Bidyanondo: The joyful service for the underprivileged

A full plate rice served with a handful amount of beef curry with potatoes costs minimum Tk150 in restaurants. Can you imagine getting that in one taka?

The answer is obviously a NO.

But kids of the capital's Bhasantek slum were waiting for the same menu with one taka in their hands in a fine Tuesday.

This is a common scenario here on this particular day of the week.

A team of young men arrived wearing red vests to serve food to the kids. They would look like superheroes if you look through the eyes of the little children.

And the name "Bidyanondo Foundation", signifying the organisation behind this noble initiative, written in their vests would feel like a source of reliability.

Food in one taka is one of the many projects of the organisation devoted to the deprived.

Founded by Kishor Kumar Das in 2013, Bidyanondo Foundation is a non-profit organisation mostly run by humanitarian volunteers.

The organisation is working for a better childhood for underprivileged children, fighting against hunger and social taboos.

Right from the beginning, it prefers to work silently and make a change that will communicate louder than words.

Let's have a look into few of their projects.

Ek takay ahar

Ek takay ahar is a project for underprivileged children where they offer food in exchange of only one taka.

They have set a menu with diverse items. In Dhaka, they select certain areas for different days of the week to distribute food.

Answering the question, why they do not provide the food for free, Salman Khan, manager of Dhaka Branch of the organisation said, 'Free foods or products often hurt people's sentiment. Again, one taka is not something unaffordable but will give them a sense of ownership.'

Not just food for children, they had a project 'one glass milk' for pregnant mothers.

They also collect leftovers of grand programs to distribute those among people who spend their night in station or footpath of the city.

Bidyanondo School

In 2012, Kishor Kumar Das founded a free school for underprivileged children in Narayanganj.

Kishor struggled in his childhood being deprived of education for a financial crisis. Though he finally completed his studies from a university, he dreamt of a world where no kid would drop off from school.

The Bidyanondo School is his dream project.

Now there are Bidyanondo Schools in Dhaka, Narayanganj, Rajshahi, Chittagong and Cox's Bazar.

But the student's participation is not the same everywhere. The Cox's Bazar branch is the main school where they take all the bright students to appear in secondary school examination.

Bidyanondo also arranges vocational training for the students.

Bashonti Sanitary Napkin

Project Bashonti offers 5 sanitary pads at Tk5 for underprivileged girls.

Bashonti, a brand produced by the foundation, offers 5 sanitary pads at Tk5. It costs them Tk7 per napkin but the price has been fixed Tk5 per packet.

"The primary scheme is to provide three lakh sanitary napkins for free to the slum dwellers and rural areas. Anyone who needs this can buy directly from them after the primary scheme is ended," said Salman Khan, manager of Dhaka Branch of Bidyanondo Foundation.

"Government should give away sanitary napkins at subsidy as it is not a luxury but a necessity," he added.

Bidyanondo Foundation has been working on this project since 2017.

The organisation is planning to plant vending machines in slums around Dhaka and rural areas for sanitary napkins. There is also a plan to offer a job for women in napkin factories. 

This will not only help the production but also become an earning source for women. The organisation wants to bring reusable napkins in future for marginalised women.

"We never planned to commercialise our product on the market. Our sole purpose is to serve the underprivileged and we will stick to that," said one of the volunteers working in the factory.

Other schemes of Bidyanondo

Bidyanondo has five orphanages and three of them are in remote areas of Bandarban. Other two are in Cox's Bazar and Rajbari.
The organisation has been arranging medical camps giving health services in exchange for one taka.

It also has a publication house which published the first book in Mro language this year. The book contains Mro myth of their forefathers.

Bidyanondo now gets a regular donation from contributors. With more aid coming to their hand, their dream with the organisation goes higher.