East One FC's Bangladesh Tour 2008
East One youth & community services took a group of 18 local residents from
East London
on a 2 week tour of
Bangladesh
during 16 February -
10 March 2008
. The group had travelled around the country visiting
Bangladesh
’s main cities –
Dhaka, Chitagong and Sylhet and surrounding villages, experiencing the rich and diverse scenic views, culture, language and food the country has to offer.
East One YCS undertook the decision to do this tour in order to offer local residents, whom have a link with
Bangladesh
through their parents, the opportunity to visit a third world country in order to create an awareness of
Bangladesh’s heritage. Chairman Abzal Ali had said ‘this was a challenging project for East One YCS that we had been planning for about 9 months, we wanted to give local people the opportunity to gain the experience of comparing their lifestyle and environment with that of their counter-parts in Bangladesh, be involved in promoting football and visit the local orphanage we support’.
East One YCS established links with clubs in
Bangladesh
and organised various friendly football games with local teams in order to promote football in the village areas of
Bangladesh
. The team – East One FC initially travelled to
Chittagong
for an exhibition match with the Chittagong Friendship club. Following this the team focussed mainly around the North east of
Bangladesh in the district of Sylhet where they had played with local teams in Inatgonj, Sunamgonj and Jogonatpur. Team assistant manager Jamal Hussain had said ‘the games in Sylhet district were very close; 3 games in 5 days took a lot out of our players, they had to adjust to the weather, 2000 plus crowds which was an experience in its self and poor playing fields. Although we had lost all of our games by a goal I believe the experience our players have gained from these international friendly matches are priceless’
Match results: Inatgonj 2 v East One FC 1, Sunamgonj 1 v. East One FC 0 and Jogonatpur 4 v. East One FC 3.
Team manager Abdul Koyar expressed that ‘our team received a tremendous welcome from officials who were very hospitable, we hope that this experience will encourage future work and promote exchange trips between East One FC and local Bangladeshi teams, I thank those who made this possible’.
East One YCS has been a supporter of a local orphanage – Masjidul Taqwa based in Uposhor area of Sylhet town for 2 years now. The tour encompassed a visit to the orphanage that provided the management committee and members of East One YCS the opportunity to see how their donations are helping the 40 odd young orphans aged 5 – 16 years. The team took a range of sports playing equipment - badminton rackets, net, corks, footballs, cricket bats and stumps to name a few for the orphanage in order to encourage sports, and promote health and fitness as part of their timetable for learning. East One YCS general secretary Walidul Hoque said ‘this is a project close to the hearts of our organisation and its members; we wanted to make a difference in the lives of those children who are in an unfortunate position through no fault of their own’.
East One YCS raised approximately £400 (TK 51,000) for Masjidul Taqwa, this donation will assist the orphanage with buying new land and building larger accommodation to cater for the many more orphans they have to turn away due to lack of funds and accommodation. Masjidul Taqwa director Hamid Billa expressed his gratitude and commented ‘we are fortunate to have the support of East One YCS, they have given us support and encouragement in many ways to help us strive in our efforts to help the most vulnerable and needy children who are at risk of being exploited’.
The tour exposed our members to a whole new life experience as the majority have never visited or seen
Bangladesh in its entirety. East One YCS assistant secretary Tipu Miah said ‘this exposure has allowed our members to meet local people, experience the local food, culture and participate in the Language day celebrations on the 21st February in Cox Bazaar which was breathtaking’.
Chairman
Abzal Ali indicated that feedback received from members was very positive, many of whom will not get this opportunity again. He thanked the committee for committing their voluntary time and effort in making this happen and expressed that this was a major success for East One YCS, ‘we are very proud that our members enjoyed the experience and that the tour was delivered without any issues. On behalf of East One YCS I would like to give a big thank you to our sponsors for supporting us in delivering this project’, in particular Patrick Tobin, the Director of Marigold Health Foods for his personal contribution and Richard Barr, the Director of Housing for Springboard. Special thanks also to Mayar Akash our photgrapher for the bangladesh tour.
East One YCS
Bangladesh
tour was supported by: Marigold Health Foods, Springboard Housing, Genesis Housing Group, United Airways, Taste of
India,
Don’t Panic Go Organic, Fields Delicatessen and Your Price Food Store.