It has been a busy year at BSKA and we wanted to share a little bit about what we have been up to!
BSKA’s Bijoy Project - Transitional Home for Street-Based Children and Youth
In January, we rented an additional space for our transitional home where our female residents and their caretakers live. We have an average of 9 girls living at the home, the youngest being 5 years old, and the oldest is 17 years old. In March, one of our female participants who uses our home as more of a drop-in center, gave birth to a child who is now almost 3 months old. While she is mentally and physically unable to care for her baby girl, her mother and younger sister are taking care of her. BSKA is providing formula, clothing, bottles/nipples, baby shampoo, and baby powder for our newest family member.
Another baby was born into our family but very prematurely, unfortunately for all of us and especially his mother, he did not survive.A prayer service for him was held at our transitional home, but we are all still very much going through the grieving process for a child we were all eagerly awaiting to meet and care for as a family.
BSKA Welcomes Three New Board Members
Alimul Islam
Alimul is the owner of the first skateboard shop in Bangladesh, DOB Skateshop. He is also the President of the Bangladesh Skateboarding Community, and a key member of the Bangladesh Roller Skating Federation’s Skateboarding Task Force Committee. Alimul has invested much of his personal time, energy, and resources into growing the skateboarding community of Bangladesh and we are lucky to have him on our Board of Directors.
Megan Weirich
At a young age, Megan knew she wanted to travel to India, and after hearing of Susie’s dream to build a shelter and skatepark for street kids and community in Bangladesh, Megan hopped on board to be the first person to join Susie in fulfilling her vision. “Traveling overseas to Bangladesh for my first time with Susie in 2011 was an unforgettable experience that will forever last in my memory.” As a volunteer, Megan and Susie facilitated daily skating with children in Cox’s Bazaar, and made lasting bonds and memories with many Bangladeshis. Her journey has encompassed exploring her skill sets in art; studying at U.C. Berkeley, earning her B.A. in Art Practice, and graduating with Honors and Recognition for drawing and contributions. She has taught art and developed after-school curriculum for elementary aged children.
Emily Guy
Emily is a skateboarder and musician from California, U.S.A. She is studying Social Work at CA State University of Monterey. She is currently working as a MedTech/Certified Nursing Assistant at Senior Living Resources in Santa Maria, California.
Upcoming Event : Go Skateboarding Day 2022
BSKA is co-organizing this year’s Go Skateboarding Day in Bangladesh alongside DOB Skateshop and the Bangladesh Roller Skating Federation. Community events like these are a wonderful opportunity for our participants to really see for themselves and understand what a large and inclusive community they belong to among the skateboarding community of Bangladesh. We are like one big family and we cannot wait to participate in all of the festivities and fun on June 21st!
We are also stoked to have international volunteer, Marius Zweifel, joining us for a few months until the end of July. Marius has an interest in doing social work in Bangladesh and is currently learning the Bangla language while he volunteers for BSKA. Marius has experience as a snowboard teacher to children in the winter seasons in Switzerland. He works in the social service field as an employee in a day care for people with mental illness, and as an allrounder employee at an asylum seeker home in Switzerland.
We have also been receiving quite a lot of in-kind donations at the transitional home in Dhaka. We were donated a water filter, food on several occasions, toys, and lots of skateboard donations as usual! To this day, BSKA has not had to purchase a single skateboard to keep our skate programs running, thanks to the big love we’ve been shown from the international skateboarding community that appreciates that we are reaching some of the most marginalized and underprivileged children in the world.
Help Us Continue Empowering Vulnerable Youth by Donating Today
While we do get a lot of in kind donations, we are greatly in need of more monthly donors that can help keep our transitional home up and running. Please visit our donation page to see how you can help!