Participants:
Series Code: HIM
Program Code: HIM001101S
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00:07 Child Impact International is an organization giving hope.
00:11 Previously called Asian Aid, 00:13 Child Impact International is an organization 00:15 fostering permanent positive change 00:18 in the lives of disadvantaged children 00:20 and their communities. 00:21 Child Impact is committed 00:23 to making a difference in the lives of children 00:25 and those who are in need. 00:27 Serving communities in India, Nepal, 00:29 Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, 00:32 and will soon expand to other countries. 00:34 For the last 50 years, 00:36 Child Impact has invested in the futures of people 00:39 and their investment is proving infinite returns, 00:41 driven by the dedication 00:43 to helping those who have the least. 00:45 Child Impact is an organization 00:47 focused on the welfare of children, 00:49 implementing diverse development projects 00:52 and sponsoring thousands of children. 00:54 Their outreach expands from child rescue operations, 00:57 to providing an education for orphans, deaf, 01:00 and the blind children 01:01 giving them a sense of place, a home, but above all, 01:05 Child Impact is an organization giving hope, 01:08 giving hope to children, giving hope to communities, 01:11 giving hope to the ones who needed the most. 01:14 This is Hope in Motion. 01:31 Bangladesh sits at the juncture of two major tectonic plates 01:35 that over time have loaded with stress 01:37 and present the risk of a very damaging earthquake. 01:42 Under the country lies an extension of the fault line 01:44 responsible for the catastrophic 2004 01:47 Boxing Day tsunami that killed 200,000 people 01:50 in Southern Asia. 01:53 Building collapses in Bangladesh 01:54 have been a globally visible concern 01:56 since the 2013 01:58 Rana Plaza collapse in Dhaka 02:00 which killed over 1,000 people and injured even more. 02:07 While Bangladesh has building codes, 02:09 they are poorly enforced, 02:10 and have only recently begun 02:12 to adhere to develop standards. 02:15 This situation poses a problem for older buildings 02:18 which may not have been built 02:20 with modern safety standards in mind, 02:22 and whose structures have been ravaged 02:23 by the country's humid climate 02:25 and made vulnerable to disasters. 02:28 At Kellogg Mookerjee Memorial Seminary or KMMS 02:31 there's one such building. 02:34 This building sits at the front of the campus 02:36 and was built almost 100 years ago. 02:38 What can institution that cares about 02:40 the safety of its students do in such a scenario? 02:43 Part of the answer 02:45 lies in the story of the director of BCSS, 02:47 Child Impact's implementing partner in Bangladesh. 02:51 Hi, this is Milton Das 02:54 from Bangladesh Children Sponsorship Services 02:57 we call BCSS, 02:59 and BCSS is an unique department 03:03 of Seventh-day Adventist Church in Bangladesh. 03:07 BCSS works for underprivileged children 03:11 in Bangladesh, 03:12 to go to the... 03:16 to help the children to go to the schools, 03:19 especially to the Adventist schools, 03:22 where they have the wonderful campuses 03:26 to have the marvelous education, 03:31 the co-education 03:33 and the Christian education. 03:37 The staff of BCSS and KMMS come from diverse backgrounds, 03:41 but are united in their highly personal dedication 03:43 with Child Impact International to helping children. 03:47 Their childhood experiences are often not unlike 03:49 those of the children they help. 03:52 This includes Milton, who works closely with KMMS 03:55 and Child Impact. 03:56 Milton came to KMMS as a child 03:58 and now works as a director for BCSS, 04:01 which is an implementing partner in Bangladesh 04:03 for Child Impact International. 04:06 Jim recently sat down with him to learn his story. 04:09 We were happy family. 04:12 And, but when while I was 04:16 five years of my age, 04:19 my father passed away. 04:21 And my brother was about two, 04:26 and my sister was not yet born. 04:29 And my mother was pregnant that time. 04:34 And it was really a disaster 04:35 for our family to survive and maintain, 04:40 because my father was only earning member 04:43 of the family. 04:45 My mother was illiterate woman, 04:49 married while she was 04:53 a teenager 04:55 and she was just finished eighth grade. 04:59 So she was just a housewife 05:01 and it was really miserable for us. 05:04 And that's then came the sponsorship organization. 05:08 And they sponsored me and my brother, eventually, 05:14 my sister even 05:16 so that we can go to Adventist schools. 05:18 And even here I am 05:20 at Kellogg Mookerjee Memorial Seminary and School, 05:25 and in this school I did my high school. 05:28 It was really great blessing for me 05:32 that through this sponsorship, 05:36 I could study and even my brother 05:38 and my sister could study 05:41 and we all are blessed 05:44 so much that we can be our own now. 05:48 And we can support our family 05:50 and my mother and the community. 05:55 Milton journey from a struggling child orphan 05:57 to an educated professional 05:59 working to help similar children 06:00 could not have happened if he had not been sponsored 06:04 and impart because of his sponsorship. 06:06 KMMS has a solution to its problems 06:08 with the building. 06:10 This building is very old, 06:12 hundred years and many places that, 06:15 you know, this rod is coming out. 06:19 And that we checked by engineer, 06:22 two experience engineer 06:24 and they said that 06:25 this building need to demolish soon, 06:27 it like six or seven scale earthquake 06:31 then it may demolish, 06:33 so there will be maybe big accident. 06:36 When we visited the building, 06:38 it was in a dangerous condition. 06:40 The structure was vulnerable to collapse 06:43 and was being used to hold a library, 06:44 computer lab and classrooms 06:46 for some of the school's youngest students. 06:49 But plans were being made for a replacement 06:51 that could not only keep students safe, 06:53 but improve the campus entirely. 06:57 So here I am at the entrance way 06:59 to KMMS School in rural Bangladesh. 07:02 The sad thing is this school has over 400 students. 07:06 And we have a large number 07:08 that's Child Impact of boarding students 07:11 who are sponsored. 