A couple of nights earlier, I received a buzzing call around 3AM. One of our members at 1˚ Initiative wanted to discuss an idea with me – it couldn’t wait. On any ordinary day, this would sound rather strange, but given the fact he and I are on two different time zones, I figured social innovation had no room for simple mathematics then. Good work needed to be done now, and I better wake up to my senses and start listening.

It wasn’t, however the late night call that led to this piece, rather the bubbling enthusiasm behind it that got me thinking. Even ten years earlier, young people getting proactively involved in community and social service would have seemed a laughable daydream, and now it’s the most happening thing around. With the multitudes of youth-run or youth-focused organizations and projects in the country, a communal revolution doesn’t seem too far off. Everyone, in their own capacity seems to be involved with one or more ‘causes’ and volunteerism is just as popular as underground music.

Which leads to the most important question – is this newfound and profound sense of responsibility here to stay? A friend recently shared a note on Facebook, explaining the fine differences between volunteerism and activism, and how volunteers tend to burn out when ‘real life’ calls. It’s not unsurprising, volunteers by definition are a floating mass of people – they are designed to contribute actively over a short period of time. The challenge lies with transforming this fluid crowd into informed active citizens, who take their responsibility towards their community as a way of life, and not just a great conversation to share over chaa-shingara.

Suggestive as it may seem, no – the answer is not confined to paying people to turn social responsibility into a job. It probably is a powerful incentive, but it triggers the same cycle of events that history and radical development economists have frequently criticized. It may as well begin with a shared vision. My friend suggested it in her note, and I agree – somewhat. If say, an achievable and focused vision such as mitigating malnutrition by 15% through feeding impoverished children is placed and an action plan grounded on providing free milk and egg on a daily basis to x number of such children is implemented, it is not difficult to mobilize a larger, more sustainable group of ‘change agents’. Young people, at the pivot of this action plan contributes initially by ‘volunteering’ to run such a program and soon, as life moves on, as potential suppliers of the egg-and-milk combo or social entrepreneurs with a weakness for malnourishment taking the idea to a scalable something. Seems like a plan!

However, the problem with this plan or shared vision is that unless enough people are instilled with its merits, it stays limited to a small group of people. Even when it does propagate to a larger audience, it no longer stays ‘shared’ – it becomes amicably imposed. The assumption here is that such proliferation resulted because a dedicated visionary was able to move a large number of people in a specific way, as opposed to these people observing and adopting such a vision on their own countenance.  The assumption extends by limiting the target audience to young people aged between 15 and 25 and naturally disposed to be experimental, energetic and frivolous. There are indeed too many assumptions being made.

So, is there another way?

I have always believed we live at a time of immense untapped human capital. The 21st century brought with it unaccounted amount of possibilities, and through the merit of new and rapidly growing media, the power to utilize these possibilities has never been simpler. Now, while involving in a ‘shared vision’, imagine what more we can achieve if people shared skills? If Change Agent A has xyz skills to offer and chooses to teachChange Agent B, the idea along with the necessary skills to achieve a goal are transferred, if not the same but under a broader umbrella, chances are the resulting action will be more sustainable. It’s incredibly empowering because each individual in the chain of events has something to offer, everyone is a significant catalyst and most importantly, the macro outcome of a human intelligence hub emerges. This transfer of skills shouldn’t be limited to a certain group or a particular socioeconomic class, but be easily propagated through shared learning, hence providing a more powerful and independent incubator for our fluid group to stay involved.

The potential of each human being needs to be explored to create sustainable social change. Photo: Sabhanaz Rashid Diya

Take a simple example. Boy X happens to be a skilled accountant and intends to use it to make money in life. Instead of limiting his skills for personal gain, Boy X decides to teachGirl Y the basics of cheques and balances, thereby creating, through his own initiative, skilled labour. Girl Y is inspired by a certain social vision, for e.g. ensuring free primary education for all children in her community, but sees schools around her failing to keep up with rising costs. She decides to get involved with some schools and help its facilitators to better manage their money, in the process creating room for more children to be enrolled. Random Dude M is inspired by her initiative, and does the same with a local NGO in his community whose focus being environment, is financially struggling to meet up with adapting eco-friendly technology in their community. Seeing the impact of a simple excercise, Boy X decides to push his company to be more socially responsible, and uses a portion of the profits to provide learning materials to local tools. This way, the skill becomes socially relevant, and potential volunteers – who may have simply participated in an event or a project – turned to active citizens, even while they move through life.

