Farzeen Ferdous Alam
Founder and President of Oggro

Some people take on the role of leadership when they are left with no other choice. Others step up to change the world around them from the very moment they are aware of the world around them. One such youth leader is Farzeen Ferdous Alam, the President of the youth- based policy development and implementation organisation, OGGRO.

Farzeen did his early schooling from SFX Green-herald School. In grade 8, he was selected by Oxford University as one of the five young people in the world to 'have the capacity to become global leaders in future'. To this end, Oxford University with the support of Jacobs Foundation, invited him to stay at the university, along with four other global delegates, to spend one week of meeting and exchanging ideas with Oxford and Cambridge faculty members as well as distinguished Nobel laureates.

However soon after this, Farzeen felt out of place and understood that if he wanted to bring about real change, he needed to work from the ground level. He thus dropped out of Greenherald in grade 10 to complete his O-levels privately so that he could spend more time in helping the people of rural Bangladesh. He started OGGRO in 2007 with only TK 600, and today it is a nationwide organisation with a membership of over 2,300 across Bangladesh. He personally supports and funds the education of 18 visually-impaired girls in Bangladesh who now have access to education. In Rangpur, Farzeen has helped families in setting up small businesses in order to help them find a way out of poverty. He also supports youth leaders from across the country, from Gangachara to Koira in the Khulna division to help them build their capacity and support them in bringing holistic change to their communities.

Farzeen was recognised by the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAoC) for his work when he was awarded the Youth Solidarity Fund, while MTV Staying Alive Foundation, UK awarded him "Outstanding Achievement in HIV AIDS Awareness", an award given to a select few by MTV from across the world.

Farzeen has been working with the UNAoC since then and subsequently, has attended numerous UN conferences (Strasbourg in 2009, Rio de Janeiro in 2010 and Azerbaijan in 2011). He recently helped run the UNAoC's fourth forum in Qatar.

His vision in development work is to focus on areas that need the most attention. Therefore, OGGRO continues to reach the most marginalised areas in Bangladesh where very few development organisations have been able to reach.

Farzeen opted to study in the University of Dhaka, where he is currently completing his undergraduate degree in Economics. Besides his responsibilities, Farzeen is an energetic youth who spends his spare time coaching the Green Herald Football team and is an avid Manchester United fan.

Compiled by Star Correspondent

Badhan Blood Bank
A Volunteer blood donor organization

The 'rocktochosha' or vampires of Badhan are a lot different from Twilight's Edward Cullen. For one, they don't sparkle in the sunlight. For another, they don't drink the blood themselves; they collect it for those in dire need of blood transfusions.

Badhan is one of the leading blood banks of the country, run solely by students, mainly graduate and post graduate students. Their main objective is to provide blood for poor and sick people who need blood urgently.

“We started in 1997, with a 27 member committee. Now we have 102 units in 32 educational institutions,” says Ashraful Islam Jewel, the current D.U zonal committee president of Badhan. He explains that Badhan has functional units mainly in colleges and halls. Their unit executive committees and activists maintain the network in respective halls and colleges. Through their network they make a person-to-person search in order to find a safe blood donor.

Badhan is run by its central committee which is headed by its president and secretary. All of the members of any executive committee have to be a current student.

“We want to encourage and motivate people to donate blood, to realise that donating blood for the poor and needy is a noble act,” states Jewel.

Jewel says that Badhan mainly works with young generations by motivating them to do volunteer work on a regular basis. The volunteers take precautions in order to make sure that the blood is safe and fresh, and help other blood donating organisations. Badhan is also renowned for responding quickly in times of emergency such as flood or other natural disasters.

Badhan targets students who are ambitious, energetic, and commited to carry on its mission. The volunteers arrange motivational programmes and other donation programmes all throughout the year.

The medical institutions are well aware of Badhan and refer patients to it for blood. Moreover, Badhan arranges various vaccination programmes and health-related awareness programmes.

Compiled by Star Correspondent

Jahidul Islam
Bagerhat

What happens when someone dear to you urgently needs blood after being hospitalised? Even those who live in the capital find themselves in a hapless situation. Imagine how things may be in the smaller towns. In the district of Bagerhat, located in the far south, one young man named Sk Jahidul Islam has made a remarkable difference. Aged 35, he has persistently worked for nearly two decades to help people who do not have the slightest idea how to collect blood to save their dear ones. It all began purely out of his altruistic zeal in the 1990s.

"As far as my memory goes, it was in 1993. While passing by the district hospital, I saw an old man asking desperately if anyone could tell him how to manage a rare group of blood for his severely ill daughter. My group matched and I donated blood to his daughter. That is when I realised how helpless people really are in this situation.”

On the outset, he along with some of his friends who were the only donors he knew, set up an informal working space. Today he has as many as 2,000 blood donors spread across the district town as well as all the upazilas. When friends around him were busy investing all their time and money into building a career, he chose to spend his money to blood donations. It is only until recently that he received funding and institutional help from the government and non-government organisations. It has been about a year since Mir Shawkat Ali Badshah, lawmaker from Bagerhat-2 constituency, made some substantial contribution to build an office and provide some other facilities.

In 2005 he gave his venture a name, calling it "Blood", which now has many active branches in several upazilas of Bagerhat. Involved with fish farming, Jahidul believes in a world where standing by the distressed is the only religion that human beings are supposed to follow.

"If there is anything meaningful I have done in life, then it is giving birth to Blood, a venture through which I continue to stand by the afflicted people of my country," Jahidul says.

by Rifat Munim