Canada Bangladesh learning exchange

Helen Jiang, (seated in photo) is a recent BSN graduate from Vancouver Community College who completed a preceptorship at IUBAT last month with support from an Irving K. Barber BC Scholarship. Helen writes: “My Bangladesh preceptorship allowed me to re-examine who I really am and my core values. The experience also provided an opportunity to strengthen my empathy, leadership and adult-teaching skills. As a senior student, I was blindly trusted by the IUBAT students. Their trust, their leadership, their willingness to learn, and their notion of moving forward as a team motivated me as a role model. Unexpectedly, this Bangladesh trip also assisted me to integrate my own immigrant experience in my interactions with the local students. In short, my Bangladesh learning experience helped me to really understand nursing and caring.”

Rotary Club of Olds supports BHP

The Rotary Club of Olds, Alberta, Canada recently donated $4000 to the Bangladesh Health Project. In this photo, Club President Greg MacIntyre (right) and Publicity Director Mary Turner (2nd from left) are shown with the contribution. We are very grateful for this support from the Rotary members, as well as businesses and the Olds community at large, We have a strong Rotary connection in Bangladesh: Dr. Alimullah Miyan, Vice-Chancellor of IUBAT, has held senior positions in national and local Rotary organizations; local Rotary clubs support the annual polio immunization campaign held on the IUBAT campus. In future, we hope to develop further projects in cooperation with Rotary International. The Rotary Club of Olds describes itself as “FUN . . . with a Purpose.”

Rest assured we will make purposeful use of this generous donation. Thank you.  

Audit for BHP completed

Accountability is an important principle for our project. Recently one of our founding directors, John Richards (on the left in this photo with volunteer Amaan Banwait) donated several thousand dollars to pay for the first audit of the Bangladesh Health Project. This audit of project finances from 2008-2010 was completed by Chartered Accountant Mahmoud Virani of Vancouver. (IUBAT is also fully audited in Bangladesh.) Virani’s audit report has been approved by the Mid-Main Community Health Centre Board of Directors. Copies of the auditor’s report are available upon request and will be posted on our website shortly. We are grateful for John’s on-going and generous support. With very few exceptions, such as our auditing and book-keeping services in Canada, virtually all donated funds are spent in Bangladesh.