What happened in the above example is a simple real-life simulation of the dominno effect. The skill of an individual, through shared learning, became socially relevant, hence allowing them to do their share of active citizenship thruoughout their lives. In addition, instead of being involved in conventional social work, they were able to balance their individual lives, earned income and social responsibiliity; nothing is forced within boundaries, but given enough reason to do more within such boundaries. The human potential was explored, a communal human intelligence hub created and most importantly, the average volunteer turned to a lifelong contributor of the society, not only through the economy but also through community service. Human beings, not only actions are invested upon.

This simple theory has already been put to practice. Over the past years, I have been privileged to work with many talented youngsters, whose specific interest and skills have been put to social experiments and given them a sense of empowerment and ownership, thereby effectively engaging them for a longer period and resulting in sustainable actions. On a personal note and perhaps contrary to most definitions, that is what makes an activist. Someone who finds a development niche within his/her niche, and harnesses it through life. This may not be the golden key to sustainable development or mobilizing youth volunteerism for the long run, but it’s definitely an idea. Like imbuing a shared vision is an honest attempt, perhaps finding a niche within a niche might as well be another such attempt.

By Sabhanaz Rashid Diya

 

This 10th October 2010 – 10/10/10 – people at 7347 events in 188 countries got to work on the climate crisis. To help tackle climate change, people joined together to install solar panels, plant trees, cycle and more. This worldwide event, known as the Global Work Party was coordinated by an organization known as 350.org with the aim of saving the earth through direct action and also by sending a clear message to the governments of the worlds – “If we can get to work, so can you!”

Cycling around Dhaka

Bangladesh was not let out either. Many people celebrated this Global Day of Doing through actions small and large. The country hub for 10:10 Bangladesh was TERM Magazine, and many organizations partnered (and independently) to come up with events to celebrate the day. One of the more attractive projects was organized by the youth-based organization – 1° Initiative. The project, known as “Degrees of Wheels” consisted of bicycle rallies on different routes all over Dhaka cities, and changing of some incandescent bulbs to energy-saving CFL bulbs.

Forty volunteers from the organization started cycling around 10 am at Dhanmondi, Gulshan, Dhaka University and Uttara. They stopped in front of schools and colleges and encouraged the students to start riding bicycles and discussed about other climate solutions. They also replaced the incandescent bulbs of some roadside shops to CFL bulbs to have a direct impact on the climate.

Switching to CFL Bulbs

1° Initiative believes that it is imperative for people to start cycling instead of using motorized transportation, especially for short journeys. They believe it’s about time young people step up and pick up a bicycle in place of a motor vehicle. Not only do the emissions of the vehicles have an adverse impact on the climate, but also because cycling would prevent the suffering of countless others due to traffic jams. Cars that drop off students at schools and come back empty would then deem unnecessary, and remove much traffic from the road. Through its initiative (which is planned on being held annually coupled with short rides in between), the organization also hopes to work to compel the government to build bicycled-friendly lanes.

As the rally was going on all over Dhaka city, other volunteers helped to maintain a stall for the 10:10 Bangladesh Fair held at Pan Pacific Hotel Sonargaon on the same date. Visitors were briefed about the organization itself and about the cycling project. 1° Initiative also used leaflets planted on plantation fibre to raise awareness. The stall, decorated from old, crumpled newspapers and facilitating a miniature bicycle made from used carton paper and Styrofoam was a major attraction at the fair.

