serious. Going away was as usual painful with lots of tears and cries “ …mummy ..no go… auntie….uncle..no go”; at the same time it was less dramatic, there was some serenity and understanding of our future coming back, some awareness of continuity, I really felt a proud mother …. our children are growing up!

Bruna (little heart)

2009-02-02T13:17:00.000-08:00

Faruk and Shippu, January 2009

Children gardening on the new land, January 2009

The New Building, January 2009

Anne's report on her Christmas visit to Bhola, December 2008

2009-01-15T04:14:00.000-08:00

The Journey
It was a joy to spend Christmas week at Bhola.
The warmth of the welcome was even greater than the
warmth of the sun  it was like going from a world of
black and white to one of vivid colour! It was a
long journey to get there; the fog that had grounded (
or diverted) all flights after mine, hit Dhaka
in the early hours of the next morning
(at least it wasn¹t a cyclone this time) and
Ali and I finally arrived off the launch at 2pm,
rather than before breakfast as
all the children had expected.
There were lots of phone
calls saying: "dadu where ARE you and sister?"

The Children
The children all appeared in great form, looking well
and happy,and enjoying my efforts at Bangla and
at signing.  It was great to meet the old friends
and make some new ones, joining in the
classroom and all the games.

Fatima¹s burns are healing slowly but nicely.
She will almost certainly need skin grafts but
she is looking after herself well and getting
better.
Lailey, whose cooking remains a high point
(³Lailey¹s London soup²)
is much more comfortable with a new prosthetic limb 
the sores are gone and she has little pain.  Shurma
is having some problems with her artificial eye
but this is under medical control.

Little Sonia and Hafsa are the best of friends,
when they¹re not fighting madly.  Hafsa is a
child always busy: she had decided
to embroider a complicated design as a
gift for me and spent the week bent over her
stitching, even as she walked around
the boundary or watched TV.

A number of the children living at home came
back to visit: Dilruba, Khaleda, Maksud and
Putul all arrived.  Along with Farouk, and Saladin,
who is a tremendous worker and whom Ali
is paying a small salary, Maksud was helping
with the building work and seemed much happier
that the poor little thing that
Dinah described in November.  He¹s still very
skinny, but hisfather who did come in to speak to
Ali, argued that the whole family is small and
skinny  and this is true!

As many of us as could fit in the minibus (lots!)
went out to the new land which is looking beautiful
and  like the boundary garden  full of organic fruit
and vegetables growing at a great rate.

The Building
The new building is a triumph, both in the design
(all thanks to Ali) and the speed at which it has  safely 
gone up; and all with bamboo scaffolding and labourers
carrying bricks on their heads (something that all the boys
delighted in showing me their proficiency).  The third
floor was finished before my arrival and the ground floor
and all the bathrooms were being painted and tiled.
It will make such a difference for everyone to have a proper
building to sleep in, the girls sleep uncomplainingly on the
floor of the classroom but it can¹t be comfortable week after
week.  For visitors, the odd quiet moment on the top verandah
with the view as the sun sets will be an added bonus.
The ground floor room will be a great multi-purpose
space and might even bring in some extra income.
It would be perfect to rent out
for meetings and events, Ali says its by far the best
space on Bhola and is fully self-contained.

Now that the worst of the building is over, games have
resumed in the entrance to the boundary and there
is fierce competition over the nightly badminton games!
(of course it still vies with the lure of the television).
There is also great enjoyment in the rowing boat, which
all the children who can swim, are allowed to take out 
wonderful way to spend an hour watching the fish jump.

Ronazid
It was a pleasure to meet Ronazid. Now three months
into his position as Ali¹s second in command, it is
as if he has always been part of the family.
The children respond well to him and he clearly
enjoys spending time with them, and he seems to
balance this well with all the administrative work.
Like everyone else in the boundary, he was always busy
with something.  He took charge of the Friday evening
meeting (Ali was an onlooker) and handled it fairly
and well  even with limited Bangla it was easy to
see that.  Of course,Ali still does far too much,
but having Ronazid is a great start.

