Youngsters at Dhaka's Sir John Wilson school organised a fund-raising concert in support of the Rohingya refugees on Saturday.
Spearheaded by some of the 11th graders from the school, including Afrid Zaman Noor, Nazran Farook and Ankita Shohel, the fund-raising endeavour was titled Salvation.
Starting at 11 in the morning, students from different schools around the city flocked to the concert, which was headlined by prominent alternative rock band Nemesis.
Aside from popular bands- Nemesis and Blues Brothers, rock acts consisting of students from the school namely- Indecision, Canvas, Fortnight and Perspective- also performed in Salvation in the effort to lend a hand to the distressed Rohingya people, who were forced to seek shelter in Bangladesh, after a military crackdown ensued in Myanmar’s Rakhine state.
“The Rohingya issue is perhaps one of the most discussed issue in the country now,” said Ankita Shohel, one of the key organisers of the event. “After learning about their hardship, we came to the thought of helping them from our stance. So, we made a team and started brainstorming to find out the way to raise funds for them.
Nazran Farook, another member of the core organisers' team, informed that the initial plan was to arrange a charity football match. “But we wanted to involve other schools as well with the initiative. So, we sorted out that concert is a better idea,” he said about the musical fund-raising endeavour, which was also open to the parents of students from different schools.
“I think it is an amazing idea. I am really impressed to see their enthusiasm. They have done all the works all by themselves. From inviting people to manage the crowd or setting up the stage, they did everything,” said the Vice-Principle of the school, Dr Farhana Zaman.
She added: “It's good to see that they know what they are doing and I am really proud of them.”
Funds have been collected from different sources throughout Salvation, including the ticket sale of the event, voluntary donation from parents and sponsors. According to the organiser students, the collected amount will be sent to the Rohingya community via Brac.
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