Save the Rohingya

Hello folks,

 Hope you have been having a great year and are starting to enjoy some sunshine in your part of the world. It’s time to update you about the myriad ways in which you made a difference to the lives of the Rohingya refugees you have been supporting with your compassion.

 Here are some highlights that transpired since the last time you heard from us:

 RCF provides much needed dental services

The Refugee Crisis Foundation (RCF) has been working in the Rohingya camps, providing dental services six days a week. Over 700 patients have been treated so far.

The services provided include emergency dental treatment, extractions, scaling, fillings, antibiotics and pain relief. According to RCF, the oral hygiene habits of the Rohingya refugees are quite different which results in severe problems. They brush their teeth several times a day with salt, charcoal or sometimes sand, causing destruction of tooth tissue. The dentists have repaired the cavities to prevent further damage. 
However, to prevent this problem, RCF adapted the oral health education segment of their program. During the hygiene training, RCF volunteers taught the community how to wash their hands and brush their teeth properly and made them aware of the consequences of not doing either. 

 Clinic health workers organize workshop to boost literacy

The Community Health Workers from OBAT's health projects for Rohingya refugees, held their first workshop on January 10th to learn reading, writing, and speaking in English. It was led by one of their own team members. Community Health Workers provide on the ground reporting and support to the medical team in the clinic for Rohingya refugees, by visiting camp residents in their homes and providing basic treatments and remedies, keeping the individuals healthy and the clinics less crowded. Click here to watch part of the workshop.

 Playground to be rebuilt with donors' generosity

A playground that had initially been built for Rohingya children, was destroyed by the brutal monsoon season. OBAT's Board Director, Dr. Henna Qureshi, organized a fundraiser on Facebook and raised more than $11,000 for the rebuilding of the playground which will now begin reconstruction in February. Thank you to the incredibly generous donors and to Dr. Qureshi for this amazing effort to bring back smiles on the children's faces.

 Teachers receive lesson plan and medical training

In the Rohingya camps, a Teachers Learning Circle was held for the teachers at OBAT's Learning Centers. The training focused on the development of lesson plans and daily action plans for Math, English and Life Skills. The training was carried out with the assistance of the education sector in Cox's Bazar; the sector provided the lesson books for the teachers which contributed to the effectiveness of the training.

A separate but similar training was also held for local Bangladeshi teachers over two days. The training was completed in two parts so that one teacher could continue classes as normal. Capacity building and training are an essential element of our education program and we look forward to more of continuous improvement training among our team members.  

Proper medical training is also one of the most important aspects of our program. All of our learning centers are equipped with a first aid box and our Community Health Workers provide basic first aid training to our teachers. The most recent one which included CPR training, was held in February. 

 Rohingya construction project is a finalist for award!

We are excited to share the news that OBAT's construction project in the Rohingya camps is a finalist for the FIBRA award! The project is the playground built for Rohingya children. Congratulations to the team working on these projects! 

Here is what the FIBRA award is about:

"To highlight the use of bio-based materials in the construction field, amàco (atelier matières à construire) launched the FIBRA Award with the scientific support of the Zurich Institute of Technology (ETH) and the know-how of BioBuild Concept.
The purpose of this first World Prize for Contemporary Plant Fiber-Based Architecture is to showcase the aesthetic properties, the construction advantages and the environmental benefits. Identifying exceptional buildings around the world will allow the public to discover them.
The FIBRA Award wishes to pay tribute to the courage of clients who chose to use bio-based materials, to the creativity of architects and engineers, and to the skills of craftsmen and contractors. "

Visitors get inspired by OBAT's projects

Shafin and Marium were two new visitors who toured the camps during March. The two cousins were visiting from Hong Kong and Houston, respectively. They expressed great admiration for the the wide scope of projects run by OBAT, especially the digital learning program that is being run for the children in the Temporary Learning Centre # 8. Shafin and Mariam also enjoyed talking with the doctors working in OBAT's clinics and visiting the Women's Empowerment Centre where sewing classes are currently being run. We are very thankful to Shafin who organized a fundraiser for OBAT in Hong Kong on April 13th.

