Cynthia RockwellKimberly Muellers ’12, communications director for the nonprofit Brighter Dawns, spent part of her post-graduation summer in Bangladesh, helping provide a village with access to clean water. The Boston Globe highlighted the work of Massachusetts native Muellers in a recent article titled “Westwood Woman Helping in Bangladesh.” “There are so many preventable diseases that can be solved so easily just by having clean water and good hygiene,” Muellers told The Globe. “Our main focus is on sanitation issues.” Muellers was joined this summer in Bangladesh by Tasmiha Khan ’12, Brighter Dawns CEO, as well as Fahim Zaman, Brighter Dawns director…
Tasmiha Khan ’12, founder of Brighter Dawns, a charitable organization committed to improving health in the slums of Bangladesh, was invited to the White House to participate in a forum to discuss the important role that faith-based social innovators play in expanding opportunity and addressing social issues. Khan, who was selected by DoSomething.org as one of 11 Young Women To Look Out For, founded Brighter Dawns in the fall of 2010 after working on a health and hygiene project in Bangladesh with the World Peace & Cultural Foundation that summer. Back on campus, she convinced other students to join her in…
Olivia DrakeThe Wesleyan Chapter of Brighter Dawns, a non-profit organization founded by Tasmiha Khan ’12, was featured on News 8 WTNH on May 11. Brighter Dawns raises funds to build latrines and wells in Bangladesh. According to the report, Brighter Dawns started when Tasmiha Khan went to a slum in Bangladesh with her family and visited a young woman living in poverty. "Her name was Usma. She was about 15 years old. Had three children. Was forced into poverty at that time," she said. Khan started doing a few things to help that family, and when she came back to the U.S. she kept helping,…
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In Bangladesh, more than 100,000 children die every year of intestinal diseases. About 31 million people are without access to safe drinking water and 99.9 million people lack proper sanitation. About 80 percent of the wells in more than 8,000 villages are contaminated. Tasmiha Khan '12, founder of the Wesleyan chapter of Brighter Dawns, has spent the past four years determined to help sanitary and living conditions in a slum in Khalishpur, Khulna. Through fund-raising, partnering with NGOs and grant applications, the Wesleyan chapter has teamed up with other Brighter Dawns chapters in the country to distribute more than 1,000 sanitary…
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…
Tasmiha Khan '12, founder of the student organization Brighter Dawns, is a recipient of the Dell Social Innovation Competition Semi-Finalist Fellowship. Brighter Dawns applied for the Dell Social Innovation Award in January. Their project is titled “Brighter Dawns: Clean Water for Humanity." "Tasmiha was selected from a very strong applicant pool to join 14 other innovative fellows that represent and work with communities around the world," says Betsy Loucks, director of the DSIC Semi-Finalist Fellowship. "The Semi-Finalist Fellowship is a cohort of students from around the world who have some of the most exciting and innovative ideas for social and environmental change."…
The student-run organization Brighter Dawns raised more than $1,150 during the 5K for Brighter Dawns on April 16. The group is raising funds to build 30 latrines and 10 wells in Khalispur, Bangladesh. They also hope to provide sanitary kits to local households and hire three community health officers to educate the community in sanitary practices. Middletown Mayor Sebastian Giuliano and Wesleyan President Michael Roth attended the event. Participants paid $10 to walked or run the 3.1 mile course, which was located on the Wes Fuhrman ’05 Trail near Long Lane. Brighter Dawns also raised funds by selling t-shirts at…
Members of the student-run group, Brighter Dawns, participated in the Unite for Sight Global Health and Innovation 2011 Conference April 16-17 at Yale University. The conference welcomed leaders, changemakers, and participants from all fields of global health, international development and social entrepreneurship. Tasmiha Khan ’12, founder of Brighter Dawns, spoke about her organization during a session on “Water and Clinic Social Enterprise Pitches – Ideas in Development.” Brighter Dawns is raising funds to improve access to safe sanitation in Bangladesh. More than 2,220 professionals and students from all 50 states attended the conference.
Wesleyan's student organization Brighter Dawns received a Davis United World College Project for Peace grant worth $10,000. The funds will support Brighter Dawns' "Water Sanitation Project" in Khalishpur, Bangladesh for eight weeks this summer. Tasmiha Khan '12 and possibly Rajeeta Iyer '12 will oversee the project, which will include building tube wells, latrines and providing health seminars and jobs for women in one of the poorest slums in Khalishpur.