‘Men of quality do not fear equality’ is a belief that Muhammad Abrar held firmly from a very early age. News of rape, sexual assault, domestic violence, discrimination and mental harassment agitated Abrar always. Finally, when he felt it was the time to do something to fight the oppression against women, he founded the youth organization ProjectDebi to promote women’s education, rights, and work on gender issues in general.
“My mother and sister have played very important roles in my life. I consider them my heroes. My mother looked after our family and my sister taught me to be kind, self-confident and resilient as a human being,” said Abrar.
As an observant young man, he saw how women were put in the subordinate position, deprived of freedom, rights, and ability to express. Fast forward to August 28, 2018, Abrar along with his four friends -- Tazreen, Supto, Naomi and Maliha -- founded ProjectDebi. One year later the organization has a team of 34 members working in five different departments. The organization strives to attain five key goals: facilitating women’s education, raise awareness, empower to speak up, provide counseling and self-defense training.
“In mythologies, the Goddesses possess extraordinary powers. That’s why we chose the name ProjectDebi, as it symbolizes empowering women,” Abrar said. One of the founders, Tazreen Mehrav, also came up with the clever slogan ‘Ami Nari, Ami Paari,’ which means ‘I am a woman, I can do it.’
With an array of online and on the ground activities, ProjectDebi took up a number of initiatives to date. Its Facebook page posts survival stories, self-defense contents, sex education, inspirational speech, and motivational articles every day.
It also hosted successful events including ‘Ami Nari Ami Pari: La Vie En Rouge,’ ‘Revolutio Nari’ and ‘Pinktober’ to celebrate the power and contributions of women.
Organized on this year’s International Women’s Day, ‘Ami Nari Ami Pari: La Vie En Rouge’ was a public awareness event. “We distributed roses and appreciation notes to women passing by the Rabindra Sarabar,” said Abrar.
In August this year, the ‘Revolutio Nari’ event was a photography and poetry exhibition alongside seminars. It created a platform for aspiring artists to express their perspectives through their respective art forms. “One of the major intentions behind organizing this event was to provide an outlet for free expression. The power of painting, photography, and words can have big impact on people and help them rethink women’s rights issues,” Abrar said.
Last month the organization held the Pinktober’19 event to coincide with the Breast Cancer Awareness month. The purpose of the event was to raise breast cancer awareness and share stories of cancer survivors. The ProjectDebi team went on different streets and reached out to women of all classes, social status and religions.
“Breast Cancer is a deadly disease whose symptoms are not properly known to many women, especially the people in the lower economic class. Through this event, we attempted to spread awareness by informing about the symptoms and realities of the disease. Plus, we honored all the women who are going through or have defeated breast cancer,” Abrar said.
ProjectDebi plans to continue hosting events and campaigns that would put a spotlight on subjects like “sexual harassment, inter-gender, disabled people, self-defense training and patriarchy.” In addition to that, the team also envisions setting up branches in different parts of the country with like-minded people.