VBD Celebrates the Great Kindness Challenge

Sunday, 14 August 2011

On August 13, 2011, Volunteer for Bangladesh (VBD), the volunteer wing of JAAGO Foundation, observed the Great Kindness Challenge for the second time in the country’s history. On the day, the underprivileged students of the JAAGO School and the volunteers of VBD joined hands to show their appreciation for the police force of Dhaka and Chittagong.

The volunteers and kids broken down into various teams and visited almost every police station in the capital and the port city wearing the official VBD t-shirts. They visited the police stations of Gulshan, Tejgaon and Ramna, as well as the offices of the Dhaka Police Commisioner and the Inspector General. The teams presented the officers with roses and greeting cards prepared by the JAAGO kids and a letter of appreciation from the President of Volunteer for Bangladesh and Founder of JAAGO Foundation, Korvi Rakshand. The letter compassionately thanked the Police Department of Bangladesh for its tremendous effort in ensuring safety and upholding the law and urged the force to utilize its full potential to make Bangladesh an even better place to live in.

The volunteer were unable to meet the Inspector General, but when the Additional Inspector General heard about the program, he came out to great the volunteers personally. He went on to state how happy he was with the initiative.

'By taking this initiative, you have further increased our responsibility to the people of this nation.'

Another officer from the office stated, 'It is true that there are a number of inadequacies on our part, but after seeing such an initiative from the young people of our country we are only motivated to try harder to fulfill our duties and serve the nation better.'

An officer of the Kalabagan Thana mentioned how he had faced a lot of criticism in his life but how few people bothered to express their gratitude.

'People are often misbehaving and shouting with us (police), but no one ever bothers to thank us for what we do.'

An officer working at the Dhanmondi Lake not only praised the the initiative but also took the pictures of the volunteers and kids, to always remember them and to share this with their friends and family.

'For the first time, the young people of Bangladesh have respected us for our work and as thanks, we promise to serve the nation to the best of our ability.'

The Additional Police Commissioner (AC) of Mohammedpur Police Station was extremely happy with the initiative. He taught the volunteers and the kids how to give a proper Salute. He expressed his regret that he couldn't offer them snacks as they were fasting, but he invited the children to have iftar with him at any convenient time.

A traffic police, when approached with flowers and a letter, tearfully thanked the volunteers.

'In my 15 years as a Traffic Police, I have never been thanked for my work or shown respect.'

The Officer-in-Charge (OC) of the Uttara Police Station loved the initiative> He expressed his wish to support JAAGO in every way that he could. He also thanked the volunteers for considering the police to be friends of the general public.

Another officer from the Uttara Police Station was so excited about the program, he gave the volunteers a personal tour of the police station. He also introduced the team to every officer who was on duty at the time.

The dedicated participants waited fours hours to meet the Police Commissioner. When one volunteer managed to get through to meet him, the Commissioner refused to accept anything. However, after the participants explained the cause to him, he was very appreciative of their effort. He explained that as he had not heard of this event, he would dispatch a team to verify the project later in the day. A police team visited the JAAGO Foundation Office in Rayer Bazar later in the afternoon to verify the story, and they were pleased with the information about the program.

Another group of volunteers based in Chittagong, also carried out the event. The VBD Chittagong group visited the Kotowali, Panchlaish, Khulsi and Double Mooring Police Stations in celebration of the 'Great Kindness Challenge 2011'. The group similarly took flowers and a letter of honor to each of these stations and presented them to the officers.

The Second Officer at the Panchlaish Police Station spoke about the negative perception the general public have about the police department, and how they were working hard to change this impression. They (the police) believe this honor will encourage the police to work to build a better Bangladesh.. The volunteers assured the officers that they, too, were working to breaking this wall of misunderstanding.

The Great Kindness Challenge is a global movement initiated by Kids for Peace and celebrated with various acts of generosity to the community. JAAGO Foundation is the local partner of this event in Bangladesh. This year, JAAGO celebrated this event in association with 'Volunteer for Bangladesh' (VBD). VBD is a youth based movement committed towards social welfare and community development throughout the country, which is supported by the U.S. Embassy, Dhaka.