10:10 Bangladesh Fair

1° Initiative firmly believes that a small, 1° change can eventually make a huge difference, and hence the name. It has been operating for over four years, and its initiatives amongst others include building libraries, providing leadership training to both urban and rural youth, distributing warm clothes during winter, arranging sports and cultural activities for underprivileged children and facilitating mobile schooling at apartments. The organization 350.org is an international grassroots movement that aims to mobilize a global movement to stop the worst of the climate crisis. Their name reflects the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere above which climate change starts to get out of control – 350 parts per million; we are currently at 390. Last year, on October 24th, 350.org had organized the International Day of Climate Action and 1dI participated on that day also to plant more than 700 trees all over Dhaka city.

The Degrees on Wheels project was supported by 10:10 Bangladesh, an organization that encourages people to decrease emissions by 10% a year, TERM magazine, Cyclelife and Ad-Din Hospital, who provided ambulances and first-aid support.

Written by Sudipta Saha

October 2010

1di members at the very first UCD event

On 18th November this year, the yellow shirts were everywhere. You’ve probably seen them somewhere. Students from different schools and universities were selling popcorn, cotton candy and balloons on the streets. You must have wondered whether the Google generation was going through another post-adolescent stage when they take up strange hobbies. So, what were all these youngsters doing on the road instead of staying at home hooked to their machines?

20th November is International Child’s Rights Day and this gala event “Jaago” was organised by Jaago Foundation to spread awareness on children’s rights. Jaago Foundation is a free English medium school in Rayer Bazaar that believes that the cycle of poverty can be broken by education. This school was started in 2007 and currently has 120 students.

So you ask again, why were they on the streets? In order to celebrate that day, around five hundred street children were taken toWonderland Amusement Park to enjoy an entire day of carefree fun! These children grow up in the harshest conditions and are forced to mature beyond their age, never tasting what we refer to as the golden childhood. Jaago Foundation took the initiative to let them enjoy themselves for this one day. However there was a simple problem. If they went to have fun for the whole day, their earnings for that day would be zero and their employers would fire them. They need the money for themselves, for their families. Jaago Foundation called on the more privileged youth of society to come and earn these children’s money for the time that they would spend in Wonderland. Hence, the outburst of yellow everywhere. The volunteers came from Mastermind, Maple Leaf, Sunbeams, Scholastica, BUET, Darul Ihsan University, London Grace International and One Degree Initiative.

Inside Wonderland, the children got to try the different rides after they were served breakfast, then they had a talent show. Before lunch they enjoyed a magic show and afterwards, the top finalists of “Khude Gaan Raj” sang performed and a health camp was arranged especially for the children. This was probably one of the most memorable days of their lives.

Meanwhile, the volunteers also had a swell time. Although many are familiar with activities of a similar sort, this was an entirely new experience. While trying to convince the adults in the cars to pay attention to the cause, the volunteers had resorted to the most ridiculous tricks possible and surprisingly, they worked. Even the children left behind were amused, not only by the volunteers’ antics which ranged from dancing the “Soulja Boy” on the footpath to chasing each other around but also from good salesmen skills and sheer enthusiasm. Friendships were formed with the most unlikely of street urchins, while many of the pro sellers and beggars advised on when to approach customers, what the rush hours were and so on!

On a personal note, the best part was when all those cranky middle aged folk who looked like their lives were a tedious mess would shoo the beggars away with the slight of their hand but when one of us approached and started talking to the glazed window a smile would creep up on their faces and would slowly lower their glass so that we could finish. Of course, then they’d make a contribution. Regardless of how small or how large, we know that that day while going home they would feel a lightness in their hearts thinking that this country may just change for the better because if it is possible to get so many yellow shirts together for this greater cause, apathy was but a step away from getting destroyed.

By Sabhanaz Rashid Diya and Hiya Islam

November 2009

This round, Saama Salim shares her thoughts. Saama is a first year student at Stonybrook University, NY. She completed O-levels from Dhaka and the rest of high school in the US. She spent her summers on internships that helped her figure out what she might want to study and what she might want to do with her life. 

