Why is this project?

Each one of us has long had a strong passion for humanitarian aid in developing countries. We could easily have fulfilled this desire by joining a humanitarian aid organisation, but we thought it would be more interesting to start a project of our own, so we did. We pulled up our sleeves, selected a location, made construction plans, developed a project plan, looked for sponsors and so on and, to finish it off we will build the whole thing ourselves on site.

We chose to ‘go it alone’ because we believe that in a self-organised initiative there is more room to gain experience, develop organistional talent and stimulate independence. Avoiding high administration costs linked to humanitarian aid organisations, money that the locals in developing countries will never even see, was an additional stimulance.

To support our project, we are working with the Belgian non-profit organisation PraubashBaungau. The president of PraubashBaungau is in charge of the administration aspects of the project.

What and where?

PraubashBaungau focused our attention on the needs of the Kailakuri hospital in Bangladesh. Kailakuri is unique: the poor population isn’t only treated there; they are also empowered to provide health care to others. Its existence is mainly due to donations and subsidies since the patients themselves don’t have the necessary financial resources.

As at present Kailakuri clinic is desperate for more infrastructures and also for its admirable philosophy, we have given the first priority to this clinic which should get our help.

The clinic is urgently in need of an extra building that could be used as a maternity unit. That is why we have decided to build the maternity unit in the summer of 2010.

Additional information can be found “here"

Tackling the project

Besides UCOS and the commune of Etterbeek, we are lucky to be able to fall back on the support and expertise of several people. To read more about them, see “Who are we" .

In addition to our group of around 10 students, the driving force behind the project, we will ask for assistance from an experienced Bengali contractor who will coordinate and suggest possible alternatives in case we meet any surprises in Bangladesh. As the weather condition differs strongly from here, so the different materials and building techniques may be used there. As the construction site will be in a remote village, we may encounter local and primitive method which might be useful locally and so on. The contractor will also be asked to search for necessary local workers required for the construction.

Our project is unique !

This project should be looked at from a bigger perspective than only building activities. It gives us the opportunity to learn about starting up and developing a huge initiative, we get in contact with the building world (not only the Bengali one, but also the Belgian one), we make lots of contacts and we organise lots of activities to put the spotlight on our project and to acquire the necessary funds and last but not least, we absorb the Bengali culture for over two months while we extend the hospital alongside the locals. A true personal enrichment and expansion of our horizons.