Farewell to Ruhul Amin
The week was very overshadowed by the final illness
and death of Ruhul Amin, an orphan who had been with
Ali for forty years.  As we all know, Ruhul Amin
had been sick for a long time and this time, as we
took him to the hospital in the microbus, heaven sent.
Prior to this he would have had to go by public bus
or on the back of a rickshaw van (a pallet on wheels
pulled by a rickshaw).   He was admitted with
advanced kidney failure,and he died that evening.
My constant memory of Ruhul Amin
will be of a simple and gentle man who was
always so delighted to join in and get his share
of sweets and treats.  And a special mention to
Taznour and Agamoni who looked after him
so well on that last trip to hospital; 13 year
old girls with the compassion and capability of
people much older.

The grimness of the government hospital and the lack of
state care was a sad but timely reminder of the harsh
realities of life in Bangladesh, something from
which we are very insulated as visitors in the boundary.
This also came home to me when I met the superintendent
of the government orphanage for girls, which just up
the road. When I went with Rina and Massima for a visit,
the 100 girls were well fed, dressed, and seemed happy
but their accommodation and the environment around
them was basic to say the least 
and of no comparison to our Boundary.

Christmas
Being in Bhola really was the perfect way to spend
Christmas: understated, non-commercial, lots of
fun and with people you love. We had coloured
fairy lights, a Christmas tree, the Christmas story
and gifts for everyone.  There was an interesting
moment when I asked Ali if we could buy a small gift
for the children and he thought I said goat,
and he was planning how we would kill it together
instead it was tiny bouncing balls for the boys
(a real hit) and bracelets for the girls (always a winner)
as well as some clothe or lengths of material for
each of them.  Ali made some sweets 
he could have a second career here  with coconut,
milk, nuts and spices.  Absolutely delicious!

School
I spent a lot of time in the classroom with the children,
learning alongside them as they prepared for the end of
year exams.  Shati, Rabeya and Earudin in particular, got
their books out daily and ensured I did the homework with
them.  I got the honorary position of colouring and
drawing teacher for the week, and naturally we had
the loudest oftraditional singing and dancing sessions.

Working with Ali, I started taking some biographies of
the children for the website and "sponsor a child" scheme
(which will also be good to have as an archive of
the charity).
This was slow work as there was always something
else to do, and often there is so little information,
but it has begun.

Finally,

As always it was a pleasure and a privilege to spend
time with Bhola¹s Children. It really is a second home
and, as Dinah will agree, it gets harder and harder to
leave each time.  It¹s a place with lots of laughter
and some tears   just one big loving family with all
the good things and the challenges that brings.
The achievements since last year, especially in
terms of the new accommodation, have been amazing.
So, many, many thanks to Ali and all of the children
for letting me be a part of it all.  I¹ve come
home inspired to spread the word further about
Bhola¹s Children, not to mention working out when
and how the next trip will come about!
         
Anne Hamilton, 
January 2009

news from Ali, 10th January 2009

2009-01-15T04:11:00.000-08:00

Dear all
 
We had a very busy time with the Bruna, Jose, 
and Elonora they have bought so many things for 
the children they send 14 boxes by ship and
bring 12 boxes with them it was so much things 
we had been given to the children. Lots of stuff 
for  he new building and for the kitchen. We
don’t get any time to go for picnic. Children are 
very happy to get so many games and the things, 
total it will be some tons, to day we are
flying back to Dhaka, and hope to see you soon. 
 
Lots of love from your children.

Happy New Year!!!

2009-01-05T09:13:00.000-08:00

Dear all,

Well, 2008 has seen a lot of change at Bhola Garden. New land....new building....there's certainly a feeling of great progress as we move into 2009.

In recent news......Dinah went over to Bhola in November, and was delighted by the new building, which has developed so much in such a short time. It looks fantastic, and will make a huge difference to life at Bhola Garden.