It is a very common conception among students – and when I say students, I mean high school students specifically – that following “Your Ultimate Path to Ivy” and memorizing “50 Best Harvard College Essays” will create the image of their dream school’s ideal student, which, hence, will get them accepted to those schools. The obvious crease in the eyebrows appear when the 2310 SAT scoring kid sits in his bedroom, disappointed, with a rejection letter in his hand from a top ranked college, while the 1980 SAT scoring kid dances around in joy with an acceptance letter from the same college. What happened, then?

Image Source: Nova Mind Connect

There are so many aspects that are taken into account while evaluating a college application. Admission officers are not people who sit with an application in one hand and an admissions checklist in another, checking off only the admission requirements met by the applicant, and then deciding who gets in. They are a group of people who, most often, collectively discuss and decide the fate of many prospective students who have applied to that particular college. A student with a 4.0 GPA in the junior year and the fall senior year, a 2300 SAT score and a drawer full of volunteer service certificates definitely presents quite an impressive application. Another student, on the contrast, owning a consistent 3.5 GPA, 2200-ish score on the SAT and extraordinary painting skills may pose as a more potential candidate for an acceptance in the college, compared to the formerly mentioned student. This is because colleges today assess a student, not only based on his/her academic standing, but also on their potential to succeed no matter what field they choose to pursue their careers in. A prospective student is that person who can offer some insight to an admissions officer, into what who he/she is as a person and how (s)he can contribute to the college, and eventually, to the world. It is important to convince the college that you will be a worthwhile investment being the person you are with great aptitude.

Colleges are more pleased to see a student passionately pursuing his/her interests and advocating for it over a student, who is too busy piling up certificates from Red Cross, Habitat for Humanity, Autism Speaks, UNICEF and his/her high school’s student government to merely get into the  college. And trust me when I say this that there is no reason to think the admission counselors are dumb not to discern the difference between the two categories of students. It is their ability to recognize that right person for their college which leads to the decision of accepting the student who is an avid painter, and rejecting the student with tons of extracurricular activities. It is, therefore, very important for one to engage in activities (s)he will earnestly want to involve with, than thinking about what colleges will like because colleges will love you, only when they know that YOU love what you do.

Image Source: marathonrookie700.blogspot.com

This was for the people who are willing to think in terms of succeeding in college only. However, I happen to have a more personal-level opinion about why it is important to gear one’s activities towards discovering what they want to do with their lives than doing it with the intention of only putting them down on a piece of paper to adorn it. A life without self-discovery is probably the worst way a life could be lived. And self-discovery is barely possible if one doesn’t experiment with activities to begin with. Out of these many activities one gets involved with, he/she, eventually, is bound to discover something that interests them more than the others. And that, coincidentally, may become his ultimate passion to study later. If not, then it will always be there as a source of immense pleasure and a mode for relaxation of the mind for him, when he gets bored from study or tired from work.

Image Source: Hayward Recreation and Park District

We discover ourselves everyday- that too, newly. And rightly discovering our interests is a crucial part of discovering who we are- because our interests define us. And getting involved in a lot of volunteer projects and student groups with the sole intention of getting into a college is never going to instill the passion into the work because it is being done only because it has to be done. It is like helping someone today with the hope of getting the same in return tomorrow, rather because it feels good and makes you happy. Not to sound divinely philanthropic, but it is so much better to do something you love to do no matter how silly it may seem to be; and success is bound to pay you visits as a bi-product as long as your intentions are earnest and right.

Image Source: Saida Online Magazine

Getting prepared for college is, without a doubt, very important, and hence is gearing all activities towards it, too. However, college, at the same time, is a place to find one’s own self, which means all of this is just one overly complicated system which helps one to discover the person in them. So the intelligent decision (to be on the safe side) is to choose the best combination of what you are passionate about and what colleges will like. If that’s not possible, then modifying your interest to a level which will impress the college admissions people can be alternative as well. But remember, it’s not only about the college and getting into it- it goes beyond that.  It’s about you and your life.  It is about who you want to be, and who you will be.

However, this here is a rant that I thought I might just put out there.

