AMAL volunteers in one frame
"This may sound weird but 3 out of 5 underprivileged kids here in Bangladesh are devoid of healthcare facilities. The number of suffering kids in the country is staggering 4 million," says Esrat Karim Eve, founder of 'AMAL'. She mentioned due to ignorance or poverty their parents cannot avail proper healthcare for the distressed kids.
Esrat recalled, "When I was a sophomore in my undergraduate studies I went to a slum nearby our campus for a social project. I met a girl named Ayesha, barely at her 13. She was a jaundice patient. Her mother was feeding her 'pani-para', a local medication by kabiraj. That situation motivated me to do something for them."
By the time Esrat completed her graduation from Watson University, USA she managed to build the ground to work for the healthcare of underprivileged children of our country. AMAL started its journey in December 2014 with some enthusiast souls and almost no funding. AMAL aims to create the light of hope in the lives of underprivileged children by realising their full potentials. They want to fill up the gap in the healthcare support ecosystem of the poor kids that conventional healthcare cannot reach out. AMAL is the first NGO in our country which exclusively works for the healthcare especially mental health for underprivileged children in our country.
In countries like Bangladesh, healthcare is a privilege. The trauma and negligence the poor kids feel cannot be healed by conventional medication. So these kids need mental support from the people from all walks of life. AMAL has psychiatrists and doctors to check up mental health of distressed kids.
The path of AMAL was not smooth at the beginning. To run the first community healthcare project, AMAL was in short of money. Volunteers went places to raise funds--they stood before superstores while fasting in the month of Ramadan, they even sold 'Bonsai' tree from apartment to apartment. At one point, Muhammad Haikal Hashmi, DMD of IFIC bank came forward to support the cause. Since then, IFIC Bank has been one of the AMAL's core supporters.
Having won the support of US Embassy, ACME group and more than 250 volunteers-AMAL ran 10 community healthcare projects and served over 3 thousand underprivileged kids within only two years.
AMAL, which means 'hope' in Arabic, aspires to serve a total of 5 thousand marginalised kids by adding 3 more schools in its service line. However, AMAL needs an investment of both time and money from all of us. Let us be part of AMAL because nothing can be compared with the happiness of doing something good for the humanity.
The writer is a sophomore at Department of Finance, University of Dhaka and also a volunteer
consultant of AMAL, [email protected]
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