Mifrah Hasher Khan is a young student of International School Dhaka, and still in her learning stages in school. But that doesn't stop her from trying to make the world a better place. T Junction has a chat with the young initiator on her efforts
Q1. When did your drive to change the world to a better place first begin?
My desire to bring about even the slightest change in our environment began when I started noticing things all around me. I live in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, which is considered one of the most populated countries in the world. But sadly enough we do not have adequate housing, safe drinking water and almost non-existent drainage, sewerage and waste disposal systems. As a result, I live in a highly polluted environment. From a very early age, I visited different places outside Dhaka and even there, I saw brick-kilns where long chimneys spewed out black smoke and the rivers, when I went out on picnics, had water which was slimy, black and full of stench. When I started researching on this topic, I realised how disastrous such an environment was for any living thing for survival and I knew I had to do something about it. I am convinced that every small beginning done with sincerity and knowledge would ultimately lead to a definite successful result.
Q2. Tell us a bit about your club and its activities.
In 2014, I held a seminar at school called "Steps to a Sustainable Future Seminar." In this event, I invited a professor from the University of Dhaka to speak about the topic of environments in order to inspire the youth of our generation. I did not want to stop my journey of raising awareness right there so later that year, I created a co-curricular programme at my school named "Steps to a Sustainable Future CCP." In this club, students from grades six to 12 meet once a week in order to find creative ways to raise awareness about the degradation of the environment and to inspire more students in the community to help the cause. In our club, we have self-motivated individuals who create videos, blogs and as well as plan assemblies at school on this topic. Our most recent event was the Earth Day assembly at school where we created stimulations and interactive activities with the audience to let them know the current events of the world while giving them some food for thought as they left the assembly.
Q3. How did the initiative for the successful Sustainable Living Competition first begin?
The Sustainable Living Competition was not the original idea of the event, as we just wanted to call professors and renowned environmental enthusiasts to inspire the youth. With the help of my business and management class at school, we decided to create a platform where students from schools around Dhaka city would inspire other students instead. We invited schools around Dhaka to choose a representative with drive, intuition and determination in order to speak about the theme “Sustainable Living.” The student could pick any part of this theme. For example, business, economics, environment, health, etc. We wanted to make sure that their ideas would come to life - therefore with the help from the Parent Teacher Association (PTA) at ISD, we attained a grant that was given to the winner of the event in order to fund their initiative. Other sponsors of the event include, Magnito Digital, Monasa Learning Centre and ISD. We had nine participating schools including Viqarunissa Noon School and College, Sunbeams School, Hurdco International School, International School Dhaka, Chittagong Grammar School, International Turkish Hope School, Sir John Wilson School and Aga Khan School. The judges of the event were Dr Moniruzzaman, Tamima Hossain, Rafi Bashar, Sultana Alam and Aditi Chowdhury. The planning of the event started in February when we began inviting the schools and the event was held last Saturday. The speeches from the students were brilliant and informative with students speaking about business, economics, health, law and education. The audience consisted of more than 250 captivated members who learnt new information and hopefully got inspired in the process. The winner of the event was the representative of the Aga Khan School who received a grant from Steps to a Sustainable Future and PTA to jump-start their initiative. I'm looking forward to Sustainable Living Competition 2016!
Q4. What challenges did you face in organising the competition?
There were many challenges, which I faced while organising this huge event. The biggest challenge was approaching the schools around Dhaka and having a representative from them to participate due to all the political turmoil but we managed to convince them! Secondly, just trying to get everything in order before the event was quite hectic but everything worked out at the end.
Q5. Who was the greatest support?
My greatest support were my parents, Mr Greg, Mr Salmon, Ms Kim, Ms Stacey, my business class and my CCP - without whom the event would not have been possible.
Q6. What are your future plans for yourself and what do you aim to be/do?
but one thing I am certain of is that it will be devoted towards helping, inspiring, motivating and educating the youth of our generation.
Q7. What did you learn so far that you think others of your age should realise and know?
The biggest thing I learnt so far is to be selfless and not worry about how it would be beneficial for myself personally. This helped me be more passionate and caring. Not only that - I know for a fact that I have my best ideas when I think about the betterment of other people.
Q8. Favourites:
Food - Prawn cakes
Place to eat - Pan Tao
Book - Paper Towns by John Green
Television show - Game of Thrones, Daredevil
Movie - The Imitation Game, Django Unchained
Music - Coldplay, The Script, Hozier
I’m not sure what I want to be or do when I grow up but all I know is that I want to help create a more sustainable future and educate the youth of our generation. I want to help my community and Bangladesh strive for a better future. I’m not sure which career path I want to take.