This weekend, I was on Fall Break, i.e. I got Monday and Tuesday off in addition to Saturday and Sunday. I used this time to steal a trip to Boston, something I’ve wanted to do for a while. I was there for one and a half days, and during that time, I visited 4 campuses – Brandeis, MIT, Harvard, BU.

The two names that stand out the most are of course Harvard and MIT. They also happened to be the two campuses of which I got the most thorough tours, partly because my guide (I mean my friend) was an MIT student who also takes Harvard classes.

Without doubt, these are two of the top schools in the country. I don’t know if anyone applying to these colleges read my blog posts, but this article not about advice on how to get in to those places. I wouldn’t know any ways because I never applied. But I just wanted to write about my impressions of the two places. Don’t take my word for whatever I say because my opinions are based mostly on the information given to me by one single person.

Academic structures are very different

I can safely say that MIT is a hell of a lot more stressful than Harvard. Harvard sees grade inflation which means professors give out good grades to whoever tries even a little bit, but in MIT students struggle to pass. Harvard also has the same classes for different disciplines – as in Engineering students and Humanities students take different versions of Calculus. In MIT everyone takes the same general requirement courses, which includes differential calculus. This makes sense in a way because you can’t even get into MIT unless you have had a certain amount of Math in high school. Harvard takes in students without very Mathy or Sciencey backgrounds.

Funky MIT building

When MIT doesn’t kill you it makes you stronger

I think the one college with the highest suicide rate related to stress might be MIT (I don’t know this for sure). However I do know that it is considered very common for MIT students to suffer bouts of clinical depression because they are so stressed out. Students reporting at health clinics with symptoms of depression are given the “oh, but that’s normal” treatment. Every couple of weeks, students are given Mondays off so that they can decompress. It’s also normal for people to take a year or two off in the middle of their undergraduate years because they can’t take it anymore. I hear that MIT graduates find the real world a very easy place to be because nothing can be as stressful as MIT. An MIT education is so intense that an MIT graduate, whatever their GPA is highly thought of – there is no Latin honor system for the graduating class. This means that Marvel had not done their research when they claimed Tony Stark was a summa cum laude graduate from MIT. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, read this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_honors.

"Fair Harvard"

Cross registration is possible

Apparently MIT students can take upto half their classes in Harvard per semester, and vice versa. So anyone who got into one of the colleges and not the other can still take classes in both places. Apparently most MIT students try to take as many classes in Harvard as possible to take advantage of the grade inflation.

If you’re in, you’re in

Both schools have completely need-blind selection from applicants, so whoever gets in will be able to attend – the school will pay for them. My friend thinks MIT’s system is better than Harvard’s because Harvard lets in students based on legacy (as in if your parents went to Harvard, you have significantly higher chances of getting in). I think that the only reason there is need-blind admission is not because they are such honorable schools – they’re rich schools that get plenty of endowments from very successful alumni and the government.

The trademark MIT building

The campuses are very different

Harvard’s campus actually reminded me of Dhaka University’s layout. There is a gated compound with lots of buildings arranged neatly. Both have very pretty campuses, MIT’s being located right next to a river. Harvard Square has lots of places to eat and lots of entertainment opportunities, which MIT students also enjoy given how close the campuses are. I especially liked MIT’s “infinite corridor” system – all the buildings are connected, which makes getting to class very easy. When I walked through MIT’s campus I got a general feeling of tension and stress, while Harvard seemed to have a very academic feel it – an environment very conducive to learning.

Why is there so much drug use?

There is open drug usage in many of the dorms in both campuses, because there is very little regulation. Students in an MIT dorm actually grow weed. My friend and had an argument about this. She thinks students are grown up and there should be no regulation. They should be allowed to make mistakes and learn from them. I agree that no one should monitor what time they get back to the dorm or whether they come back at all, or stuff like that. But why won’t there be regulations on stuff that are illegal; and they are illegal because this stuff is harmful. I hear recently in Harvard there has been a drug related shooting. A Shooting! Yes, I live in West Philadelphia, a relatively dangerous area where you can get mugged or shot or raped – and because we have such heightened security – it’s rare that these incidents happen.  But we live in danger of the unsafe neighborhood – not of other students who do drugs because the dorm regulations are so lax.

