Pathful: a little help goes a long way

On October 22, 2018, a group of students could be seen distributing food to under-privileged people on the streets of Chattogram's Patiya upazila.

These days, this is not exactly a rare sight. As volunteering and donation organisations have increased around the country, everyone from school kids, university students to adults can often be seen distributing food and other ration to those with less privilege. In spite of this, there's something about this group that makes them stand out.

It all started one fine afternoon in October, 2018. Like any other day, the students were chitchatting to spend their time. Suddenly they came to a realisation – that they should stop spending all of their time like this and spend some of it doing something more meaningful.

They decided to save money from their tiffin or pocket-money every day. The plan was simple. A total of 14 friends would save Tk 5 a day, Tk 35 a week, and put in a fund for social action. This was the beginning of Pathful, a social organisation run by college and university students of the area.

Seven more students joined them and with the money collected from all 21, they took their action to the streets, and on October 22, distributed their first batch of food packets.

By the next week, they were joined by many more, putting the number of members to 50. With the added money, the organisation decided to make this a regular thing. They planned to provide under-privileged people with a serving of nutrition-rich lunch every week.

Since then, the group has been distributing 40 lunchboxes to the disadvantaged people of Patiya every Monday.

Besides the lunchbox programme, Pathful does and plans to do a host of other social activities. In its 17 months of operation, the organisation has distributed raincoats to rickshaw-pullers during the rainy season, clothes to under-privileged people on the occasion of Sharadiya Durga Puja, blankets during winter, and iftar and sehri to the poor during the month of Ramadan.

Additionally, they have an environment friendly initiative of taking out nails stapled on to trees and making people aware of this cruelty. Last year, members visited an old home and hosted a fruit festival for senior citizens there.

When this correspondent visited Patiya Model High school on a Monday to know about Pathful's activities, he saw eleven-year-old Kalu standing on the playground, with a lunch packet in hand and smile on his face.

Kalu lives by the platforms of Patiya Railway Station. He spends his day loitering around the school's premises, begging from students and passersby to collect money to buy food. For him, a free, nutritious lunchbox means a lot.

"I live with my mother on the railway station. I have to beg for my food because she can't afford it," Kalu said. "Mondays have become the best day of the week for me, thanks to these free lunches."

Like Kalu, a number of street children including Puja, Palash, Sumi, and Tareque were also grateful to Pathful for the initiative. On the day, packets were distributed around the school, Patiya Railway Station, Patiya Bus Station and Patiya Abdus Sabur Road area.

The organisation currently has around a hundred members, said Iftekhar Bin Alamgir, a founder.

"Of them, 55 are active members who contribute Tk 35 to the organisation every week," he said, adding, "We also have 35 guest members who contribute to the organisation between Tk 144 and Tk 499 every month, and we also have 10 donor members who contribute at least Tk 500 every month," the third-year student of management told this correspondent.

"At present we cannot afford to extend the programme more than once a week," said Nayan Mitra, another university third-year student. "Once we have more funds, we want to extend it to two or three times a week."

Praising the activities of Pathful, mayor of Patiya Municipality Harun-ur-Rashid said, "The humanitarian initiatives of Pathful will play a role as a guiding light for the youth of the area."

"They devote their time thinking about those with less privilege, and try to do something to improve their circumstances. This is, indeed, a noble initiative," Mayor Harun said.  

The mayor has a point. The consistency with which Pathful has continued its activities has proven to be an inspiration to many young people in the area, evidenced by its growing number of members and donors. Even if its scope of operation is small, what matters is the big hearts working behind it, and sometimes even a little help can go a long way.