Inspiration on the Go!

Shunno enthralls the crowd. Photo: Kazi Tahsin Agaz Apurbo

In the history of Bangladesh, the involvement of the youth has been the greatest when it comes down to helping others in times of need. While some are physically present to help the victims of a disaster, other are there like phantoms, working as shadows to help rehabilitate the victims. Recent times have witnessed, the Savar tragedy, where people from the grassroots level have suffered immensely. These people are the garments workers who have contributed significantly to our economic growth. As the building of Rana Plaza collapsed, thousands of lives and their dreams were crushed along with it. In such desperate times of need, young individuals from Dhaka stood next to them.

Inspire, an organisation which promotes inspiration and positive energy, began its venture quite recently. They organised concerts to raise money for the victims of the Savar tragedy. Kozmo (A)live Presents Arbovirus Savar Benefit Concert was held on Friday, May 3, 2013 and Shunno performance was held on May 4, 2013. Jaago Foundation, a youth organisation, was responsible for collecting funds at the event. After each donation, the members who contributed monetarily were given a receipt for safe keeping. Radio Shadhin was the radio partner for this event. Although, no live broadcasts of the events were done, the band Shunno and Jaago Foundation's Chairman, Korvi Rakshand, were present at the studio of Radio Shaadhin to talk about the post-disaster managements of the Savar tragedy.

The show kicked off late in the evening and was a great success. Both days, the audience were interactive and showed great enthusiasm for the cause. The regular crowd requested songs to be played by the bands and showed their encouragement to help create awareness for the noble cause. The main objective of the concert was to raise money for mainly two categories of people who have been affected by the disaster. “Firstly, for those who lost their limbs and needed to undergo surgery and secondly, for those families who lost the sole earner of the household,” says Elita Karim, the Founder of Inspire. She adds, “The money will be donated to limited number of workers and families. Their names have been drawn with the help of databases of organisations like Smile foundation and Sajeda foundation and a few others, who work for rehabilitation of disaster victims.”

Arbovirus takes to the stage. Photo: orchid chakma

As for future plans, the organisation aims to help with the recovery of victims of such disasters. In addition, workshops are also going to be conducted to create awareness on how to help people in times of need through disaster management techniques.

Bangladesh is a small country which is prone to massive disasters like this. A majority of the time, we are faced with such crucial problems on how to tackle with disaster. It is only through young people's incentives and encouragement that we can work towards progress.