Harvard Square

Dorm culture

I haven’t been to Harvard dorms, but some of the MIT dorms have a vibrant culture of murals and wall paintings and creativity. But then again, floors invite each other to parties with signs like “Come masturbate our giant penises.” Yes, at Penn we get lots of invites to frat parties slipped under our doors, but at least we’re invited with more class. We have vibrant cultures of murals and wall paintings and creativity too, but we don’t have pictures of – Pokemon orgies?

Vibrant Dorm Culture

As you can tell, I was quite disappointed with the quality of student life that I saw. Given what we hear about these places, I kind of expected to find inspiration; but I ended up leaving being glad that I never applied to these places; and most of all – how much I love being at Penn.

Once again, my opinions are probably biased because a) all my information is from one person and b) I tend to disagree with this one person a lot . It’s not like Penn students are saints. We have our share of douches and scandalous sex stories, only I never come across them (I read about them in the school newspaper). Maybe if I went to these places, I wouldn’t come across them either? I don’t know from what my friend said, it seemed to be quite a ubiquitous thing. Anyways, before I start ranting again, I’ll end this piece.

Hopefully, my original series will be back soon!

Last time – The Essay

People get really stressed about “OMG what should I major in!” I know I did! I was afraid to apply as “Undecided” because I thought it might affect my chances of getting in. I don’t know if it affects your chances, but I don’t see why it should.

When can applying to a certain major “help”? If the particular major you’re applying to isn’t very popular, or if it isn’t very popular with your demographic, then it actually might help you to get in! (This is only a speculation, not a fact!)

When people start thinking about what major they should go for, it affects their choices. They tend to pick universities that are well known for that particular major. They tend to participate in ECAs that are related to that major, etc.

But what happens if you get into that major, study in it for a year, and then completely change your mind about it? (Believe me, it happens with almost 70% of college students.) Well nothing, really. There’s nothing wrong with that, and there’s also nothing wrong with the fact that you geared all your decisions towards one major, and then decided to leave that major.

The downside is that, by planning around one particular major, you might be limiting yourself. You might not consider a school that is good for you because it didn’t offer that major; or you might not take part in some activities that you wanted to, but weren’t related to the major.

On the flipside, limiting yourself can actually help you narrow your choices, and it must be stressful having to pick from hundreds of colleges!

However, what’s really important is this: It’s not necessary to absolutely zero in on what you want to do with your life at this point of time. We’re still young, and our perceptions are susceptible to change. It’s healthy to be flexible. So do what feels right, give it a lot of thought, get advice from as many sources as you can, keep an open mind, and don’t limit yourself.

I’d like to thank everyone for their wonderful contributions to this series. Blogging has been a great experience, and the conversations I’ve had regarding this topic was great too. I think the series is about winding down; there probably won’t be too many more posts, but if you want to contact me with any questions, feel free to write to me at tushmit@1di.org. 

Having attended the summit as a Conqueror delegate representing Africa, I first must sincerely thank the ARJOWIGGINS creative papers for sponsoring me and giving me the great opportunity to attend the summit in Zurich and converge with other emerging leaders.

This is my analysis of the summit, first I must say it was a successful event and I wish to congratulate David and Kate for the brilliant idea of bringing together emerging leaders from around the world, but I would suggest that through the organizers they may consider cutting down the number of delegates representing some countries since the numbers are so great thus limiting contribution during the sessions and it is every delegates wish to participate at such events. Having a manageable number of delegates will ensure greater participation through breakout sessions and deep conversation on topics that will lead to satisfaction in the future.

The opening ceremony was inspiring from the singing to the speeches and it really set the mood for the task in the days ahead. The address by the business representatives on the first day was so corporate and many delegates did not like it since it was more like boardroom presentation and had nothing much to inspire though it gave an insight on what the companies do, hope the organizers may look into that and try have the business representative talk more on what they are doing with regards to developing the potential in the youth since most questions and later presentations were directed to this.

