Wesleyan Students Raise Funds To Help Poor in Bangladesh

Tasmiha Khan ’12 and her group, Brighter Dawns, were featured in the Oct. 24 edition of The Middletown Press. In the article, Khan explains how she became interested in helping poor families – and her own family – in Bangladesh.

“There’s a stark dynamic between the rich and the poor,” Khan says in the article. “I wanted to see how these people live, but I really had to push my family. They were scared of me getting raped or even murdered.  There was no running water. Seven to eight people of extended family, living under one roof. Words aren’t enough to justify the conditions.”

In the past year, Brighter Dawns was able to secure funding of about $15,000 from the Dell Social Innovation Fellowship and a $10,000 from a Projects for Peace grant. With this funding, they were able to build 15 wells, 20 latrines, and three bathrooms and provide sanitation supplies and educational seminars on hygiene for 1,000 households in Bangladesh.

On Nov. 19, Brighter Dawns will be partnering with Brew Bakers, a local coffee house bakery in Middletown, to hold an all-day community event. A student/community band will perform and the group will be running several concessions selling T-shirts, purses and tote bags from Bangladesh.

Brighter Dawns development director Jason Youngbin Lee ’12, project manager Matthew Donahue ’14, and Marissa Napolitano ’13 also are mentioned in the Middletown Press story, online here.