07:13 This building on this side 07:14 is going to be our major project for 2020. 07:18 This building houses a preschool classrooms, 07:22 a library, and administration. 07:24 And to put it simply, it's very dangerous. 07:27 The front portion was built over 100 years ago, 07:31 the back portion over 40 years, and it's dangerous. 07:34 So we're very excited that we can help the school 07:37 by replacing this building as a safety issue. 07:41 But it will also be a big attraction 07:43 for the school to build its wall. 07:46 So here we are in the existing library 07:49 in the old building. 07:51 And this part of the building, 07:53 as we've said, is about 40 years old. 07:56 As you can see, they're getting ready 07:58 to move the library books 07:59 that are pretty keen to get out. 08:01 And then if you come over here, 08:03 you can see what's happening with the condition of the roof. 08:07 Above there is the roof. 08:10 And as you can see the water is coming through 08:13 and the damage that's occurring. 08:15 You can actually see cracks there. 08:17 And so that's just undermining the total roof structure. 08:22 The new building will have a brand new library, 08:25 a brand new science lab, classrooms, 08:29 and as I'll show you shortly a preschool 08:31 at the front of the building. 08:40 Well, I'm sitting in the old building 08:42 where the principal's office used to be, 08:45 and he's had to move out of this to another building, 08:48 because simply there was concrete 08:50 falling from the roof and it was no longer safe. 08:53 So in the new building, 08:55 there's going to be a full administration section 08:58 where the principal, the treasurer 09:00 and the office staff can be based. 09:04 And they're going to face a huge improvement 09:07 in the situation that they currently face. 09:10 The back half where the library is, 09:12 was built over 40 years ago. 09:15 And so the new building 09:16 which we're going to explain shortly, 09:18 is going to be a great resource for the school, 09:22 both in growing its number of students, 09:26 but also the key reason is safely 09:29 as we've clearly shown 09:30 and the engineer's report shows this building is not safe. 09:35 You can see the condition of the roof, okay? 09:39 And then as we come along this beam, 09:41 here's a typical portion 09:43 where the plaster is coming away. 09:46 You can see the rebar is rusted. 09:48 So through the whole building, 09:50 all the steel is like that 09:53 and then there's superficial cracks everywhere. 09:56 You don't have to be in this building 09:58 long to see that it has to be replaced. 10:01 And the good news is, 10:02 the new building is going to give them 10:04 a place of safety, 10:06 we're going to give them more capacity 10:08 for the various uses that the building will have. 10:12 So here we are in the classroom 10:15 on the top floor of the existing building, 10:18 and it doesn't take long to see the problems. 10:20 As you can see, there is a crack 10:22 which has been superficially filled, 10:25 and then the condition of the roof, 10:27 the roofing's coming away, 10:29 so they can no longer use this classroom. 10:32 And once again, I'll explain later, 10:35 but the new building is going to have 10:37 the full range of classrooms, a library and a science lab. 10:47 So here we are on the roof of the building 10:51 that's going to be demolished. 10:53 And this part of the building over here 10:56 is what it was originally a hospital 10:59 built over 100 years ago, 11:01 which the school's been using for about 40 years, 11:04 and this part where I'm standing 11:06 was built about 40 years ago. 11:09 And although it doesn't show it, 11:10 on a dry day like this, 11:12 the water is coming down is actually going through 11:15 what I'm standing on 11:17 and weakening the concrete below. 11:19 It does give us a great view of the school 11:22 and great trees and grounds that they have. 11:26 But it's going to be an exciting development 11:29 to replace this building. 11:39 The unsafe structure has already been demolished 11:42 and will be replaced 11:43 with a state of the art facility. 11:44 So the building is going to be bigger than the current one. 11:48 As I said, there'll be the preschool with the front. 11:50 We're going to fill in the canal 11:52 where will be a parking area 11:54 for people to bring their preschoolers. 11:56 The building will be the length of this one, 11:59 plus an extra 80 feet. 12:01 During our visit, those plans were made more concrete. 12:04 I want to thank the people who are helping the school. 12:09 Tonight, I can announce that, 12:11 that building is coming down 12:13 and there will be a new building. 12:20 So the new building 12:21 that we're going to build here in Bangladesh 12:24 is going to have a wide range of users. 12:27 At the front end, there's going to be a preschool 12:30 which people will pay to bring their students to. 12:34 There's going to be our income generating project. 12:37 Then the rest of the building 12:39 is going to include an administration block, 12:42 a new library, a new science room, 12:45 and a number of classrooms. 12:47 So this is going to be a big boost 12:49 to this mission school 12:51 is going to help attract new students 12:54 and will be a big boost for the students at the school. 12:59 A few weeks after our visit, the demolition started. 13:09 But there's still much work to be done, 13:11 and we need your help. 13:13 The title project is over half a million dollars, 13:16 and we just have $180,000 to still raise. 13:20 Would you please support this project just in some way, 13:24 even a small donation 13:25 would assist this real important appeal 13:28 for Child Impact in 2020. 13:39 Each year Child Impact has its rice appeal 13:42 for needy schools in countries like Bangladesh. 13:45 And I'm here now in Bangladesh, 13:47 and you can see that at KMMS School, 13:50 these girls are enjoying their rice meal. 13:53 Now they eat a little differently to us, 13:55 but at least they're enjoying a healthy lunch meal. 14:00 Not only does it ensure that they have rice, 14:02 but it is also a big benefit 14:04 to the school for their finances 14:07 because food prices have just escalated beyond control. 14:12 So thanks for supporting the rice appeal in the past 14:15 and as we face it again in 2020, 14:18 we know that you will support us. |
Revised 2020-04-14