Celebrating Universal Children’s Day

Celebrating Universal Children’s Day

For the first time in Bangladesh

Amani, a student of one of the most reputed private universities in Bangladesh. From sharp 8:00 a.m., she has been selling flowers to the people on the move at the Gulshan 2 circle. When the signal turns red, she approaches to private cars and other vehicles wearing a t-shirt inscribing ‘JAAGO’ on the front and www.jaago.com.bd at her back for selling flowers to the passengers. Getting startled, the passengers look around and to their utter amazement; they observe something similar all around. There are many young people on the roads doing the same thing. Some are selling popcorns, some are selling flowers and some are selling candy floss. The passersby halt a bit in their way to destination and observe what the young boys and girls are trying to do. ‘’I have never done anything so exciting before. People are thunderstruck by our actions. I never thought volunteering will be so much fun’’, said Amani. Like Amani, many young students were on the roads of Dhaka on 18 November, 2009 to remind people their duties and obligations toward the children who are living a very miserable life. ‘’ This will be an eye opener for the people from all walks of life so that they may realize their responsibility towards the kids and contribute to their overall betterment.’’ She added.

Monju, a 12 year old boy, sells popcorns at Gulshan-2 circle. At this very tender stage of his life, instead of going to school, he has to support his family - his mother and 5 year old sister. Everyday, he wakes up at 7:00 a.m. and spends his whole day on the roads selling popcorns to the people on transports. But today is very different for him than any other day. He did not have to go selling popcorns. Rather, he is enjoying his time in Wonderland Amusement Park along with some of his friends; children like him who sells flowers, candy floss, candies and many other items on the streets. It’s more like a dream came true for them. They don’t have to rush to cars or any vehicles to sell their products. Today, they are having the best time of their life.

These are the stories of Amani and Monju and there are many other similar stories that took place on 18 November. On that day, around 500 underprivileged kids were the happiest children in the world. This year, Jaago Foundation celebrated Universal Children’s Day with the underprivileged street children who face harsh reality in every single step of their day-to-day life.    

The day started with breakfast for the kids. To feed around 500 kids was not an easy job for the volunteers. But they managed to handle every thing orderly. The kids were enjoying every bit of their time in Wonderland. After the breakfast, they started roaming around and exploring the fascinating rides. No one could wait any longer to jump in to the rides. The Wonderland authority privileged the kids by giving them a chance to ride all the rides as many times as they want for three hours. The joy knew no bounds for kids when the access to rides was given to them. It seemed that they had the best three hours of their life as they were enjoying to the fullest. Lipi, one of the kids, could not even express how happy she was. She was riding only the bumping car over and over again. ‘’eto moja kono eideo kohono kori nae..khuv vala lagtase’ she said.

After the rides, a magician came upon the stage and started showing magic. The magician’s incantation left the kids totally mesmerized. The children were the participants in the tricks which made them extremely happy. Around 1:00 p.m., the volunteers served launch to the kids. Due to the day long activities, they were hungry and started swallowing the food. By the courtesy of Novartis Bangladesh Ltd, a heath camp was there to check the health condition of the kids that commenced from 2:00 p.m. Volunteers helped them out stand in a queue and maintain it. At the end of the day, many celebrities and guests came over to Wonderland to support the noble cause. Many of the celebrities stood at Gulshan-2 circle from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. and worked as volunteers. They all had fun doing these activities and urge everyone to come forward and help the children get their rights.  

The whole day program ended in the evening by giving away the total collected amount of money equally among the children. Celebrities spontaneously participated in the process and gave away the money. Then the founder of Jaago, Mr. Korvi Rakhshand, thanked each and everyone for making the event a great success.  This event has been supported by Mojo, KFC, Pizza Hut, Novartis, Adcomm, Radio Today, Alliance Group and others.

Throughout the world, 20 November is observed as Universal Children’s day. To convey the significance of theday, Jaago Foundation arranged a campaign ‘JAAGO’ on the 18 November, 2009 for creating awareness among mass people of the poor and destitute condition of the children who are deprived from all the rights and often discriminated. On this day, Jaago gathered around 500 street urchins from different important traffic hubs of Dhaka and ran a full day activity with them in Wonderland Amusement Park. While the ill-fated children were having a good time in the park, over 500 volunteers from different organizations and backgrounds stood in the traffic signal points and put themselves in their shoes. All day long, they sold various products that are usually sold by the kids. At the end of the day, the amount of money collected was disbursed equally amongst the 500 children. The key purposes of the event were to raise awareness among the people and inspire them to take part in the development of the country through developing the children.