With Eid-ul-Fitr just around the corner, disadvantaged children are still lingering around Chittagong city’s shopping malls clinging to hopes of getting a new dress and having a decent meal during the festival this year. These underprivileged children beg on the streets for a living, watching kids their age busy shopping for Eid with their whole family.Nine-year-old Nazim was spotted begging near the entrance of Afmi Plaza yesterday. He was approaching shoppers hurriedly leaving or entering the mall. A dozen others his age were doing the same.
“My mother could not buy me a new dress in the last Eid-ul-Fitr so I have decided to buy one on my own this Eid,” he said. Resident of a slum, Nazim informed that his father left him and his domestic help mother five years ago.
“My target is to earn Tk 1,000 to buy a shirt, trousers and a pair of sandals,” he said, adding that he has so far collected Tk 400 by begging.
Meanwhile, seven-year-old Tahmina was seen moving around Sanmar Ocean City seeking benevolence of Eid shoppers.
“I wish to wear a new dress, eat delicious food and visit the city’s Shishu Park on Eid day,” said Tahmina, adding that so far she collected Tk 300 which she will give to her grandmother to buy her a dress.
“I live in a roadside shanty with my grandmother, who is also a beggar,” said Tahmina, adding that she never saw her parents.
There is no government survey available on the number of underprivileged and street children, Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics Chittagong regional statistics officer Mohammed Wahidur Rahman told The Daily Star recently.
However, Chandan Kumar Barua, education manager of Aparajeyo-Bangladesh, a non-government organisation working with disadvantaged children, put the number at around one lakh.
Most of these underprivileged children are deprived of new clothes and amusement on festive occasions like Eid, he said.
The organisation plans to provide new dresses and special meals for three days starting from the day before Eid to around 1,000 underprivileged children, said Chandan.
A couple of organisations in Chittagong are also voluntarily working to brighten up the Eid day for these underprivileged children.
Radio Today FM 89.6 gave away new clothes to 350 underprivileged and street children, said Biswajit Paul, the radio station’s Chittagong unit in-charge, adding that they target to provide new clothes to 5,000 children.
Two voluntary youth organisations — Youth for Change and Adventure Club of Chittagong — jointly gave away new dresses to some 150 children and decorated their hands and feet with henna, said Zafar Baig, member of both organisations.
Charulota Vice-President Rifatul Islam Rafi said they provided around 180 children with new dresses and shoes.
Meanwhile, the city’s amusement parks have not offered free entrance or discounts for underprivileged children marking Eid.
“We usually do not give such offers. However, if any organisation or group formally approaches us with such a proposal, we may consider it,” said Bishwajit Gosh, an assistant manager of Foy’s Lake Concord Complex.
-With The Daily Star input
