JAAGO

The JAAGO Foundation is a local organization whose mission is to provide free education to children of families that live below the poverty line (an income less than $2 per day). Today I had the opportunity to visit one of their five schools located in one of the slum areas of Dhaka with two wonderful ladies from the expat community.

This is Gina, the one who introduced me to
JAAGO.  We're walking our way through
the slums to get to the school.

The school grounds....classrooms are to the left and
right.  

Open sewers....a typical scene all over Dhaka, but it's
especially worse in the slums.

One of the challenges for the schools is being able to provide nutritious foods daily to the students due to the significant decrease in funding from the government. Currently, the kids are only getting one banana a week. So our goal is to come up with a way for the schools to grow their own fruits and vegetables and any surplus they have can be sold in the market for a profit which would in turn be used for the school.

Two teachers reviewing a student's report card with the
student and a family member.  Each student was given a
banana, egg, and lollipop.

This is easier said than done since available (and suitable) land is scarce and precious in an urban setting. Most empty lots in Dhaka are being filled in with fancy high rise apartment or office buildings. However, there are options that we are exploring. But for now, our focus is on feeding these sweet, lively, and innocent children in Jamai Bazar.

To be continued......