PILOT SURVEY PROJECT REPORT
Gain an insight into the lives of the camp population →
THE URDU SPEAKING COMMUNITY
The Urdu speaking community housed in the decrepit camps, have no access to clean water and live on less than a dollar a day. Their entire families live in tiny 8 ft. by 10 ft. tin and bamboo huts; the children don’t go to school so that they can help their parents make a living; they suffer from myriad health issues, including malnutrition; and the living conditions are unsanitary and shameful.
OBAT has established schools, health clinics, tutoring, computer training and vocational centers along with a self-empowerment program. Provision of basic amenities for the camp residents through infrastructure development, is a priority. Education and economic empowerment are the areas of focus as together, they have the potential to lift the camp dwellers out of dire poverty and hopelessness.
Through a judicious and strategic mix of aid, education, vocational training and self-empowerment initiatives, OBAT aims to improve the lives of these unfortunate people and to replace their misery with happiness, hope and self-worth.
WHERE WE WORK
Since October of 2017, OBAT also started responding to the critical situation that came about after an influx of Rohingya refugees who were escaping persecution and genocide in Myanmar, into Bangladesh.
The proximity of OBAT’s projects to the Kutupalong Rohingya refugees camp and the organization’s experience in addressing the needs of displaced people, placed it in a unique position to help. OBAT started several initiatives for them beginning with providing emergency relief items, cooked food and fulfilling the severe medical needs by holding medical camps. With time, OBAT started partnering with the UNHCR and several other local NGOS’s. At present, it is running a fully functional medical clinic (the clinic is staffed by volunteer doctors and treats about 150 patients in a day), and 10 learning centers. OBAT has also built shelters and bridges as well as community centers for the refugees.
