Hidden Hero | Ep 07 | Mosharof Helps the Snake Charmers’ Community
World Vision Bangladesh and The Daily Star jointly present to you "Hidden Hero" - a video series where we portray real stories of ordinary people with extraordinary impact during this global pandemic.
In the Seventh Episode, we look into the life of Md. Mosharof Hossain, a 19-year old youth leader from Jhinaigati, who has been able to identify a Snake Charmer community as the most vulnerable one, aloof of almost all facilities of modern civilization and has dedicated his services for them out of love. "From the start of the lockdown situation for COVID-19, I am staying at my own village home Jhinaigati. I saw people are not aware of COVID-19. Especially the Snake Charmers are running here and there for their own business without taking any precautions. It made me worried." Mosharof says.
Deemed as one of the most neglected population groups of the country, the snake charmers are frequently neglected and humiliated by the majority of the population. They do not have access to employment, cannot read or write are not even interested in educating their children. As a result, they were not aware of COVID -19 and its bad effects on the human being. Mosharof adds, "I have written in a newspaper in this regard. I have also collected awareness messages developed by World Vision Bangladesh and started distributing awareness message at the community." Mosharof started to sensitize the Snake Charmer community along with his community. He has visited more than 200 families to share awareness messages on COVID-19. More than 1000 people were sensitized through these messages. At the same time, with the help of Local Government he, along with other youth leaders he has distributed hygiene kits and awareness leaflets among the vulnerable community people.
With the support of World Vision and other non-governmental organizations, they have distributed soap, mask among 150 snake charmers' families. As the snake charmer cannot read the leaflet, Mosharof and his friends visited door to door and read the messages for them. Even they demonstrated how to wash hands with soap properly. Thus, Mosharof went the extra mile to help the marginalized community of snake charmers during this pandemic and gave them the assistance that they needed. To us, he is the true embodiment of a Hidden Hero - an ordinary person who has risen to make an extraordinary contribution, empowered by the proven experience of World Vision.
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