TİKA Remembers Bangladeshi Street Children in Eid Al Adha

Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TİKA) distributed full sets of holiday clothes and school bags to a total of 200 street children, 109 boys and 91 girls, on the occasion of Eid Al-Adha.

According to the Bangladeshi press, approximately 700,000 children live on the streets of Dhaka. Most of these children try to contribute to their family budget by selling different products such as water, flowers, and necklaces on the streets, instead of going to school. Many of them get involved in various crimes once they reach a certain age. The NGO called DAM (Dhaka Ahsania Mission), which operates in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, opens houses where these children can acquire manual skills, get clean, and rest free of charge.  

The distribution ceremony of the holiday clothes prepared for children was attended by the Republic of Turkey’s Ambassador to Bangladesh Mustafa Osman Turan, Mayor Asif Ahmed, and General Secretary of DAM Dr. S M Khalilur Rahman.

In his speech, Ambassador Mustafa Osman stated that the bonds of friendship between the people of these two countries would continue for many years thanks to children.

TİKA Coordinator Dr. İsmail Gündoğdu said, “A society is happy as long as the children in that society are happy.” He stated that TİKA organized this event to put a smile on the faces of Bengali children. 

Mayor Asif Ahmed noted that Turkey has provided humanitarian assistance to Bangladesh on many occasions, which they were very pleased with, and that the program TİKA organized for children before the holiday affected him deeply. General Secretary of DAM Dr. S.M Khalilur Rahman remarked that they have implemented many projects for street children and that TİKA’s project made not only them but also hundreds of children happy.