Source: OBAT Helpers

Anwar Khan

OBAT Helpers is an NGO whose objective is to help the Bihari community flourish by empowering the youth

Around 10 years ago, in September 2004, after a lot of unrest and restricted privileges, positive light was shed on the Bihari community of Bangladesh. Anwar Khan, founder of OBAT Helpers, a Bangladeshi living in the USA, came across an article about the plight of the forgotten Urdu speaking community. He read about their hardships and struggle, as they lived in their community with no help or privileges. He knew he had to do something about this.

Murtuza Ahmed Khan

”I realised that I'm living this life because Allah has given me the privilege, and the only way I can thank Him for it is by helping those in need,” says Anwar.

He set up a meeting with his friends and family and decided to take responsibility for a Bihari family and help them in any way that was possible. Upon his visit to the camps in Dhaka, he noticed that there was no way he could help just one single family. His visits increased, and he went to the camps outside of Dhaka. When in Rangpur, he saw that the women had to bathe in broad daylight with no privacy. The money he carried for one family was then invested in building bathrooms for the women of the camp in Rangpur. Thus, the journey of OBAT Helpers began.

“When the question of empowerment comes up, I believe the first way to go about it is with education,” says Anwar. Since then, OBAT Helpers have established 57 educational programmes, including 27 pre-schools, 7 primary schools, 1 high school and also an education programme for working children. These institutes are situated all over the country. OBAT also provides scholarships for the students, and has opened a youth think-tank. The think-tank has the goal to develop the youth of the community and train them to help and develop the community further. “We hold brain-storming sessions with the children to point out and list the problems in the community, like sanitation. We then come up with solutions and hold projects like clean-up campaigns,” says Murtuza Ahmed Khan, coordinator and convener of OBAT Youth Think-Tank and Dhaka Correspondent of OBAT Helpers. This year, thanks to OBAT Helpers, 30 pupils from the Bihari community, studying under OBAT, have received GPA 5 scores in the PSC examinations.

Source: OBAT Helpers

Anwar Khan

Along with educational institutes, OBAT Helpers provides the community with clean water, which used to be a scarce resource in the camps due to ignorance of authorities. There are health clinics set up for camp residents along with a mobile clinic that can move from area to area for check-ups.

Their micro-financing project was created to help the more elderly. By giving loans without interest, OBAT helps the women and men start up their own businesses so they can earn enough money on their own to buy their own houses and even lands.

The effort that OBAT Helpers have put into the community is already being rewarded with success. Abul Quasem, a student of OBAT, who grew up in the camp, has become the first Bihari in 43 years to get admitted in medical school, while others are going on to completing their education and getting jobs in banks and more. Murtuza Ahmed Khan himself, who has been volunteering for the community from the age of 7, has gone on to be a success of OBAT along with his brother who works for Unilever now.

OBAT Helpers have already rehabilitated 2000 families in 10 years, with a vision to reach 10,000 in another 10 years. “We are hoping for the rehabilitation to have a snowball effect, so that one empowered family can help another in need,” says Anwar Khan. With OBAT’s strong objectives and unshakable motivation, we can now hope for a day when the word 'camp' will be obliterated and every living person in Bangladesh will have equal rights.