The lesson of love grew from the flood!

  • Tasnim Hassan, Special Correspondent, Barta24.com
  • |
  • Font increase
  • Font Decrease

photo: Barta24

photo: Barta24

Has a person has ever loved another person so much? Maybe it fits, or it doesn't. Like boiling milk wants to remove the lid, love has pushed out the telescope. Everyone is saying, 'Don't be afraid, I will go to you. I will rescue you from the flood waters. Then I will eat steaming hot rice. You have courage....'

A natural disaster like the flood that swept over Bangladesh taught people a lesson in love. And people grasped people and told the world once again, 'We are people on the level of people, each of us is on the level of the next.'

বিজ্ঞাপন

From Mirsrai to Feni, from Hathazari to Fatikchari, a group of young people from Chattogram stood up to save the people trapped in water after the flood. Rushing from the city with a truckload of boats and speedboats to rescue people drowning in water, pushing the current to bring people back to safety, giving food to hungry people, risking their lives - what have they done? That's why people are happy to see their work on social media.


Many of these young people may never have grown rice at home. No one ever stayed outside the house. But everyone came out of the house after getting the news of flood. Then he gathered all his strength and went down the road. Some ran towards Feni, some towards Fatikchari. The path is not smooth at all. With indomitable courage and full faith to save people, they went forward to the people along the water-strewn path. Some come from the city, some from the suburbs. Many people came from distant villages. Some brought rice on their heads, some raised their throats and said, 'Tell me when you get a boat.'

বিজ্ঞাপন

A group of these young people are members of Chattogram University students' humanitarian organization Uttaran. Three teams of this organization are in flood affected areas. Among them, two groups went to Feni and Fatikchari on Thursday (August 22). Another team reached Burichong in Cumilla on Friday (August 23). The chief executive of the organization Noor Nabi Rabin is coordinating with the three groups. He told Barta24.com, "We wanted to take relief when the water receded, but we couldn't sit any longer after hearing calls to take boats on social media. Hearing the cries of the people, our members rushed to rescue them. Our hope is that if we can save even one person, we should at least do that without sitting at home.


As soon as the sun appeared on Friday morning, a flood of relief and rescue boats descended on the Fatikchari bound road. Some have brought small boats in trucks, others have brought dry food. Others entered the flood-affected areas with large pots full of cooked food. Then a group enters the house and brings out the marooned people, and gives them mouthfuls of hot rice!

A young man named Md. Saidul Islam of Chattogram is in that volunteer group. Saidul said, "This is the best time to stand beside people." If you don't stand now, when will you stand? A group of us took food and boats to Feni on Thursday. A group of us also came here last night after hearing that the condition of Fatikchari is bad. Many groups have come from cities like ours. Everyone is doing humanitarian work. They are trying to save people.

Along with the rescue of water-bound people in Feni, food is needed - after this demand spread through social media, hundreds of trucks rushed with boats and food from Thursday afternoon. But due to flood on the Dhaka-Chattagram highway, many people managed to reach there but could not get close to the people. But those who couldn't didn't return either; they spent the night on the highway with an empty stomach - in the hope that there would be an opportunity to move forward.


Sajjad H Rakib is a young man of this party. This young man from Feni ran away from Chattogram after hearing about the bad situation in his area due to floods. After that, under the banner of an organization called 'Dream Touch Bangladesh', he came down with others to rescue people. Sajjad told Barta24.com, "I try to be with people throughout the year. In this disaster, there should be more. So when people are suffering, I can't sit anymore.

Chattogram's young journalists Abu Raihan Tanin, Rabiul Ravi, Subhrajit Barua, Sharmin Rima and Imran Chowdhury have seen the suffering of people while doing professional work at the field level. That suffering has touched them too. From that responsibility, these young people have taken the initiative to stand by the flood victims by forming a fund. A few others joined them. In the meantime, they have collected about Tk. 50 thousand. On Saturday (August 24) they will come down to the side of people. Run in the alleys of Fatikchari and Khagrachari.

And those who could not get down to the field level, they are not sitting either. A child, about 10-12 years old, has spread it on Facebook. That child gave Tk. 14,000  to the flood victims' fund for his Umrah. Another beggar is smilingly filling the fund box with Tk. 10 received from another. Seeing people jumping shoulder to shoulder with the administration to deal with the disaster, everyone is saying, 'This is the Bangladesh of the future. This Bangladesh will not lose its way.