BHP update January 2025

Since BHP began in 2004, hundreds of individuals have participated as visiting faculty and donors. You deserve a BIG THANK-YOU! for your unwavering support. Having completed our initial task to start a nursing college, we now focus to requests from Bangladesh partners. (Our website and our blog have much more information.)

1.    In Bangladesh our partner, Oasis for Posterity, delivers various programs in the village of Balagram. John and Alex visited Balagram in February 2024, conducting an assessment of primary student learning and meeting OfP vocational college faculty and OfP school teachers as well as local families who told us about their need for better access to health care services.

2.    In the twenty years since BHP helped start the IUBAT College of Nursing [CoN] demand for nursing education has increased dramatically. In February and November visits, Alex connected CoN faculty with Sajida Foundation staff who are recruiting RNs for their new psychiatric hospital.

We are again recruiting visiting faculty at the IUBAT CoN, so please share this opportunity.

3.    The IUBAT Masters of Public Health Program now has over thirty students enrolled in Years One and Two. Our spring and fall visits were a welcome opportunity for us to teach face-to-face.

4.    Other BHP activities. During February, we met with officials in Dhaka to discuss immigration of Bangladeshi nurses to Canada. We also assisted Sajida Hospital with a  planning session on quality improvement. In November, Alex spent three weeks assisting Sajida Foundation with development of its mental health programs. The IUBAT CoN graduate enrolled in PhD studies at Oxford University is progressing well. There are more updates and details in the "BHP Update" document below.

5.    Your contributions make a difference! This is how the money was spent:

• Most was spent on building construction and teaching equipment for OfP Institute of Science and Technology [OIST] a technical-vocational college, which opened in 2022. The initial batch of students studying Civil Engineering and Computer Technology, will graduate in 2026. OIST also hosts a health clinic for people suffering chronic illness.

• This past year, donors paid for upgrades to Bluebell primary school, for classroom furniture, teaching materials and equipment as well as a new outside toilet and landscaping.

• A major on-going expense is salaries for teachers at Bluebell and OIST. John and Alex each contribute $18,000 per year to cover salaries and overhead costs. Currently, most OIST students receive grants or loans to cover some of their fees. Over time, OIST will be self-supporting, but we are not there yet.

• Health and education bursaries are a lesser expense but extremely important for the recipients. For instance, cataract surgery in one eye costs about $50; a bursary to keep a female student in high school is $40 per semester . We recently created scholarships to recognize donors and contributors like Dr. Karen Lund, founding CON coordinator.

6.    100% of your donations are spent on BHP programs; all administration and personal travel costs are paid by the directors. Vancouver’s Mid-Main Community Health Centre continues to host BHP activities and issues CRA charitable donation receipts for health programs. You can donate here or for more information, please contact us.

Thank you again for your support to communities in need. We welcome questions and feedback.  John Richards and Alex Berland

BHP Update January 2025.pdf

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BHP spends your money wisely

A recent article from Your World in Data explains what makes charities effective: simply put, they can do a lot with relatively little money. According to external evaluation, “Charities that achieve [a high] level of cost-effectiveness do quite different things [but] they have two things in common. They all focus on the world’s poorest people, which makes sense as $1,000 makes a much larger difference to someone who has very little. They also all tend to focus on causes that don’t receive much public attention. That makes sense, too — for the causes that receive the most attention, all the lowest-hanging fruits have already been picked.”

BHP uses all donations to support its health care and education activities in Bangladesh, mostly in an impoverished agricultural district in the country’s north-west. In addition to making program contributions for teacher salaries and equipment, BHP Directors pay for BHP overhead costs and for their own travel expenses to oversee the projects. This means that your donations are spent entirely in Bangladesh. Please contact us for more information or donate directly through Canada Helps.

New Scholarship for Nursing Students

Recently, IUBAT BSN grad, Roshani Kandel RN DNP donated funds to create a scholarship for undergraduate nursing students in honour of Dr. Karen Lund, the Canadian volunteer who served over a decade as inaugural College of Nursing Director. Roshani wrote, “Since completing my DNP, I am living my dream nursing career as a preventative primary care provider for the neediest population in Iowa. It’s all because of the quality of the BSN program. Karen, I’m trying my best in each step with your guidance and blessings. We would be grateful if you would let us honor you with this scholarship fund. It would give a great vibe and inspiration for IUBAT nursing students in the future.” In the photo, BHP Directors Alex Berland and John Richards present Roshani’s donation to IUBAT Vice Chancellor, Dr. Abdur Rab and Treasurer, Prof. Selina Nargis. Please contact us if you would like to contribute to a nursing scholarship at IUBAT.