By Jennifer Farrell | CEO and Executive Director
CriticaLink’s purpose for this program was to promote female empowerment, sporting for good health, emergency junior responder training and narrowing the gap between the privileged and underprivileged of Bangladesh. Along with this we wished to inspire the girls and boys in sharing their stories and motivate them to aim high in life.
Day one: 16 th Thursday March, 2017
International School Dhaka (ISD):
The first spot for the first day was ISD. The surfer girls and boys arrived to ISD, each with their skateboard in their hand. After a quick introduction of both the surfer team and the organizers and volunteers of Criticalink, the kids gave a demonstration of their skateboarding skills. The surfer children, two at a time, glided smoothly through the wide open court on their boards. After this demonstration, the ISD students were eager to try it out themselves.
Each surfer kid, with the help of one Criticalink member, taught the basic skateboarding techniques to a group of three to four students. This was done in two batches. Some of the students seemed hesitant to try at first, but at the end many learned how to balance themselves without falling. At the end, a few ISD students were inspired to buy their own skateboards.
The ISD session ended with a group interview. Once again one surfer kid, along with the help of a CriticaLink member, and a few ISD students answered a list of personal questions such as “What is your favourite food?” and “What do you enjoy spending your time on?” This allowed the children to get to know each other and find their common ground. It was a relaxing way to end the fun-filled session.
The Daily Star:
An interactive and exciting tour took place in Bangladesh’s leading newspaper office, The Daily Star. Elita Karim gave the surfer girls and boys a warm welcome, and splendidly explained the fundamentals of their newspapers. The surfer children were shown around their office, and met many of the friendly and enthusiastic employees and the respectable owner Mahfuz Anam.
Before leaving, the surfer team and CriticaLink members quietly slipped into a recording room and watched a live recording of Minar (Singer), singing his popular song. After the recording was complete, they greeted the singer and praised his performance.
Born to Smile:
The second school for the day was Born to Smile, which arose from a social organization that is willing to tackle poverty in the areas of education, sports and empowerment. As the surfer team and Criticalink members arrived into the classroom, many tiny bright smiles lit up the room. From their chuckles of laughter and bright eyes, their eagerness to meet and greet their guests was palpable. When asked who wants to talk, a myriad of hands shot up with alacrity. The Born to Smile kids recited the national anthem, religious scriptures, poems and more.
Afterwards some of the students were taken to the open streets to give them some skateboarding practice. With the guidance of the surfer girls and boys, the young kids did fantastic for their first try.
Jamuna Future Park (JFP):
The final destination for the first day was the amusement park located in JFP. Though the day had gotten darker, the surfer children were not worn out. Instead, they were still as effervescent as they were since the morning.
Almost all of them went on every ride offered, which is no surprise since they are known for their unbreakable and courageous spirit. With loads of laughter, and screams of joy, the JFP amusement park was a fantastic finish for the fun-packed day.
Day two: 17 th Friday March, 2017
The second day of the project revolved around returning to our roots, by visiting the historical sites and monuments in Dhaka City. Dhaka City tour included visits to the parliament House, Liberation War museum, Sohid Minar, Dhaka university, Lalbagh Fort, Ahsan Monjil and National Museum.
Visiting these places, the surfer children got an interactive and educational explanation of the story and significance of each place. They actively learned about the war for freedom and our beloved language, and also about noteworthy individuals of Bangladesh’s past. Their curiosity was visible as they asked many questions to both the CritcaLink members and the tour guides.
These surfer girls and boys may be a big part of Bangladesh’s future, so it was important to teach them the history of the country they might one day be improving. A glimpse of the history of Bangladesh was given to the young minds this day.
Day three: 18 th Saturday March, 2017
Z.H. Sikder Women’s Medical College and Hospital:
The first trip for day three was to Z.H. Sikder Women’s Medical College and Hospital. The surfer boys and girls met a hundred first year students and the venerated owner, Zaharul Haque Sikder. After warming up to each other and getting to know the basics about each other, a tour around the medical college was provided. One of the most exciting parts was the tour to the anatomy department. This is where the surfer children got up-close views of body organs stored in jars and a deceased body preserved in formalin. These hands-on visuals have inspired a few of the girls to study medicine in their near future.
The surfer girls and boys then showed them their amazing skills. They first gave demonstrations of skateboarding, and then helped the medical students learn the basics.
Microsoft Office:
The second destination was Microsoft office. Bangladesh team’s head, Sonia Kabir, gave the children an interactive and exciting office tour. Kabir, the Microsoft team and the surfer children shared their dreams, ambitions, struggles and problems with each other.
Criticalink Meet the Team session:
The final formal meet-up took place in the Criticalink main office. The Criticalink organizers, surfer children, event partners and sponsors, and several professional men and women of different sectors had a fun and interactive speaking session. They shared information about their background, how far they have come in their careers and what their further plans are.
This gave the surfer children some more insight about career prospective in the city.
Yoga session:
After an introduction, the famous yoga teacher Sazia Omar had a warm heart-to- heart conversation with all the surfer children. The surfer girls were very enthusiastic to meet her and did not hesitate to tell her their dreams and successes. Sazia Omar showed everyone a few yoga moves, and taught some special techniques (acupuncture pressure points) that help in reducing stress.
She gave all the surfer children and the female Criticalink workers her book “Intentional Smile”. This bright and colourful book can help the readers remain mentally fresh despite what hardships life hurls at them.
BBQ night:
To wrap up the entire three days event, a fun BBQ party took place in the Criticalink office. With a lot of singing, games and laughter, it created the perfect finish for the fun-packed project.
Before they were all packed and ready to go, we gave them one more session for fun and fulfilment: a two hour session of self defence was provided for the surfer girls and boys.
Self Defense Workshop:
The karate instructor, Daif Solomoon, from Gulshan Karate Dojo, taught the young girls and boys some crucial self defence techniques. For example, releasing oneself from an unexpected wrist grab and choke holds, knowing which areas of attacker to attack when faced with danger and so forth. Solomoon demonstrated these techniques himself first, and then paired up the surfer children so they can learn for themselves.
Social Impact:
Within the four days, we were able to witness the immense power of the youth of Bangladesh. If given the chance, they have the potential to break barriers, dream bigger and create changes for the better.
After seeing the success of this project, The Surfer team of Bangladesh and Criticalink are planning on a partnership to aid each other in further programs and events. Hopefully this is merely the beginning of many changes and improvements.
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can recieve an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.