 Thank you very much for creating so much hope with your support. Please spread the word about the plight of this community and share this project's page with your friends.

Until next time,

Your OBAT family.

Links:

• Like us on Facebook
• OBAT's Humanitarian Assistance Program for Rohingya refugees
• Find us on the web

Greetings dear friends!

Wishing you all a very happy and a fabulous new 2019! Hope the new year has kicked off to a good start for all of you. We have a ton of news to share with you about what’s been going on in our Rohingya Relief Project. Thanks to you, we have been able to accomplish all this since the last time we were in touch:

Assesments ascertain student learning and development

OBAT led Humanitarian Assistance Program is applying ASER assessment tools in our education sector in the Rohingya camps in order to improve student learning. Teachers have been conducting these student assessments in different TLC's (Temporary Learning Center) in the Rohingya Camps. 

ASER stands for Annual Status of Education Report. This is an annual survey that aims to provide reliable estimates of children's enrollment and basic learning levels. Building the capacity of our teachers and volunteers is also a part of our development goals. Hence, prior to the assessment, the teachers also received training to enhance their knowledge in this area. 

Harvard students develop designs for structures in Rohingya camps

During the first week of December, OBAT's Executive Director, Immad Ahmed, was invited to Harvard University's Graduate School of Design (GSD) to critique the final submission of students for the Agha Khan Workshop that Professor Anna Heringer has been conducting. Mr. Ahmed's visit was a follow up to the visit of the Harvard team to the Rohingya camps in September about which we wrote to you in our last update.  Mr. Ahmed was able to review and provide feedback and answer questions during the final review process. 
After returning from their study of the Rohingya camps, the GSD's students had created possible scalable solutions for a child-friendly space and other community structures in the camps. They focused on using sustainable and locally sourced materials that were adapted to meet the various design challenges in the camp, from typography to monsoon and cyclone season. 
OBAT's team will be working with some of the graduates on implementing their designs in the camps- some of the ideas and concepts that the students came up with will be incorporated into our future plans and designs. 
We are so grateful to Harvard, Professor Heringer and her students who gave us the opportunity to be a part of such a great project and also help us provide more sustainable solutions for the refugees and residents in the camps. 

 Edie's Community Kitchen in Rohingya camp addresses fuel shortage

One of the biggest challenges in the Rohingya refugee camp has been a source of fuel for cooking. Currently, there are about 900,000 people living in the camp and the only available source of fuel is the wood and roots from the trees in the forest. This has caused major tension with the host community. 

To combat this problem and help the community to cook emergency meals in a disaster situation, our team with the help of the Glickman Family, has built Edie's Community Kitchen. 
The goal is for the community to use this place for events, weddings and also in times of fuel shortages. We also wanted to ensure that we had a facility that could cater to cooking large amounts of food to help provide support for extremely vulnerable individuals and families. 
We've used mud walls to give strength to the bamboo structures and provide a facility safe for cooking and feeding large numbers of people. In the past few weeks, we have already raised over 6,000 USD to help provide cooked meals to thousands of people over the next few months. 
We want to thank the Glickman Family (Mindy Radler Glickman and Jeff Glickman) for their continuous support. Click here to watch a video of the kitchen. 

 APPNA donates life-saving ambulance for Rohingya clinic

 A special thank you to APPNA (Association of Physicians of Pakistani descent of North America) for donating a life-saving ambulance for the OBAT clinics serving Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh. Theambulance will be used to transport patients who need further treatment, from the clinics to a hospital. The ambulance will be an incredibly valuable addition, as the terrain in the camps is very treacherous and transporting the patients in man-made stretchers has been a huge challenge and has led to delays in receiving treatment

Thank you for standing with us to address this tremendous crisis and for helping us achieve all of the above. We hope that this year is a fantastic one for you. Please continue to reach out to your friends and family to share this project’s page with them: http://goto.gg/30136. Here’s to a 2019 that brings more light and relief to the Rohingya refugees.

Best regards,

OBAT team.

Links:

• Like us on Facebook
• Find us on the web
• Connect with us on LinkedIn