After a grueling two months of work a team from One Degree Initiative (1di) finally managed to re-open the library in Pogose School which is the first private school in Dhaka. When we first visited the library we had not anticipated what we would find there. We were drowned in dust and it felt like trying to wake up a sleeping giant. The school was founded in 1848! The beautiful ancient books in the library made us feel so small. "These should be in a museum," were the exact words my friend said while dusting the books. The architecture and beauty of the school itself was a completely diffferent story. The photographers on our team went crazy taking pictures, forgetting to work occasionally. Everyday we would clean and list and come home looking like chimney-sweepers. But, it was fun and the library was inaugurated on 21st March 2009, Saturday. The programme was started with a presentation campaigning against "Littering, Acid violence, and Drug Abuse". After the speeches were delivered by Zulfa Mohammad (Headmaster of Pogose School), Rick Davis (Science teacher of AISD), Khaleda Mariam Sajjad (A/O level coordinator of Sunbeams school), Taimur Islam (Head of Urban Study Group) the library was inaugurated by handing over the register to the Headmaster.
What had we done? We sorted the books into disposable and usable books, disposed of the text books which were out of syllabus, cleaned the books and rearranged them in the shelves after the catalogueing was complete. This is the fourth library that 1di set up but is perhaps the first one which they reopened after re-cataloguing all the books. Sunbeams Community Service Club donated about 240 books and American International School Dhaka donated 120 books to pogose school. I am very gratfeful to them for their cooperation and enthusiasm.
Dusting wasn't the only thing we did there. Apart from playing in the dust, we sucessfully broke a bench, made a huge mess and irritated the teachers in many different ways however they were awefully kind about it all. Thank all so much, especially Headsir. We did however, get fringe benefits. Every single day that we worked from early in the morning till the evening, we treated ourselves to the mouthwatering delicasies characteristic of Puran Dhaka. Few of us who who would easily get lost there can now easily navigate through all the main routes in the area. But the most positive effect was however the breaking of the barrier that most of the volunteers had towards visiting Puran Dhaka. When i first told the members te first reaction would be an exclaamtion, "Puran Dhaka! It's so far away!" No one said this out loud but i knew that they felt insecure about going there. All that is thankfully gone now. We understand that there isn't much difference between Old Dhaka and New Dhaka apart from the heritage sites. Also, people there are much warmer. Everywhere we went we were greeted with smiles. My most favourite journey from Puran dhaka was the tht of the first day. We got lost. Four of us almost equally ignorant about the road networking in puran dhaka (one of my friends spends a lot of time ther ebut he has bad memory) kept on going around in circles, trying to catch a bus or CNG to return to dhanmondi until we found our way to Gulistan. We eventually got a Taxi.
On a more personal level this project was extremely precious to me becuase this was the first time that I was acting as project leader. Everyone on the team was so supportive. It was simply wonderful. In fact saying that it was wonderful would be an understatement. everyone had work, exams we were all busy but they managed to compensate for everything. Even on the nght before the opening six of us ended up staying at Diya's house trying to formulate the "flawless backup plan" and trying to patch up the loose ends. Then the opening took place. This was jointly coordianted by Mayeesha (Anti presentation's project leader) and me, with Mushfiq and Tazin as our crazy MCs and with Diya(EC) coordinating everyon. Special thanks to the crowd controll, brochure printing and the presentation team.
After event we celebrated by going to Ahsan Manzil but that is a diferent story altogether. It was all fun. And all work. Guys thank you so much. I got t know some of you even better. We had our ups and downs but at the end of the day i'm glad glad that you all are who you are. Because, hey we had fun. And we did it! You all are simply too much.
On a more personal level this project was extremely precious to me becuase this was the first time that I was acting as project leader. Everyone on the team was so supportive. It was simply wonderful. In fact saying that it was wonderful would be an understatement. everyone had work, exams we were all busy but they managed to compensate for everything. Even on the nght before the opening six of us ended up staying at Diya's house trying to formulate the "flawless backup plan" and trying to patch up the loose ends. Then the opening took place. This was jointly coordianted by Mayeesha (Anti presentation's project leader) and me, with Mushfiq and Tazin as our crazy MCs and with Diya(EC) coordinating everyon. Special thanks to the crowd controll, brochure printing and the presentation team.
After event we celebrated by going to Ahsan Manzil but that is a diferent story altogether. It was all fun. And all work. Guys thank you so much. I got t know some of you even better. We had our ups and downs but at the end of the day i'm glad glad that you all are who you are. Because, hey we had fun. And we did it! You all are simply too much.
I would specially like to thank my catalouging team: Mushfiq (Vice project leader :P), Zubaer Tazin, Tanzim Taher, Mayeesha, Wasiq, Maxim, Swapnil, JC, Zabir bhaiya, Rafed, Shurovi, Zeeshan, Ashik, Bosra, Riaz, Shourab and last but not the least Diya and Asif, our two uber special ECs.
The presentaion team was working under mayeesha. Thank yu guys so much for the awesome show. I'm listing everyone who worked.
Mayeesha (project leader), Tanzim Taher, Zubaer Tazin, Mushfiq, Zeeshan, Shoma, Russel, Risalat, me and our ECs Diya and Asif.
Special thanks to the event management team: Diya, Mayeesha, Wasif, Tousif, Risalat, Mujtaba, Zubaer Tazin, Mushfiq, Tanzim Taher, Fahmim, Rafed, Shurovi, Maxim, Aaquib, Ashik.
I would also like to thank the other guests and students who attended the programme as representative of Urban Study Group, Sunbeams Community service club and AISD.
Do you know something? The library looks good now and they have stopped littering. A small step can go a long way. We hope that is small change will have small impacts on several people's lives and hence bring about some significant change.
Pogose School, Shakhari Bazaar, Dhaka
What we want is a positive change. And this is our way of doing it. Thank you all so much for being a part of this initiative.
What we want is a positive change. And this is our way of doing it. Thank you all so much for being a part of this initiative.
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