An urgent appeal for help

On the night of 28 July 2009, the capital city Bangladesh, Dhaka experienced heavy rainfall for continuous six hours upto the early morning of 29 July that disrupted normal life in the city and elsewhere in the country causing huge damage to life and property, especially the low lying areas of the city, and bringing life to a standstill. The meteorological department recorded 333 mm rainfall, the highest in 53 years.

Baptist Mission Integrated School (BMIS) located at 77 Senpara Parbata, Mirpur 10, in Dhaka city that provides normal and special education to 200 sighted and non-sighted students and accommodates around 100 visually impaired girls at its hostel, was seriously affected by the overnight downpour when the boundary wall of the school collapsed causing the rain water to surge into the school compound at a vicious speed and within minutes inundating the classrooms, office, teachers’ room, store, girls’ dormitory, kitchen, printing press, and guard room in waist-deep water. The sudden on rush of water damaged educational materials, Braille books, clothing, utensils, water-pumps, classroom furniture, dining tables and benches, computers, cupboards, beddings and mattresses, and everything else on the ground floor that nothing could be saved.

BMIS institution, which runs on foreign donation and with minimum local income, has no resources to meet the huge costs of repair to the damage. An estimated amount of Euros 18,548 (BD.Taka.17,18,000) would be needed for recovery to infra-structural damage, repair of the boundary wall and school compound area, electrical lines and fittings, and for new purchases of educational materials, Braille books, machinery (water pumps), furniture, and office equipment (computers) that have been totally destroyed and lost in the inundation.

In this situation, we fervently appeal to all benevolent organizations, businesses, clubs, NGOs, religious institutions, firms, commercial establishments, donor agencies, and kind hearted individuals to come forward to aid Baptist Mission Integrated School (BMIS) in the recovery of its colossal losses.

Your act of kindness and generosity will go a long way to help our institution and be a tremendous blessing for the blind and non-blind students studying at our school.

We would be pleased to provide further information and details about BMIS institution, our programs and activities, and any other information on request.

BMIS is a service arm of the Social Health Education and Development (SHED) Board of the Bangladesh Baptist Sangha (BBS), and the institution is registered with the NGO Affairs Bureau, Government of Bangladesh.

We look forward to receiving your kind support to our humble and urgent appeal, and do welcome any help or assistance to us in this hour of need.

Very sincerely,

Sylvia, principal BMIS