“Finding Myself- Volunteering with VSO Bangladesh”
“The best way to finding yourself is
to
Lose yourself
in the service of others”
- Gandhi
I think knowing oneself is a
challenging & rewarding process. It may take a lifetime of pleasurable work
& courage. I really want to know who I am and what I want to do for the
real success in my life and a true sense of well-being. I also think every
person should be looking to redefine their life personally &
professionally.
Oh! I talk to much when I start to
speech and also forgot to introduce. My name is Md. Shamim Reja, I am 27 and
Studying Ms. In CPE (Crop Physiology & Ecology). I live in Bangladesh and
my city is Khulna.
Today I am going to talking about
my experience and good time I’ve had with VSO volunteer. I started my volunteer
journey from Dhaka and now I am working in Dinajpur, The northern part of
Bangladesh. I am a member of SRHR (Sexual Reproductive Health Rights) team of
ICS-2(International Citizenship Service) Project. We are working in a rural and
we are trying to find the local problems and possible solutions with the help
of local YC (Youth Club) members related with Livelihood, Governance and SRHR
issues.
I said I am a proud team member
of SRHR, so let’s start to talk about SRHR. In this community of Dinajpur is a
typical community of Bangladesh. People are living together with their social
norms, believe and habits. We are finding the biggest problem in this area is
child marriage and this is related with all the issues of life. These issues
are Health (Maternal health, Child and Mother Death, Malnutrition, Mental
health, Breast and uterus cancer etc.), Education, Poverty, Dowry, Divorce,
Polygamy and social imbalance. So, we are trying to prevent all the problems.
After the baseline survey found the people are heavily at risk of child
marriage that is the cause of other SRHR issues.
We did a CAD (Community Action
Day) for women empowerment and another for child marriage and dowry prevention.
Beside that we organized rally, made posters, handbills & placards to
create awareness. Also Governess team made a CMDPC (Child Marriage and dowry
privation committee) and billboard for stop child marriage. We did two CYS
(Courtyard Season) about puberty & Child marriage. The YC member, Peer educator
and community people are responded well. We did a lot of activities and worked
hard on this SRHR issue.
Now, the delightful part of
today’s diary about how I find myself here with VSO Bangladesh. We volunteer
are worked alongside UKV’s and ICV’s from different educational and cultural
backgrounds. We make debates sometime on working issue and we enjoy our free
time where we play together, sharing host home, try new food, fight with home
sickness and bad moods. We enjoy natural beauty, apologize for our mistake,
happy to complete tasks, sad when it’s not done to our satisfaction, we celebrate
moments and lot of fun on our holidays like shopping and traveling.
At the start of my journey , I
asked myself why else could I be doing this , what is my potential value to
this team, how I need to maintain my values & what I need to do to achieve
my professional value. Hahahahaha !! However now I am not asking myself that
typical question. I feel now I enjoy work, learn from mistakes, try new things,
I am apologetic. I feel I am not perfect and this not my best time to prove I
am contributing and am a respectful person.
I am really not capable of
writing the sentence about how I discovered myself in the journey of VSO ICS
Volunteer team. I think it’s something you can feel but hard to express or
impossible to show expression. I’d like to say thanks to VSO and I would like
to keep my love for all of my friends we found here. It’s an unforgettable
journey in one short life.
Md.
Shamim Reja
VSO
Volunteer
Facebook:web.facebook.com/shamimraza.rana
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