OMG, time has flown by, and September (OMGtember) has snuck up on us. What does that mean? WE’RE CLIMBING KILIMANJARO IN JUST 10 DAYS. Eek!
It also means that we really need your help to raise (or even, better, perhaps smash?) our £5000 target. The end is in sight, but we need your help to get there. As it currently stands, we’ve raised around £3,500 (and, with the generous help of the Breadpig, that brings our total to around £4000) – so if you can help us to raise another £1000 in the next ten days we would be grateful. So please, spread the word! Join our Facebook fan page, follow us on Twitter, and encourage your friends to do the same. Most importantly, if you haven’t already (if so, THANK YOU!), please donate what you can!
For those of you who aren’t familiar with our cause, please do read our old entries, and watch our old videos (they are usually silly) – especially this Important Announcement. We’re establishing a brand new women & girl’s education centre in rural Bangladesh, where women wanting to pursue their own careers face much cultural opposition. Through establishing such a centre, not only do we aim to provide women with basic materials and training to climb out of poverty, but we hope to achieve a cultural shift in which women can be independent and confident in their abilities. We strive for women to be eventually offered the same opportunities and to be viewed as equal to their male counterparts.
We hope you feel this is a worthwhile cause, and get donating!
That’s right! Breadpig, fellow geeky world savers, are teaming up with Arohon to match every donation you make between now, and our ever-scarily-fast-approaching Kilimanjaro climb in September, YAY!
Remember, we’re trying to raise at least £5000 to establish a brand new education and community centre for women and girls in rural Bangladesh, in an area where women wanting to pursue their own careers face much cultural opposition. Furthermore, investing in women and girls has been shown to have far reaching effects in helping the climb out of poverty. From The Girl Effect, this wonderful factsheet has lots of lovely statistics to show us this:
When a girl in the developing world receives seven or more years of education, she marries four years later and has 2.2 fewer children. (United Nations Population Fund, State of World Population 1990.)
An extra year of primary school boosts girls’ eventual wages by 10 to 20 percent. An extra year of secondary school:
15 to 25 percent. (George Psacharopoulos and Harry Anthony Patrinos, “Returns to Investment in Education: A Further Update,” Policy Research Working Paper 2881 [Washington, D.C.: World Bank, 2002].)
Research in developing countries has shown a consistent relationship between better infant and child health and higher levels of schooling among mothers. (George T. Bicego and J. Ties Boerma, “Maternal Education and Child Survival: A Comparative Study of Survey Data from 17 Countries,” Social Science and Medicine 36 (9) [May 1993]: 1207–27.)
We are already climbing Mt Kilimanjaro to convince you, but we have a long way to go to raise the funds we need to build and maintain our first project, so we’re absolutely thrilled to have the help of Breadpig.
So basically, there has never been a better time to donate, so make sure you do so now! Visit http://donate.arohon.com/.
So, after some recent news, we have an important announcement to make. As you know, the Arohon Mission Statement is as follows:
Our aim is to empower poor people by providing them with the basic resources needed to climb out of poverty. We believe that by implementing improved sanitation, housing, healthcare and education, the world’s most vulnerable people can finally lift themselves out of poverty.
From those of you who have followed us from the start, you will be aware that our first project involved upgrading an existing public library in the rural village of Nikrail in Bangladesh as well as setting up a women’s education centre to offer women more opportunities in the area.
However, we have recently received the fantastic news that the Nikrail Public Library has managed to attain funding from BRAC to build their library.
As a result our focus, which is keeping in line with our mission statement, is now completely focused on supporting and empowering women by starting a brand new grassroots effort.
With the £5000 being raised through out Kilimanjaro climb this September, we’re going to build a new women’s community centre in Nikrail on land that has been graciously donated by our father, Moznu Khandaker.
Once built, our action plan for the centre involves the following:
The centre will provide opportunities for women to get together and support one another.
It will provide access to books and educational resources, including a lending library for women and girls.
Women and girls will be able to learn and hone basic skills such as literacy, numeracy, as well as business skills.
Resources will be provided for women to use practical skills, and learn new ones (for example, we will provide sewing machines which they can use to make clothes to sell for a sustainable income)
An all female council will be appointed to oversee the day to day running and decide what else needs to be done in the local community
Overall, our aim is to empower women in an environment where cultural gender barriers prevent women from reaching their full potential. Through establishing a women’s centre not only to we aim to provide women with basic materials and training to climb out of poverty, but we hope to achieve a cultural shift in which women can be independent and confident in their abilities. We strive for women to be eventually offered the same opportunities and are viewed as equal to their male counterparts.
Once again thank you for your help and support, we hope you agree this is a really worthwhile project and we’re excited to be able to work to address such important issues. Those of you who have already very generously donated, we hope that you share our delight at the fact that the public library can go ahead and finally be built, and also that you continue to support our plans to focus on establishing a fully-fledged women’s education centre. Please let us know if there are any issues, or if you have any questions.
Our aim has always been to be as transparent as possible in this process, so if there is anything about which you would like any clarification, please let us know by leaving a comment or emailing mitu@arohon.org.uk.
Today, Arohon founders Mitu & Maherunesa very randomly found themselves at a taping of a celebrity edition of ITV’s The Cube, on which Jenni Falconer was a fantastic contestant. We bumped into her after the show and got chatting about Arohon, and, being the lovely person she is, she was happy to offer her support! Thanks, Jenni, you’re brilliant!
Remember, every penny we raise goes towards the cause itself, and empowering and educating the poorest women in rural Bangladesh, so that they may stand on their own two feet. Please do sponsor us here:
Maherunesa & I just made a new video updating you about our progress so far. It’s quite random, but we do hope you enjoy!