The session by Doug Richard on boot camp for entrepreneurs was spot on, with vivid examples and case studies and how to make small giants that was the way to go for such an event and he did a great job and personally I was inspired to work out on how to become a small giant.

The session by Haakon, Crown Prince of Norway on global dignity was well represented backed by the video presentation on projects related to global dignity. I was greatly inspired by the fact that we are all connected and that dignity means we are all valuable and should trust in ourselves and have no fear. I think the prince really personalized his presentation touching on the tragedy that happened in Norway and it came out as desired to such a congregation that needs to uphold lots of dignity to make the world a better place to live in.

The special session on food by Jamie Oliver was fine given the great audience that follows him worldwide and the information he is passing through on healthy eating though I have an issue here, as emerging leaders with regards to food, I think we should have addressed the issue of food security and sustainable production. Most parts of the world are currently faced with food shortage and making a presentation on how to cook and eat right at the summit did not add up for me since considering the food insecurity and drought situation, you cannot talk to me on how to cook and eat what I cannot access from the stores.  Hopefully next time the issue of food will be addressed from sustainability and production point of view.

We are leaders with power and with power come responsibilities that call for sacrifice; having been given a treat at the Alpen Rock, the following day’s session had a poor turnout since most delegates were of the excuse that they stayed out late so they could not arrive in time for the day’s session.

It is worth noting that our political leaders and CEOs to major companies attend meetings and various functions one after another at times till late in the night but they never fail to start their days early to attend to matters at hand.

This was a bit disappointing since the schedule got delayed and had to be rushed towards the end to accommodate all the planned events. Next time delegates should at least be able to sacrifice their sleep to attend to matters at hand and be real leaders given the organizers took into account that we would have needed some time out to refresh.

The presentations on day three were fine, nothing much to write home about. My favorite session was on global dignity since for us to have a unified world we all need to treat each other with great dignity irrespective of our social, political or economic backgrounds. I learned a lot at the summit from matters relating to entrepreneurship, dignity, media, environment, charity and health and I will put what I attained to use practically and use the same information to inspire other young leaders from my own country as well.

The recurring concept was that it is a wake up call from the delegates and I had the chance to talk this over with Sizwe Mpofu from South Africa about creating a movement calling on our governments to wake up and address particular issues worldwide February next year.

I look forward to joining next year’s delegates in Pittsburg for a more inspiring One Young World summit. It is indeed a wake up call.

A weekly series about my thoughts on college applications to the US in the perspective of Bangladeshi students. Sorry about the long absence, I’ve been busy moving back to school! Term just started. Anyways, here’s more about the essay as filler for right now.

Last time – “Unconventional” ECAs

Here are five reasons why getting someone else to write your essay is a very bad idea:

1. That’s cheating.
2. The essay needs to be personal – the essence of YOU. You lose that when someone else writes it for you.
3. Are you going to get the same person to write ALL your essays/short answers for you? The people reading your application CAN detect differences in writing style.
4. Your essay doesn’t have to be in perfect English. They’re not looking for how nice an essay you can write. They’re looking for YOU. (Since you’re from a third world country, they’re not even expecting good English from you.)
5. In supplemental essays, they usually ask you stuff like “Why this school?” or “Why this major?” Do you really trust a third person to express this properly?

And a shout out to people who are planning to chapafy about amazing stuff they have done – yes, it IS not that hard to detect lies, and admissions officers CAN tell. If you’re writing about something you’ve done, how you feel about it, and how much it means to you does come out; and if you’re making stuff up, you CANNOT bring out the same kind of emotion. That is unless you’re very creative. If you are that creative, then you probably don’t even need to make stuff up. (I’ve said this before. I’m reiterating.)

This is a request to the readers to contribute to the list of why to write your own essay. Thanks to everyone who put in their two cents about certificates. Please put in two cents for the essay too.

:)

Have you ever imagined how different your Eid would be, if you were a child living on the streets? Just the very thought makes us shudder and yet so many Eids pass by without us thinking about the thousands of children living on the streets of Bangladesh.

