Shahajjo সাহায্য তাদের জন্য আমাদের চেষ্টা

Eid Mubarak! But not so much of a joyous occation for the less fortunate ones!

This week team Shahajjo has crossed their own ambitions and reached almost 3700 families with their weekly groceries. Baby food, medicine and channeling or Zakat funds were also attended during the month of Ramadan. Additional to groceries, these were done through cash transfers, buying of sewing machines and vans for example for a sustainble livelihood.

This has only been possible with hundreds of kind souls donating small, big and bigger amounts, once and repeatedly. Channeling and utilising more than BDT 22 lakhs (without Zakat counts) would not have been possible without you! You know who you are - a big salute to you guys! Our NRBs deserve a separate salute - generous donations have come from Canada, USA, UK and Australia. NRBs in Kenya have been the main driving force behind the big packages in addition to our usual packages (we were calling our big packages Nairobi for a reason🙂).

We were able to reach around 200 s*x workers and 60 people with disabilities among the 800 packages that we delivered during this week. Always excited to reach the most underprivileged sections of the population.

Areas covered this week: Sayedabad, Jatrabari, Doyaganj, Keraniganj, Mirpur, Mohammadpur, Bhatara, Gendaria, Bashabo, Kalabagan, Puran dhaka, Rayerbajar, Kamrangirchor and Lalmatia. Relief for s*x workers were distributed in Pallabi, Kazipara, Shyamoli, Nakhalpara, Bhatara, Fakirapool, Sayedabad, Dholaikhal, Hajaribagh and Changkharpool; relief for disabled people were distributed in Savar.

We do not intend to stop here! The lockdown might ease in the coming days, but the lives of these people will not be any easier as economic activities will take sometime to pick up. We are preparing for crowdfunding and also for a campaign to raise more funds! Please help us to help more! And thanks for the gigantic support you have already provided!

Another portal to donate with any bank account, card and/or mobile wallet!

Let us donate any amount we are comfortable with, spread the word and inspire others to do the same. Let us create a chain to get a bigger impact! 👍🏽👍🏽

Note for the last 6 days of Ramadan: Please consider Zakat/Fitra as your contributing intentions.

Shahajjo – helping people in time of Corona – Cholo Shobai A couple of us from different walks of life have been trying to reach people whose livelihoods have been affected because of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. We are development workers, bankers and businessmen, but in the end part of the same society that is torn between livelihoods and lives at this....

Last week before Eid! Last drive before Eid! A huge prayer to all of you to donate and help these souls! The least that we can do is provide them with basic groceries for a week! Let us come together and lend a hand! Your small gesture can go a long mile to feed them! They need us now!

Last week
May 12 (large package)
90 packages distributed in Miprur, Keraniganj, Mohammadpur, Khilgaon, Doyaganj, Rayerbajar and Kamrangirchor

May 16 (usual package)
450 packages delivered in Savar (person with disabilities), mirpur, bakshibajar, najumuddin road, mohammadpur, bhatara, doyaganj, keraniganj, uttara, badda, rampura, jatrabari, Kamrangirchor, rayerbajar and bashabo

We went out of our usual routine and provided milk and formula for children and medicine for the elderly this week.

Taking our total delivery close to 2900+, we realise this is just a drop in the ocean! Please contribute to make the droplet larger. A lot of you are contributing, hats 🎩 off to you. But the more we are reaching out, the more we realise the least we are being able to deliver!

May 5

105 big packages (with eggs, vegetables, flour, sugar, salt and puffed rice added to the usual package) distributed in Mirpur, Mohammadpur, Nazimuddin road, Keraniganj and particularly supporting girls working in parlours

May 7

230 usual packages (rice, lentil, potato, onion, soyabean oil and soap) distributed in Mirpur 1, Bhatara, Rajabajar, Dhanmondi, disabled children and their families in Beribandh and Keraniganj 75, Mohammadpur, Joynag road, puran dhaka and people connecting through facebook all over Dhaka (this we have coupled with baby food and medicines - this is something new that we tried this week).

This takes total packages delivered to more than 2350 alhamdulillah!

For the next two weeks, please contribute generously. The last two weeks of Ramadan might be very difficult for the people in need under lockdown. For people with no means of income and depleted savings over the last two months, things are getting very difficult for them.

We are trying to get to as many people as we can. But we are constrained by our budget at the end of the day. Please contribute Zakat, as this will be a significant contribution and we will be able to cater to a larger number of people through your contributions. We are trying to best utilise the funds that we are managing and distributing. Effective management of provision of essential food items is the minimum that we can assure you.

Thank you from Team Shahajjo!

OUR LITTLE EFFORT TO REACH OUT TO PEOPLE WHO NEED US NOW

A couple of us from different walks of life have been trying to reach people whose livelihoods have been affected because of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. Day labourers like construction workers and rickshaw pullers are the tip of the iceberg that we get to hear. A large portion of the huge informal economy in our country is particularly impacted. Needless to mention that lack of savings and minimum income opportunities have already brought a large section of the population to skip meals and divide a single loaf of bread between two meals. The disadvantaged section is affected more, who do not have either the cumulative voice or the muscle to express their needs.

A couple of us friends thought of distributing a couple of hundred packages to these people by raising donations/contributions from friends and family. We are development workers, bankers and businessmen, but in the end part of the same society that is torn between livelihoods and lives at this very moment. What we did not anticipate is the amount of generous response that we were showered with from friends, their friends, family of friends, colleagues and others. Going with the flow, we continued with the relief drive and by the end of next Friday (08 May 2020), we will have reached 2350+ families.

The Government, different NGOs and Development Partners are doing their drives in scale and in their own capacity. We are chipping in what we can from our pockets. We have covered areas like Mirpur 1, Nazimuddin road and four other spots in Puran Dhaka, four spots in Keraniganj, Hajaribagh, Rayerbajar, beribandh, Kamrangirchor, Doyaganj, Kakrail, Khilgaon, Uttara, Bhatara and other areas. We have consciously tried to stick to low-income housing areas and avoid slums as we assumed they will be the ones who will be receiving the national or scale responses. We have pin pointed people throughout subsequent weeks who need this support most by mobilising people in the community and getting lists beforehand.

This is a shoutout to all the Batmans Gotham needs at the moment. You who donated and who helped us distribute and reach the neediest - you are the real heroes. But the relief drive does not end here for us as we are getting to know about hundreds of people everyday, who are going to sleep without any proper meals. For example, we are ramping up our efforts to reach differently-abled people next week (around 150 packages). The packages that we are distributing are much more costlier than what it was when we started a month back.

If you think you know someone who needs us to reach them, please give us a shout. If you think, you or someone who you know will like to donate, please give us a shout.

A couple of photos to showcase our sincere efforts. We have maintained that people that we are reaching out to are socially distancing themselves while collecting relief. A lot of lower-middle income households are being delivered their packages to their homes discretely. The donors are not important and neither are the beneficiaries in the pictures. We have made it a priority to be as discrete as we realistically can.