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ASPIRE
Your Monthly News & Updates
June 2019
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Eid Mubarak to all celebrating!
Thank you to all our generous supporters for contributing to our Ramadan campaign. Your support
will bring
transformative change in the Urdu speaking and Rohingya camps. We will be sharing updates of what was accomplished with the help of your support throughout the year so stay tuned for the monthly newsletter. A couple of more days remain for you to contribute to the campaign.
Contribute here if you did not get a chance to do so earlier.
Thank you from the bottom of our hearts!
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Food package distribution |
Ramadan food package distribution
feeds 19,000 people
Every year, OBAT distributes food packages in the camps in the month of Ramadan.These consist of staples such as rice, sugar, flour, oil, semolina etc. A bag feeding a family of four, costs approximately $40. This year, these packages were distributed in the cities of Dhaka, Khulna, Syedpur, Rangpur and Bogra and benefited about 19,000 people. Thank you to our supporters for providing ease to the camp residents during the month of Ramadan.
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The lone student out of 140 students to
get an A, is from OBAT!
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Sima
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OBAT's student is the only pupil to achieve an A+ grade from a group of 140!
Sima is currently studying at the Government Textile Vocational Institute. She is OBAT's Tutoring Center student as well as a scholarship recipient. In the Secondary School Certificate exam held in February, she was the only student among a group of 140, to achieve an A+ grade or a 5.0 GPA!
So proud of students like Sima who defy the darkness in their lives and outshine others with their hard work!
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Interfaith iftar supports Rohingya
refugees
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The interfaith iftar
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May 25th saw a powerful display of interfaith service, when Muslim, Jewish and interfaith organizations joined together for a fundraising iftar for OBAT's work for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh.
MC Emily Longnecker from local TV channel WTHR, kept the audience engaged as key note speakers Mindy and Rabbi Jeff Glickman and other
visitors
to the camps, Kristin Wright and Fatima Hussain spoke about witnessing the impact of OBAT during their visits. Eh Too Rah and Rabbi Brett recited Christian and Jewish prayers while Imam Ahmed Alamine recited the adhann at the time of the Muslim prayer. Thank you to all our participants, sponsors, guests, speakers and volunteers for coming together for an inspiring interfaith evening. A special shout out to the JCRC (Jewish Community Relations Council) for taking the initiative to raise awareness for the Rohingya crisis and for being the lead sponsor for this event!
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Rangpur Tutoring Center students
ace their results!
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The A-team!
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This year's SSC exam (secondary school certificate exam- a public exam required to be taken by grade 10 students) yielded exceptional results for OBAT's Rangpur Tutoring Center students. Nine students achieved a 5.0 GPA, including 2 Golden GPA's (the highest grade awarded in Bangladesh's education system). The two students who achieved this are, Ruhi Akter and Muskan Akter Priya. They live in the Rangpur camps and belong to extremely marginalized families.
We are so proud of their hard work- Congratulations to all!
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The students working on the website
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Java programming takes off!
A new batch to teach JAVA programming was initiated at the Syedpur IT center in April 2019. The students have already completed their first project- just a month later! This project involved making the homepage of a website using HTML5 and CSS. Way to go students! Kudos to the instructor, Mahfug Alam for his hard work and commitment toward teaching the students.
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The SDG forum |
Youth Think Tank engages in SDG forum for safe water
OBAT's Chittagong Think Tank students recently attended a seminar organized by the SDG (Sustainable Development Goal) Youth Forum. This forum was focused on the SDG goal no. 6, which is, "Ensure Safe Water and Sanitation for All." It was a great opportunity and learning experience for the Think Tank students who are focused on problem solving in their community through creative solutions.
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The new water pump at Khulna |
500 families receive clean water from new water pump at Khulna
To alleviate the water crisis in the month of Ramadan observed by the camp residents, OBAT's Khulna team have installed a deep tube well with a submersible pump at Khalishpur, camp number 3. The tube well will provide clean water to 500 families providing great respite from the water crisis facing them.
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Syedpur Tutoring Center
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Tutoring centers prepare students for JSC exams
The mock tests for JSC (Junior Student Certificate) exams started in the 3rd week of May in all tutoring centers of OBAT, including Dhaka, Rangpur, Syedpur, Khulna, Chittagong, Mymensingh and Bogra.
A total of 225 students took the exam. We are all rooting for them to do a fantastic job in the actual exams. All the best, students!
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Saba Pervin, teaching in class |
Scholarship student gives back
Saba Pervin is one of OBAT's super smart students! Saba finished her elementary school education from OBAT's SB Nagar Chittagong School. She aspired to be a doctor and started receiving a scholarship from OBAT after grade 5. Currently, she is studying Chemistry at Chittagong City College University. Besides studying, she is giving back by teaching at OBAT's Tutoring Center as a volunteer. Many of OBAT's scholarship students give back to their community by serving in OBAT's projects.
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OBAT's Scouts win speech competition!
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The winners!
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A speech competition was held recently at
the Scout Auditorium in Rangpur. Two of OBAT's scouts from Rangpur School participated in the competition
in which a total of ten renowned schools were competing.
OBAT scouts and students, Mahbuba Razia Binte Zia from grade 8 and Md. Sohan from grade 6, participated and won the first and second prize.
What an achievement scouts! We are proud of your hard work!
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OBAT's instructors at the training
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IT instructors receive training to prep youth for competitions
The recent National Children and Youth Programming Contest was aimed at nurturing skills and technology literate youths to help realize the dream of a "Digital Bangladesh" in the future.
As a part of the national level contest, a two-day
training workshop was held.
Three representatives from OBAT's IT centers in Rangpur, Syedpur
and Chittagong, Md. Arshad Iqbal, Md. Mahfug Alam and Md. Shahzada participated in this workshop. The objective was to learn to train the kids and youth of OBAT's Schools to
prepare them for participation in the contest and also create a
platform to showcase their creativity, encouraging them to think logically and to build their problem solving skills.
On the first day of the two-way workshop, 400 teachers from 64 districts and 200 lab coordinators received training on Scratch programming followed by training on Python programming, the next day.
The contest will be held in 200 digital labs in all 64 districts of the country. Students from grade 3-10 will take part in the contest.
We are proud of our instructors for constantly learning and enhancing their skills to improve the services we provide to the camp youth
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OBAT's annual iftar at ISNA draws a
large crowd
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Speaker, Hazem Bata
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Every year, families in Indianapolis join together to sponsor a fundraising iftar for OBAT at the ISNA headquarters. This year saw unexpectedly large crowds. Speaker, Hazem Bata talked about injustices and trauma endured by displaced people and our collective responsibility to help them.
We are very grateful to all the ftar sponsors, to Mr. Hazem Bata and to our MC, Fatima Hussain for contributing to the iftar's success.
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Use Facebook to multiply your philanthropic impact!
Most of you probably have hundreds of friends on Facebook. Imagine harnessing all their philanthropic leanings into a fundraiser that you create for OBAT on Facebook! The result could be tremendous!
All you need to do:
- Go to your Facebook home page
- Click on "Fundraisers" on the left side of your screen, under the "Explore" heading
- Next click on, "Raise Money" and then "Get Started"
- Choose OBAT from the Nonprofits area
- Enter a few details and invite your friends
- You are all set!
The good news is, a full 100% of the amount you raised will be sent to OBAT- Facebook does not deduct transaction fees any more for nonprofits.
Raise away!
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Inspired?
DONATE to our projects!
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OBAT Helpers Inc.
317.203.0603| contact@obathelpers.org |www.obathelpers.org
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