As October approached, so did Pamela Ketcher's birthday. A consultant for UNAIDS and a public health worker who's been in Bangladesh for a little over a year, her work has spanned everything from raising awareness for burning issues such as HIV as well as organising events that help social causes that are close to her heart. With October 17 marking both her birthday as well as the UN International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, this year, Ketcher had a different plan in mind.
She decided to do something a tad unorthodox – something that didn't involve the usual birthday celebration or gift exchange. An avid photographer with a passion for it, Ketcher always had a humble dream to one day hold her very own exhibition. With both her birthday and the UN day for Eradication of Poverty coincidentally falling on the same day, she decided to combine both her passion and her desire to give back to a cause by holding her very first exhibition.
Jol Jatra, a single day exhibition held at Tea Stall on November 11, had a small, but warm display of 20 photographs taken by Pamela herself, with all proceeds from the exhibition to be donated to Orunodoyer Torun Dol (OTD), a non-profit youth organisation that works relentlessly to raise awareness for social causes as well as work for the underprivileged – a cause she feels very close to.
“This exhibition is a small way for me to give back. To me it's not important to exchange gifts or celebrate my birthday this year. I wanted to do something that actually meant something to me and that's where I got the idea to hold Jol Jatra and give the proceeds to OTD.”
Despite having a range of large, and more well known organisations she could donate to, she chose to go for OTD after a serendipitous meeting with Shahidul Islam Babu, president of OTD, just two weeks prior to the exhibition.
“October was a busy month for me but I had this exhibition at the back of my mind. Interestingly, Babu turned up one day at my office and I felt like my ideas just clicked into place. His work surrounds raising awareness on social issues, public health and also working for underprivileged children – areas that I have sort of been working with. When I met him and saw the work he has put into his organisation, building it from scratch, I knew I wanted the proceeds to go OTD,” she explained.
Starting out as a group of five, OTD began it's journey in 2010, with Babu spearheading the organisation's growth one small donation at a time. Losing his parents at an early age, Babu grew up in a shabby area in Mohammadpur, only being able to study till grade four. “I remember seeing a newspaper headline that read 'Mohammadpur - a drug addicts den.' and felt tired of the misconception people had about today's youth. Soon after, I was taking a long walk one night that winter, and I noticed a woman – shriveled and cold, shivering with no blanket to shield her,” he recalled. Inspired by these two incidents, he decided to buckle up and really try to do something about. That year they were able to donate and help only three women, raising money from everyone from garment's workers to security guards who donated Tk30-Tk50 per month, a measly amount, but one that worked to humbly forward a greater cause.
“We began with five people. Today our organisation stands at 135 workers and sometimes even I'm astounded at how far we've gone. I know it isn't much in the grand scale of things, but I know we are trying our best.”
The photographs are priced between Tk2,500 to Tk3,000, depending on the size and type of photograph. With an underlying “river,” theme, each photo exhibits Pamela's excursions over the past year as she documents her time through Bangladesh, Nepal and Myanmar.
Her favourite, she says, is a top shot of long canoes with colourful seats and umbrellas pointing upwards. “It's a very colourful photo and I love colours. I call this photo 'up,' and think it's a very bright photo that just looks very happy to me,” Ketcher described.
Second in line is an almost abstract shot of a view between two boats, taken from the docks on her way to Kuakata. “When you look at this you can't really tell exactly what it is, until you look closely. It's got a very upward composition and that's what I like best,” she explained. Another, is a photograph of Banani lake, still and calm, a boat docked in the bottom with a man resting peacefully on the boat. “There was span of time when there were many hartals and I had to spend a lot of time at home. I looked out from my balcony and noticed this man, just relaxing on his boat, with the cityscape reflected in the water,” Pamela explained.
With this just being her debut exhibition, she hopes she can perhaps hold a few more. With the exhibition already underway and funds being raised, she hopes she can continue campaigning for their cause, working to help HIV cases, raise awareness on child marriage and even work for an anti-tobacco campaign. “Anything that relates to trying to minimise harm, be it for a small population or even the population at large, is something I would like to continue campaigning for,” she concluded.
Meanwhile, Babu will take the proceeds from the exhibition to fund winter clothing to be distributed among the very needy in the far north of the country. Afterwards, with the help and support of similar people and organisations, he hopes to stage a play where street children act out their stories, giving the world a glimpse into their worlds.