Youth in Action

Tomorrow's Heroes-empowered Youth, Empowered You

Fardin Akbar Hyderi

There goes a famous saying,"Education is the backbone of a nation," and it is high time that people start realising the depth of this quotation and take a step towards implementing it. "Empowered Youth, Empowered You" was an event where a group of students, tried to spread awareness of the importance of education amongst a small group of people in a village in Manikganj. They started small, but the initiative was most certainly significant. In a rundown building in Joymontop village, Manikganj, about two hundred children attend a school known as 'Zenith School' despite their daily struggle against poverty. This school had very little of what schools here have. The Headmaster is a low income government official who carried out his dream of educating children but he had little or no help to begin with. Starting from the absence of playground to lavatories and even fan, the school had barely anything except a couple of benches and a tin shed above the children's head. This school was noticed by some young students and they were amazed when they saw that despite all the problems, the students still made an effort to come to this school everyday and learn.

Students of Zenith School with volunteers.

Fahim Nazim, an A Level graduate from Maple Leaf International School was the founder of this event. He was the president of the Green Club in that school. Through this club he was the only one selected by the Global Change Makers out of the many who applied from our country. He was involved with the Enviromental Changes in this organisation and his project to change this small and ignored school was selected. Along with a couple of friends, he decided to plan out this event in order to create more enthusiasm for the young learners of that school. The event was sponsored by the Vertex Group and they advertised it through Facebook and with the help of Radio Aha, asking for volunteers who wanted to get involved. They managed stationaries, sport kit equipment, books, painting and colouring equipment and funds to donate for the betterment of this school. The headmaster was more than grateful when he was approached for permission.

After collecting all the donations, the organisers and volunteers of the event went to the school on the October 28. The volunteers and the officials did as much as they could for the school. They tried to give the school a look which every other schools in our city has. Along with the children of that school, they drew paintings on the school's walls. They helped set up a playground for the kids with some small rides on a small field near the school. Teachers from Maple Leaf International School were also involved. They went to the school along with the team to interact with that school's faculty members. Along with a library and even a personal computer, they helped set up almost everything they thought the children needed to learn from. Fahim Nazim, the founder, said, "The expressions on the children's faces after doing all this was worth it. I tried to create enthusiasm for the children there and I hope that after doing all this, the children will have fun learning as we all did when we were their age."

The event is not over yet. They are planning to do more for the school. The officials of this event are not satisfied yet as they think that more needs to be done. They decided to develop it to it's maximum potential and then head over to their next project on helping another school. They helped set up an internet connection on the computer they donated so that the faculty can Skype with organisers any time needed. They are planning to go to that school again sometimes after Eid along with more volunteers and more helpful donations. If one is eager to know more and/or wants to contribute to this inspiring cause, he or she may contact them by searching for "Empowered Youth, Empowered You" on Facebook or even logging on to www.global-changemakers.net or mailing at empoweredyouth.empoweredyou@yahoo.com. Of the thousands and millions of things we do for ourselves, we can take time to do one or two for the underpriviledged. They really would appreciate any sort of help and it is for sure that making them enthusiatic about education can actually make our nation stronger.