A light of hope for the hapless

Unemployed people, widows and elderly women gather every evening in front of a house in Kabilpur area under Sonatala upazila of Bogura. That house is the office of a voluntary organisation, 'Alor Pradeep'.

Locals regularly crowd the place as they know that iftar and other food will be distributed from this office. Volunteers of the organisation hand over the meal packets to the people in time every day.

In addition to iftar, there is a separate box for dinner. The iftar box contains chickpeas, boondi, peyaju, beguni, apples, dates, bananas and cucumbers. The dinner pack consists of vegetable and lentils, with chicken or beef or egg.

This voluntary organisation has become a light of hope for many unemployed people. Fifty people take food from here every day. This activity has been going on since the beginning of Ramadan.

Hundreds of youths in the area are associated with this organisation. Half of them are the students of different schools, colleges and universities. There are also young businessmen and office workers. They are providing food to the people daily. Encouraged by such activities of the youth, prominent people of the area have also extended their hand of cooperation.

MA Meherul Islam, a young cloth trader, established this organisation. He is a resident of Kabilpur village and settled in the area after his Masters from Rajshahi College.

He said from his childhood, he had a wish to do something for poor children.

His friend Mehedi Hasan (currently working in the fire service) encouraged him to realise the dream. The organisation started it's journey on 11 October 2008 by giving scholarships to two students.

The organisation is carrying out various activities, including providing short and long terms scholarships to poor students, distribution of lunch with nutritious food, distribution of educational materials, anti-drug campaign and anti-early marriage awareness activities.

Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) of Sonatola Sadia Afrin has also contributed to their initiative by providing financial support.

She told to Prothom Alo that distribution of food and iftar among the poor people during the lockdown is a noble humanitarian work.