Also, please keep donating; after all, we’re even climbing a mountain to convince you to support the cause. Please do help us improve education rural Bangladesh, and support us in our fight to empower women to achieve their full potential. Thank you!
Hello! It’s been a long while since we last updated, but if you’ve been watching our donations page as closely as we have, you’ll notice that thanks to the generous help of all our wonderful family, friends, and victims of Mitu’s Twitter pleading, we’ve now raised a whopping £2500 so far! We’re halfway to our target, so thank you so much!
You may be wondering what we’re up to (and admittedly, we’ve been terrible at updating this blog), but that is all about to change, since there is now just three months to go till the big climb, and our final target date, eek! We have, however, been updating the Arohon Facebook Page, so please make sure to ‘like’ the cause!
We also have a *gasp* SECOND VIDEO coming up very soon, to kickstart our regular video blogging in the remaining months leading up to the climb. Please do keep checking back, and, if you haven’t already (or even if you have), please do donate as much as you can. Thanks! Remember, every penny goes directly to supporting education in Bangladesh, and the climb out of poverty.
We’re proud to announce the launch of Arohon, a brand new charitable organisation founded by my younger sister Maherunesa and myself. The aim is, quite simply, to try to make the world a more awesome place for others, particularly through focusing on eliminating poverty, promoting education, and empowering women.
However, first things first, we’d also like to introduce our flagship project. Watch the video!
That’s right! We’re climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro, trying to raise £5000 in sponsorship - and every penny will go towards improving the resources of Nikrail Gonokendra Pathagar: that is, upgrading their library from a tiny, tin room to a brick, three-story building, and providing them with the funds they need in order to continue their work promoting education in the area (for example, their scholarship program for kids, and helping them to teach skills to unemployed young people so that they can work in agriculture, etc). Lastly, but certainly not least, the money will also help to establish a women’s education centre.
Please sponsor us here:
Climbing a mountain really isn’t something we’re used to doing. This is going to be a massive (and quite scary!) physical undertaking for us, so we will definitely need your support in every way!
We’ll also be video blogging as much of the process as humanly possible – from our training sessions, to the climb itself, to the improvement of the Nikrail Public Library and establishing a brand new women’s education centre, showing you the change that you’ve helped to bring about.
I’m sure you have lots of questions, so to answer just a selection (also available on our FAQ):
Why are you doing this? How did it happen?
Well, 18 months ago Mitu ran her first ever half-marathon (something which was, back then, a seemingly insurmountable physical endeavour), and managed to raise lots of money on behalf of a brilliant charity called Right To Play. Maherunesa also ran a half-marathon a year later, and raised money for Plan UK. While they are both great causes, we wondered how significant this money would seem to a small grassroots organisation in a developing country, and how far it would go. Add to that, of course, our ethnic background, and being aware of the social and economic conditions in Bangladesh, and we wanted to be able to raise a significant amount of money for a small organisation to bring about real, impactful change – which we can also keep you closely updated about, thanks to the power of the Internet!
So, for our next physical endeavour, we (crazily) decided on climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro, to raise money to bring about real change in Nikrail, a small but densely populated rural area in Bangladesh.
How will the £5000 be used?
Firstly, every penny is going towards supporting the work of Nikrail Gonokendra Pathagar: that is, upgrading their library from a tiny, tin room to a brick three storey building, and providing them with the funds they need in order to continue their work promoting education in the area (for example, their scholarship program for kids, and helping them to teach skills to unemployed young people so that they can work in agriculture, etc). Lastly, but certainly not least, the money will also help to establish a women’s education centre.
Mitu and Maherunesa are funding their Kilimanjaro climb themselves, so none of the £5000 we’re hoping to raise in sponsorship will go towards any of those costs – it’ll all go to those who really need it. Better still, once we’ve raised the money, thanks to the wonder of the Internet and video blogging, we will show you the real change you’ve helped to make!
Why did you choose Nikrail Gonokendra Pathagar?
Well, our father (hereafter referred to as Daddy Khandaker) has been very aware of the organisation for years, as it operates in the area in which our father grew up, and where many of his family still live. Also, in the interests of full disclosure, our late uncle was a significant benefactor of the organisation’s scholarship program for children aged 7-9. When we visited in December 2009, the organisation invited us to have a look at their building, and told us of their wish to extend their reach to help the area slowly but surely climb out of poverty by promoting education. We instantly wanted to help!
We also suggested that there should also be a particular focus on education and empowerment for adult women, which they were very happy to promote!
So ‘Arohon’ is a new charitable organisation – are you working on this full-time? What are you doing other than this first project?
Arohon is not a registered charity (since we have no record of turnover just yet – but we will soon, with your help!) , but we plan to do all we can to promote education, particularly for women, in countries that need it the most. We’re doing this one project at a time; we’re not necessarily just limiting ourselves to Bangladesh, but that is where we are starting.
However, this is certainly not a full-time endeavour! Rather, this is something we’re doing in addition to our normal every day activites! Mitu is a video games PhD researcher, and Maherunesa is a soon-to-be law student. We’re climbing the mountain (after lots of training!) and raising the money, which will then be given to Nikrail Gonokendra Pathagar to put into action.
If you have any further questions, comments, or whatever, please do fire away.
Arohon is a new charitable organisation set up by sisters Mitu and Maherunesa Khandaker, with the aim of generally making the world a more awesome place to be. Want to know more? Read our announcement or the about section.
Our first project is to raise money to build a women's education centre in one of Bangladesh's many poverty-stricken areas. In order to raise the £5000 we need to do this, we'll be climbing the highest mountain in Africa (Mt. Kilimanjaro), and we need your help to sponsor us!
Whilst we're enthusiastic, we are really not seasoned mountain climbers, so this is a pretty massive undertaking for us!
