Feature: "1 taka" meals providing nutritional lifeline to Bangladesh's street children

Eating a meal for 1 taka in Bangladesh's capital city of Dhaka would have been unimaginable even a decade ago and by today's standards a meal for less than 1 U.S. dollar (80 taka) in the city can't be found even from a street vendor.

But thanks to an organization called the Bidyanondo Foundation, a meal for just 1 taka is available daily for underprivileged children.

The Bidyanondo Foundation's policy is to charge 1 taka so as not to be viewed as giving handouts to the children, and for the children's part, paying the money, as little as it is, is a matter of pride and allows them not to view themselves negatively as beggars.

Thanks to the foundation's generosity, hundreds of impoverished children in the capital and in other places in the country can regularly receive a decent, nutritional meal for next to nothing.

The organization is headed by Founder and Chairman, Kishor Kumar Das, who currently works for Google in Puru. His technical prowess has been injected into the foundation for it to also provide a myriad of other charitable solutions to the underprivileged.

These include virtual educational solutions for poor students who can utilize digital technology to help free themselves from the shackles of poverty and fight on an equal footing with the more fortunate to gain employment, having received pre-career education and guidance provided by the altruistic foundation.

As for the 1 taka mission, dozens of volunteers at the foundation prepare and pack around 750 food parcels daily to be distributed to the children, who, would quite likely otherwise not be able to get a decent meal.

At a Bidyanondo center in Dhaka's downtown area of Mirpur, dozens of volunteers were busy removing the shells from hard boiled eggs. Sultana Jannat Shikha, one of the regular volunteers told Xinhua that everyone was working there of their own volition and putting in a hard graft purely for the benefit and wellbeing of the children, for whom their efforts, from cooking to distribution, are an essential daily lifeline.

Shikha said the volunteers are delighted to be able to feed so many children, while helping them maintain their self-esteem by accepting their one taka notes or coins. In addition, the children lining up for food are also given liquid soap to clean their hands with and keep the conditions sanitary, which is also paramount to their overall health.

Shikha told Xinhua that the foundation, which has been operational for the past five months, overall, acts as an important educational provider for the children, focusing on their welfare and enhancing their future opportunities.

The foundation serves to give hundreds of street children somewhere safe to go on daily basis and receive a nutritional meal as well as other lifestyle and educational support from the volunteers.

"The fact that they are handing over 1 taka, helps us to help the children maintain their self-esteem and dignity and it also helps lift their confidence," Shikha explained of the unique system.

"Since June this year we have been feeding children in places in Dhaka, with our projects partly funded by private donations given by people who have forgone the expenses of birthday celebrations and presents, to give the money to the foundation for our cause(s)," added Shikha.

Volunteers provide fruits and sweetmeats when someone donates their birthday celebration money, which is an extra treat for the kids, Shikha said.

A young child named Brishti visits the outreach location in the city everyday and told Xinhua the food was really good and the volunteers kind and encouraging. Shakil another regular, said that fresh fruit like an apple or an orange is always gratefully received.

"The food is really tasty," beamed Jasim who studies at a school in Tongi, on the outskirts of the capital. "Today we even had an apple and sweetmeat with our regular meal and it only cost 1 taka."

The Bidyanondo Foundation wants to work towards expanding its project activities not only in Bangladesh but all around the the world, with a vision that one day in the future "no child will go hungry." Endit