Abdullah Al Wasif started his journey with JAAGO Foundation from the very beginning, when JAAGO formed in 2009, as a voluntary teacher. A 21 years old law student at New Castle Law Academy, he has selflessly contributed his time and energy by teaching the underprivileged children of JAAGO Foundation until 2011, when the youth wing “Volunteer for Bangladesh (VBD) was formed. He then joined as a committee member of VBD. Now the president of VBD Dhaka district, Wasif believes that everyone should engage in some form of voluntary activity as it incorporates good humanitarian traits in us. He further added, “When we involve ourselves in these activities, we learn to become patient, develop communication skills and get to come out of our shells and serve our society.” Amongst various social activities, the Universal Children's Day (UCD) is the signature campaign of VBD. “We carry out a day long campaign on this day to promote Children's Rights, mainly focusing on education. The reason we focus most on education is because every child deserves education but in our country lots of children are engaged in unsafe labour instead of education. To raise awareness against child labour and to foster education, we observe UCD every November.”

Ahmed Sabbir is a business student studying in Chittagong University. 23 years old Sabbir always liked to work for children and wanted a platform to contribute for child welfare. Since JAAGO Foundation and its activities are focused around educating the underprivileged children of the society, it motivated him further to join JAAGO Foundation and he has been an active member and coordinator as a volunteer in “Volunteer for Bangladesh”, Chittagong since 2011. He is currently the District President of Volunteer for Bangladesh (VBD), in Chittagong. As the reason behind joining Volunteer for Bangladesh (VBD), Ahmed Sabbir said, “Most of the time when people talk about development, we forget to think about educating underprivileged children, which is one of the most important parts of developing a nation. As I wanted to contribute for impoverished children's education, I joined VBD. Since then I have joined hands with them in raising awareness among the people through community activities. Every year, in November, our campaign on Universal Children's Day is designed to spread awareness for the importance of children's education in a developing nation.”

22-year-old Aziza Khairum Siegee is a final year student in English literature at Khulna University. It's been four years since she joined Volunteer for Bangladesh (VBD) in Khulna. Aziza always wanted to work for various causes to bring betterment to our society and, in the long run, our country. VBD gave her just the opportunity she needed to unite other youths in Khulna in contributing to social development. She is now the president of Voulnteer for Bangladesh, Khulna District. Every year, through their campaign on Universal Children's Day (UCD), they raise awareness for children's education. Aziza has been avidly participating in the making of UCD and is constantly motivated to do better. “The underprivileged children are left uncared for 365 days of the year. We want to make at least one day of their life special by taking them to the amusement park where they enjoy the day, while all our volunteers are raising awareness for their education on streets.”

Tasmia Tarifa Chowdhury is a Master's student at Shahjalal University of Science and Technology. Inspired by the initiative of Korvi Rakshand, founder of JAAGO Foundation, to make a difference in society, Tasmia joined JAAGO in 2011. She saw there were lots of young students like her in Sylhet who wanted to work for a social cause. But they didn't have any platform. Thanks to Volunteer for Bangladesh (VBD), the youth wing of JAAGO Foundation, these youngsters are now participating in various campaigns and have finally gotten a platform to transmit their ideas regarding social development. For Tasmia, joining VBD has changed her perspective on society, her communication skills has developed a lot and she believes all the volunteers get to improve their interpersonal skills through engaging in various voluntary activities. Tasmia is now our president of Volunteer for Bangladesh (VBD), Sylthet district.  VBD unites youths from all the districts to work for the children's education especially on Universal Children's Day.

PhotoCourtesy: Jaago Foundation, VBD