On Tuesday, Oporajeo, one of Amra’s beneficiares, inaugurated a primary school to for the children of its garment factory, which is run and co-owned by victims of the Rana Plaza disaster.
Amra took the responsibility for 37 children of the affected families, supporting their academic activities. Amra has provided them with everything needed for their studies – admission and exam fees and uniforms.
Amidst the chaos that submerged Bangladesh in a state of conflict and wreckage last April, a number of journalists decided that spreading the news about Rana Plaza was not enough.
Amra – a voluntary organization of journalists, businessmen and individuals, has been working tirelessly since March 2013 to support the poor and distressed, who are victimized by natural calamities, accidents and the relentless political violence.
So when the Rana Plaza disaster happened, Amra, by then already established, was quick to respond to the tragedy and played an instrumental role in the rescue operations there.
“We were one of the first few groups to send out a call for help through social media. We received a huge response and our volunteers engaged themselves in the rescue work and at hospitals to support the injured and their families,” says Shayantanee Twisha, currently a news presenter at Independent TV and one of the key members of Amra.
Yet Amra was one step ahead of the massive crowd who had gathered to take part in the rescue operations. Shayantanee shares Amra’s unique part in making a better life for the victims.
“We predicted that three to five months from this disaster, people will no longer stand beside these victims or contribute towards anything that would ensure a better future for them in the long run. Hence, we began to help the victims in a different manner. Amra selected the 15 most affected families from a list prepared after scrutiny, bought them milking cows, rickshaws and set up small shops that could become a sustaining livelihood.”
Amra was the only organisation that extended a helping hand to salvage the broken and brunt houses of the Hindu community, ugly remnants of the communal attacks of Jamaat-Shibir, after Sayedee’s verdict had been passed last March 2013.
“One cannot imagine the amount of devastation the communal attacks had left behind after Sayedee’s verdict. We decided to come together and help these people. Our research team is extremely efficient which helped us chalk out areas where help was most required . Bashkhali (Chittagong), Koira (Khulna) and Sundarganj are few of the most affected areas,” Shayantanee says, recalling the first operation by Amra after the communal attacks.
Amra has distributed money and aid worth over Tk10 lakh among the victims confronted by the violent communal attacks in March and the devastating tornado in Brahmanbaria simultaneously in the same month.
