Generating awareness about drugs
These are glimpses of children art which were on display recently at the Bengal Art Gallery, courtesy ALO, a voluntary organisation dealing with drug awareness, and Brac. "The objective was to find out what children outside Dhaka (8th, 9th and 10th grade--which are vulnerable stages) feel about drugs," says Tootli Rahman, founder member and president of ALO.
Prior to the current exhibition, ALO together with Brac had hosted a painting competition in eight districts at the Brac gonokendros (libraries) with the participation of 24 schools and 480 participants. The caption was: Moder Gorbo, Moder Desh, Madok Mukto, Bangladesh. After shortlisting, 60 paintings made it to Dhaka. Finally, eminent artist Rafiqun Nabi, in consultation with artists Jamal Ahmed and Kuhu Plamondon, made the final selection of three young talents.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. The lucky winners of the art competition were Shariful Islam (Gaibandha), Dolly Akhter (Gazipur) and Sanjida Sultana Lisa (Narsingdi).
The urban areas were not neglected either. Several schools in Dhaka were asked to do a painting on the same topic. Around 20 children came to the gallery on March 21 for the competition. They were also given prizes--the first prize went to Anika Mariam Ahmed of Sunny Dale School (class 10), the second prizewinner was Fatema Matin of Scholastica School (class 10), while the third prize winner was Suchita Yasmeen Sharma of Scholastica School (class 10) and the winner of the fourth prize was Nayema Rahman of Sunny Dale school (class 9)
The recent exhibition and competition is a precursor to a poster programme all over Bangladesh with the anti-drugs message. The posters will be derived from the paintings--especially from the rural areas.
On the cards for ALO also is a documentary film on drug awareness, a possible fund raising programme and a seminar with parents, doctors, teachers and key representatives of the rehabilitation centres.