Empire's Last Casualty: Probini Foundation Meetings, 2019, Kolkata, India & Dhaka, Bangladesh

2019 Probini Foundation Meet, Kolkata:

Sunday, January 6, 2019

Sachi G. Dastidar

Probini-ISPaD Report; January 25, 2019

On 2019 a Probini Foundation Meet was organized by Probini friends Mr. Jayanta Biswas and Mr. Arindam Banerjee. On a sunny 70-degree cold winter morning it was held at Purbachal Uttar neighborhood of eastern Kolkata. Probini supports four major projects in West Bengal – one project in Durgapur City offers education in dozens of schools in rural areas in neighboring districts. In addition Probini supports one orphanage school in distant Dibrugarh City in Assam State and one school in remote Twichwang village of eastern Mizoram State.

A call to the meeting began with an invocation by Mr. Jayanta Biswas of Durgapur City. Then the group unanimously elected Prof. Dr. Sujata Ghosh Dastidar, President of the Kolkata Child Welfare Orphanage (Shishu Kalyan Parishad) to preside over the meeting. Next, all the Probini-sponsored schools or orphanages presented their report and spoke of the future that they dream of. There were some organizations present who want connection with Probini Foundation who also spoke of their projects. Several organizations were presented with donations from Probini, while this writer provided Rs. 500 each to individual groups attending the conference.

As many NGOs are facing problem with government bureaucracy and new protocols, a Probini-Ispad (Partition Project of New York) Kolkata Committee was formed with Mr. Jayanta Biswas and Mr. Ankita Ghosh as co-conveners, with Mr. Arindam Banerjee, Mr. Bikash Biswas, Dr. R. N. Chattopadhyay and Mr. Swarnadeep Das as members. They plan to add new members to the local committee and coordinate their work with New York, Bangladesh and elsewhere and help each other.

The meet ended with a biriyani lunch. The members at the Meet thanked Mrs. Pratima RoyChoudhury for hosting the meet at her residence.

Should anyone be interested to learn about Probini Foundation one may write to probini@hotmail.com or check Probini page at Facebook or check www.probini.org or https://empireslastcasualty.blogspot.com/2008/12/educating-poor-and-orphaned-in.html for further information.

Probini Meeting with Opening invocation by Jayanta Biswas

Dr. Sujata Ghosh Dastidar, head of Calcutta Girls' Orphanage Chairing the Meet

Presentation of Annual Report by Mr. Sengupta of Durgpur, India Center

Presentation of Annual Report by Probini-supported Centers

Some of the Participants

Group Photo of Some of the Participants in the 70 F Winter Sunshine

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2019 Probini Foundation Meet, Dhaka:

Friday, January 11, 2019

Sachi G. Dastidar

Probini Report; January 25, 2019

On 2019 a Probini Foundation Meet was organized by Probini supporter Mr. S. Mazumder and Mr. R. Roy at the famous Dhakeswari Mandir Temple area at their administration building. About ten different Probini-supported organizations came for the Meet. In a city known for extreme traffic congestion, it was heartwarming to see so many groups – from as far as Pirojpur and Gopalganj and as close as Dhaka City itself, present on time at that early morning hour.

Nearby Probini helps the Dhaka Girls’ Orphanage located in Purana (Old) Dhaka on Burri Ganga River.

Many of the guests took a tour of the ancient temple of the Goddess of Dhaka after the meeting ended. The temple was torched, damaged and the Murti (statue) of the deity was destroyed during pogroms in early 1990s, and her land was illegally confiscated. Just recently under the leadership of the Prime Minister Mrs. Wazed and the local Hindu minority leaders the land was returned back to the temple although local Hindus had to raise 120 million (12 crore) takas to give to the illegal occupiers.

The Probini Meet started with an invocation by monk Swami Satyapriyananda – head teacher of the Probini Boys’ Hostel at Madaripur, followed by each grant recipient giving presentations of their past work and future projects. Head of the Uzirpur center, Mr. Ranajit Roy, brought specials marigold garlands and flowers from his village to honor the three visiting guests and two monks running two schools/dorms. Each group brought many pictures of their accomplishments, especially of their students, and annual report. The Gopalganj Girls' School Headmaster A. Roy proudly told the group how so many of their girls have done so well with top results in nationwide exams. Rev. Sunil Maharaj of Pirojpur school also updated the group as to how so many of his kindergarten to elementary school students -- Hindu minority and Muslim majority, boys and girls -- have received scholarships after national competitions.

As many of these groups are facing increasing bureaucratic harassment for their educational programs and to help each other, a Probini-Ispad Dhaka Committee was formed with S. Mazumder and S. Roy as the co-conveners, with Ms. T. Barua and Mr. A. Gharami as Members. They plan to coordinate local fund raising and help each other. Several organizations were presented with donations from Probini, while this writer provided Taka 500 each to individual groups attending the conference.

Should anyone be interested in learn about Probini Foundation one may write to probini@hotmail.com or check Probini page at Facebook or check www.probini.org or https://empireslastcasualty.blogspot.com/2008/12/educating-poor-and-orphaned-in.html for further information.