We landed in Bangladesh today morning and it is the beginning of yet another TPA adventure. We were received at the airport by Francis Halder and went to the office of Anando straight from there. This is our most important CC in the country, with 400 units in different villages. Our meeting with the Executive Director Mr. Maniruzzaman and other staff members was very fruitful. This NGO was founded in 1996 and today they have 253 staff members including 118 regular full-time staff. Programs are related to People’s Institution Building, Children and Youth Education, Community Health care, Homestead agriculture, Employment and Income Generation, Peace education, Vocational training for Youth, Disaster Management and so on.
Department of World Religions and Culture at Dhaka University is the next CC that we visited today. Professor and Founding Chair Dr. Kazi Nurul Islam is an amazing personality and he and his staff members were thrilled to receive us on behalf of URI. In the picture below you can see Professor Nuzrat Zultana, Francis Halder and Dr Kazi (extreme right), with George and myself. This Department is an exemplary Centre, which is a real inspiration for the 39000 students of Dhaka University, which is considered as the Oxford of the East. They conduct a series of International Interfaith Conferences at regular intervals. Three delegates from this CC will attend the TPA training.
I will have to write pages to describe the activities of these CCs, the temptation of which I desist now. One thing is sure. So many of the URI treasure mines are still unexplored. There is ample scope for the development of more URI CCs in this land, which is predominantly a Muslim nation.
We look forward to another worthy session of TPA.
