Rakib

Rakib is a student of class six in one of the Agami supported schools "Switch Tahmina Banu Bidyaniketan" administered by the Switch Bangladeshi Foundation. When he was only two months old, Rakib lost his father in a fishing accident caused by a live electrical wire. After his father's untimely death, extreme poverty struck their family. Over time his mother along with his four other siblings migrated to Dhaka city in search of a living. One of his elder brothers started to work as a temporary day laborer to support the family and could not afford to go to school. It has been 5 years since Rakib's mother brought him to our school in Dhaka Udyan and shared their life story. Eventually, Rakib was admitted to our school. One day, some of our volunteers were passing through the river near Dhaka Udyan and they found Rakib playing cricket. They decided to join in the fun. From then on the group started to play as a team often. Very soon they realized that Rakib has a natural talent to play cricket and he is really good at it. When asked about his aim in life, his reply was without a shadow of a doubt, “I want to be a great cricketer.”

The volunteers shared his stories and we took him for a tryout in the Abahoni Sporting Club. The coaches had a lot of praise for his skills, especially his fabulous bowling as well as batting skills. He was immediately accepted and we admitted him there. The poverty-stricken kid who was playing in the alleys of slums and could only dream of playing with the big boys one day is now training and playing at the prestigious Abahoni field with the boys pursuing a professional career in cricket. His natural talents and unwavering desire to pursue his dream, along with some stroke of luck, got him this far. The road ahead is full of promises, however, it will require hard work, iron will, tenacity, personal sacrifices, and above all finance. 

Rakib’s mother works as a maid in people’s houses to provide for the whole family. At times in the past, he had to miss matches hosted in fields far away due to not having enough to pay for the transportation. Other times, he needed to walk 7 to 8 km each way to attend his matches. Often during a match, he would skip lunch or spend the day with one glass of water and biscuits to save money. He borrowed equipment from others during practice and matches as he had none of his own. He might have performed even better if he had gear of his own, was able to have a proper diet, could pay for training, and could attend all the practices and matches. Rakib always dreamt of being a good human as well as a good cricketer.  We have set him on the path to follow his dreams and opened the doors to walk through and by God, he has what it takes to run through them. Given the financial resources to continue his pursuit, who knows, he may become the next Mashrafe.  

Muinul Faysal
Dhaka, Bangladesh

Note: There are many, many talented children like Rakib out there in the cold. They are the diamonds in the rough waiting for a hand up from us to shine. Agami has taken the initiative to establish an endowment fund to provide scholarships and stipends to gifted and talented children like this to pursue their dreams. We are looking for your support. If you long to see a happy ending to stories like this, please send us an email to grants-admin@agami.org with your pledge.

Together We Live, Together We Give.