On a bright Saturday morning, a group of enthusiastic youngsters gathered in front of KFC, giving up their Saturday morning sleep eager to spread smiles. This event was a project of One Degree Initiative aptly named 100 smiles and organized to share the Eid spirit with little ones less fortunate than us.

Dressed in white t-shirts, we began our journey to Nurture, a charitable school for street children and a hospital for the disabled. When we got there, we were welcomed by the founder of Nurture, Mrs Nasrin Baqui and her sons. We headed straight to the classroom where the children greeted us in unison, ‘Assalamu Alaikum!’ A short introduction session followed where the kids told us their names and we hit it off instantly!

Once everyone was taken up to the hospital ward, the decoration team sneaked out leaving the rest of us to mingle and bond with the incredible kids. Little did the kids know, that their ever-so-dull classrooms were about to have a make-over. The team -who found themselves covered in paint and glitters- did a great job! They even made big charts where the kids put on colorful handprints as a souvenir for the amazing day they spent with us. This session was followed by a hygiene session where the volunteers made sure that the kids washed their hands properly.

100 Smiles Chittagong

Thus continued a wonderful day with the children. We further dividedourselves in to groups and some of us got busy adorning the little hands with mehndi, others sang for them and although they were shy initially, they joined us too. It was such a joyful sight to see the kids engaged in fun activities, all the while being careful not to spoil their beautiful henna. Some kept still and got their own portraits drawn, while others gasped and chuckled as the Magic-man entertained them! And there were those little chit-chats. The kids were curious about us too, they’d ask us our names, which class we study in or they were happily showing off their mehndi or their portraits.

As the day drew to an end, a few volunteers busily added more things to beautiful gift packets which were full of exciting goodies for the kids! They all got cool stationeries, candies, chocolate cookies, juice packs and the boys got toy cars, etc while the girls got little jewelries as Eid gifts and many more knick-knacks. Patiently waiting in the line with twinkling innocent eyes, they all got their little gifts from the volunteers who knew they had served the purpose of the day seeing these ecstatic little faces!

Seeing all these gleeful kids made us appreciate life’s little extra things which we take for granted and how just spending a day with them can make a significant difference in their lives. ‘Even a smile is a charity’ and it can be achieved …There was so much more to the day then just sharing Eid gifts. Paying a visit to their school, giving them love, and just spending some quality time together – a day well spent with the kids? Definitely!

The next day, the day of the project. Somewhere around morning, Auyon called me up and told me to be at his place with gift wrap. So I called back my rickshaw and and crossed Aarong, took a rickshaw and forced the rickshaw puller to take me to Auyon’s place.

Before getting there I realised that I didn’t have the money to buy the gift wrap. So I went to Auyon’s place to take the money to buy the wrap. Then as Apurbo was taking out his wallet. Auyon’s mom told us that we can use her Chart Paper, Yay me! I didn’t have to go buy anything.

The boy who makes cutting tape look difficult

So we started wrapping the gifts. Since I’m not really good with practically anything. I was instructed to take pictures while they worked. Which was followed by lots of fun and some fooling around. After working a bit. We got hungry so we had Lunch, Apurbo ate a lot. I used to think I used to eat more but I guess I was wrong.

After lunch, I decided not to be useless and started working on the gift wrapping. I was in a trance “Work Wasi Work, Your Not Useless, Work Wasi Work” and I was humming to the Daft Punk song “Harder Better Stronger Faster” and that really got me working. I actually got some praise for working that day. I am awesome.

And after finishing the wrapping we went downstairs to Nooha’s car and set off to Bijay Sharani. Nooha’s cousin Aqibul was in the car waiting for us.

When there, we met up with the kids, and after taking a few pictures of them, we went to the other side of the road. Then Auyon and I went to the other side of the road, to write down everyone’s names. After doing that with not that much hassle. We got all the kids together, put them in a straight line and started giving the presents to the kids. For some reason the last sentence reminded me of the Ramones song “Blitzkrieg Bop”. Nevermind that.

After distributing the gifts we all got back in the car ending a successful project.

By Wasi Noor

8 September 2010

EID MUBARAK TO EVERYONE!!