At the beginning of December, Ali was very involved in the organization of International Disability Day. Children from Bhola Garden won 9 prizes on the day, for competitions for the blind, Deaf, and for children with Cerebral Palsy.

Anne also recently visited the Island, and Dinah is due to return for another visit in February. With so much going on at Bhola Garden, and so much progress to see, it is clearly difficult to stay away!

As we move into 2009, there is much to look forward to; the completion of the new building, the cultivation of new land.....we still have a long way to go. But, encouraged by the great strides taken in 2008 it is with optimism and excitement that we move forward into a new year at Bhola Garden.

Many thanks to our friends and supporters and best wishes to you all for a wonderful 2009.

from Ali, 2nd January 2009

2009-01-05T09:08:00.000-08:00

Dear all

For your kind information, I am going
to Dhaka this evening and will come back
4th January about 12 pm By seaplane,
Bruna, Elonora, Jose will flow me

Hope to see you soon.

Lots of love from your children.

from Ali, 29th December 2008

2009-01-05T09:03:00.000-08:00

Dear all
Many of our disable persons are going
to cast their vote to day and this
is first time their casting their vote.

Lots of love from your children

news from Ali, 24th December 2008

2009-01-05T08:54:00.000-08:00

Dear all
Mr. Ruhul amin (143) was an orphan boy (U E C H),
I am looking after him from 1970, he is very sick
both kidney is out of order. We had taken him in Bhola
hospital this morning, Doctor says that there
are just one hospital in Dhaka, you should take
him there we can’t do anything so we will take him to
Dhaka for last treatment but hope is very little.
Hopefully we will say him goodbye. Swedish friend please
send the news to all other friends who work for
Uncle Erik`s Children Help and the others for pray for him.

Lots of love from your children

Progress, progress!!

2008-11-12T05:47:00.001-08:00

12th November:

2008-11-12T05:39:00.000-08:00

Many thanks to our kind supporters who responded 
so quickly to our appeal and have pledged money 
for Fatima's treatment. Dinah is now en route to Bhola 
and we look forward to hearing her news of life
at Bhola Garden. Yesterday, Ali sent us this update:

"Dear all
Fatima is admitted in the Hospital and has
start to get the proper medicine. We are
paying food, Medicine, every thing.

Lots of love from your children." (Ali)

Monday 10th November: We received this sad news from Ali:

2008-11-12T05:31:00.000-08:00

"An Orphan girl, Fatima Begom, 17 years old, 
(don¹t have father, mother and other relatives) has
been burned by fire, and admitted in the government
Hospital in Bhola but she couldn¹t buy the medicine, 
then she was discharge from hospital. Now her burn 
place is dangerous, she may not be live any more if 
she will not get proper treatment. If any one can help 
her, she my saved. If any one can help her then I can 
go for the treatment, she or he can send the money after.

Very simple away she burnt, after evening she was
giving the light with Kerosene lamp oil
In the lamp it wasn¹t any kerosene so she opens 
the mouth of the lamp for to put in the kerosene, 
at that time the burning part of the lamp with 
kerosene fall down on her body, the cloth was on her 
body was silk cloth so its burn and melted on her Skeins. 

Send the prayer to the others friend if needed.

Lots of love from your children." (Ali)

We sparing you the photograph, but can assure
you the poor girl¹s burns are horrendous.
Although not strictly within Bhola¹s Children¹s remit,
we have told Ali to proceed immediately with the treatment:

"Thank you so much for quick answer, tomorrow morning I will go to
hospital with her.
God bless you. Make a special pray for the girl". (Ali)

If you would you like to contribute to Fatima¹s treatment
and skin grafts, please write ŒFatima¹ on the back
of your cheque and we will make sure she is told
who has helped her. Thankyou.

news from Ali, 28th September 2008

2008-10-03T02:17:00.000-07:00

Dear all

Another good news, have some sweet with family and friends the last roof
of the new building is complete.
It was cloudy sky but no rain, so it was beautiful day. About 70 workers
were working together.
I am really so tired, I am going bed good night.

