Feature

Deshi Jewels defining "strength" and "beauty"

Shayera Moula

Dr. Sen

For the past entire week all the contestants of D Youth have been speeding their man power in order to complete their first task and raise as much fund possible for the Acid Survivors Foundation (ASF). Deshi Jewels being one of the teams that made it to the next round now reminisces on how in the end it really wasn't about a competition anymore. With time they found themselves deeply connected to a whole new notion of compassion. They wrote in their report that “working with the acid survivors and the people who wanted to help them with all their heart made us realize the value of humanity and the everlasting strength of the human spirit.

Team members Abdullah Mohammad Naheyan Hye, Raisa Hussain, Afsar Barkat Mahmud Sohel, Nafis Ahmed, Rifat Faruq, Tawsif Saleheen and Abhijit Asad were able to complete six successful events in eight days reaching over hundreds of people aging from eight to their late sixties! They went to various Universities starting with their own campus in IBA. Though many feel that today's youth have no sense of concern, Deshi Jewels managed to raise thousands of taka in those few universities alone. In this way, they realized that people out there still care. On the other hand, if students didn't take much heed before about acid survivors then they definitely started thinking twice after watching a five minute video made by Rifat. The Warfaze's “Nirbashon” song was used (suggested by Abhijit) as the appropriate musical accompaniment for the emotional video clip. The images displayed showed various victims and their painful journey until death. In addition, Abhijit also created a PowerPoint presentation, focusing on the statistical data that was collected through different websites. When projected on a screen and magnified, these images and statistics started to swell aching fear among the viewers and the shocked facial expressions especially on girls made it clear that the horror truth of these survivors was finally being understood. Dr. Sen, a guest speaker for Deshi Jewels went to these Universities as well and his involvement in ASF along with his concerned speech on how to help such victims earned a lot of support from the audience as well.

When asked about any personal experience, Tawsif talks about a rickshaw ride with Ms. Nurunnahar, an acid survivor. While on their way to IBA, there were many people giving uncomfortable and repulsive looks to her scarred face. If it were anyone else, they would have hid themselves from the society forever! Let's face it, almost any girl complain about the endless teasing they get everyday on the streets and what Ms. Nurunnahar is facing is just that expect it's a hundred times worst. Her strength is very impressive and “I found my respect towards her growing” Tawsif adds. They say beauty is defined by someone's personality and strength in which sense the beauty of Ms. Nurunnahar is indescribable.

The astonishing fact however was that from this week's experience Deshi Jewels learned the possibility to reach out to people in a very short time and still do a great job at it. In fact, Prof. Zainab Ali, from the architecture department at BRAC University was so proud of Deshi Jewels' enthusiasm that she immediately agreed to have the Social Development Forum (SDF) club of BU collaborate with them in their presentation. SDF swiftly filled the entire campus with fosters announcing the program and made sure that the entire procedure from setting up the technical requirements to raising enough fund and awareness was promising.

Overall, one the most prominent places they spread their awareness was the Citibank NA where Naheyan managed to book an appointment with Khwaja Masum Billah the vice president and senior country operation officer. Sohel, Naheyan, Tawsif and Abhhijit made a formal presentation in front of the high officials and executives of Citibank NA. They introduced ASF and the diverse services ASF provides. Throughout the presentation they spoke about the physical and mental pain these unfortunate acid victims have to go through along with the never ending social stigma pinned onto them for the rest of their lives. At the end of the presentation, the 5 minute video clip was played officially ending their program.

In the end of it all, the week long struggle to attend regular classes, keep track of each other and every group member's responsibility and present themselves convincingly front of crowds of strangers, Deshi Jewels found it all worth it. After all, to better the lifestyle of any unprivileged human being is far more rewarding then laying back and complaining about the miseries of your own life. To view the beauty in an acid survivors strength is a million times more powerful than giving up hope altogether.

Student of BRAC University