Act of kindness inspires others

Eleven-year-old mentally challenged Hamida had an accident – one of her legs got burned. She has since been undergoing treatment at Abhaynagar Upazila Health Complex. But in want for better treatment, her condition continued to deteriorate. The medical costs were too much for her day labourer mother to bear. Her father died years ago and her mother spends all day looking for work to support her child and herself. She could not come to see her daughter regularly. A local newspaper recently ran an article on the young girl’s plight. Doctors said Hamida needed to be shifted to Khulna for emergency treatment but the initial cost was too much to arrange for her mother. During last week’s meeting with non-government organisations operating in Abhaynagar upazila, acting Upazila Nirbahi Officer Mondip Gharai made an appeal for help. “Who wants to join me for humanitarian work? Who wants to provide Tk3,000 for Hamida’s treatment?” he asked. Many came forward but Mondip did not accept the money. Instead, he took the NGO officials to hospital and handed over the money to Hamida. She is scheduled to travel to Khulna a day after Eid-ul-Fitr. The acting UNO’s words touched the local journalist community, too. Two days later, a group of them paid the girl a visit and gifted her new clothes for Eid. “I merely tried to help the girl,” Mondip told the Dhaka Tribune. “I am glad to see others are coming forward to help the girl. A small act of kindness touches others too.”