Lots of love from your children

News from Bhola Island, 11th September 2008

2008-09-11T02:19:00.000-07:00

Before and after 2 cleft lip and palate operations

Dear all

Greetings from Bholas Children

The boy with Cleft Lip and Palate has been
for operation twice first we operated the palate
and then after some month lip the picture is after
the lip operation.

It was done in Dhaka and the Doctor we had meets
together, Mr. Salek. At the time of palate operation
took many hours. And it was really a difficult one.

A new boy is with us in this week with his mother,
father left them when he saw that the born baby
is with CP. Dear friends you are missing a lot.
Lot of things to see to feel to observe to love and to
get ideas to have experience oh my GOD.

Lots of love from the children always talking about
you when you are coming many of them don¹t know when
is November, December, January, they like to see you now.

News from Ali, 9th September 2008

2008-09-09T06:25:00.000-07:00

Dear all

Greetings from Bholas children

All the children are doing well. The new Building is
going high and high. Hope that third roof will be
complete in this month. At the same time we are taking
up the walls, walls in the grown floor is completed.

We have planned to have two toilet left side and
right side, walls in the middle. One for girls one
for boys in the grown floor, ten windows 21 ventilator
it will be a big room we will use as a dining room and
TV room. We will rent it out for the meeting and
seminars for the other organization and NGOs, it will
give some money to us.

We can not put any slippery tiles on the floor because
children with poor balance will fall down.
We most put some tiles on the pillar where the
children will touch with their hand. All so some
in the toilet. We will build two extra room on the top for
our VIP guest. Kitchen will be completely separate from
main building.   

Lots of love from your children.

God bless you

News from Bhola Garden, 27th August 2008

2008-08-29T08:12:00.000-07:00

Construction in progress; second floor

Dear all
Greetings from Bholas Children

All the children are doing well, Babu small boy has
get hepatitis, and we had taken to him to hospital
he is getting better now.

On 29 August Friday we are going to work with
second roof it will be many people and machine from
morning to late evening we have very hard
work. Please pray for us so nothing will happen badly.

Lots of love from your children.

News from Ali, 18th August 2008

2008-08-29T08:08:00.000-07:00

Dear all

Greetings from Bhola,s Children

For your kind information I am back in the boundary.

All the children are doing well. Babu small boy has fever,
Monira is in Dhaka will come back when she is fit
for work.

Building construction is running soon we are going
to buy another Truck of M S Iron rod, flat bar angle bar etc.

Thanks for every thing, hope to see you soon.

Lots of love from your children.

Welcome!

2008-08-13T05:43:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Bhola's Children!

Ali, staff and children on first anniversary of the registration of the charity Bhola's Children, March 2008

We have decided to keep our friends and supporters regularly updated with news from Bhola Island, where Bhola's Children supports a home and a school for orphaned and disabled children.

Life at Bhola Garden is very full and packed with events, including Independence Day parades, outings and picnics, construction of new buildings.....there is always news to tell.

Howlader M A Ali runs Bhola Garden, and has spent his life working with disabled children. He had a dream of a home and a school where all the different disabilities live and work together. That dream has now been realised at Bhola Garden.

Due to genetics and bad diet, there are many disabled children born on Bhola Island, including children born with cleft lips and palates. As soon as a baby is born with this disability, the parents contact Ali who in due course arranges for the necessary operations in Dhaka. We have recently funded operations for 10 children with cleft lips.

Before (above) and after (below) the cleft lip operations, July 2008

Other recent achievements include a new glass eye for Surma, who had acid thrown into her face when she was ten years old, and refused the advances of a boy. Surma is now married to Bachu, has a son called Babu (see photographs below); they have bought their own piece of land on which they will be building a house.

Surma, Bachu and Babu with Ali (above) and Babu (below)

We are also currently fundraising for the construction of a new building, which will provide accommodation for 50 children instead of the present dozen who live at Bhola Garden.

First floor construction (above) and the second floor goes up (below), August 2008

We look forward to Ali's monthly updates, and hope you enjoy reading about our progress and achievements.