He thought he would grow up to be a rickshaw-puller. Instead he is a US exchange student

When the seven-year-old Lelin Ahmed first began attending an English class organised by Jaago Foundation, a Bangladeshi non-profit organisation focused on providing education to the poor, he could not fathom ever going to a university. 

In fact he thought he would inevitably work as a labourer, likely as a rickshaw puller, when he grows up. What else could a boy living in a poor Rayerbazar neighbourhood possibly hope to be? 

But as his education progressed with the Jaago Foundation, his dreams got bigger and bigger. At one point he thought he could be a taxi driver, and didn't have to be a rickshaw puller. After a while, he allowed himself to aspire to be an aeroplane pilot. 

Lelin ended up becoming an economics student at the Bangladesh University of Professionals and he is currently in Alexandria, Virginia, attending a student exchange programme of the US government. This was possible because of a sponsorship programme by Jaago that enabled a donor to sponsor Lalin's education. 

The one-year-long exchange programme, called Community College Initiative (CCI) Programme, is funded by the US Department of State. The CCIP programme accepts students from 18 different countries and this year it will run between July 2022 to May 2023. Lelin was pursuing his undergraduate degree in Economics before attending the programme. 

"The programme has five pillars: academic excellence, internship, volunteering, cultural exchange and action planning. As part of the exchange programme, I will attend two semesters here at Northern Virginia Community College. I will also attend internship programmes in a US company," said Lelin.

"To ensure cultural exchange, the programme put six of us from six different countries in the same room so that we could learn about our differences and commonalities. Most importantly, we are required to develop an action plan as to how we are going to utilise the knowledge acquired through the programme to achieve our goals when we return home," said Lelin.

Lelin's early days of struggle

Lelin did not have the most affluent upbringing and would have to battle against poverty to simply be able to afford to go to school. Lelin's father is a gardener and his mother used to work as a school nanny until she left the job to be a housewife. 

"My father used to be a manager in a company named JPL. He left the job in 2005. At that time, our financial condition was very poor. My mother then took a job as a school nanny and my father started gardening and my elder brother (who died in 2020) used to work in a school as a caretaker," said Lelin.

"I had three sisters. Despite our struggles, my parents never gave up on our education. Now my three sisters and I are university students," he added. 

Lelin's father suffered from a stroke recently that left him partially paralyzed. 

How a simple sponsorship initiative changed everything 

Although Lelin had to battle against poverty in his childhood, he did have help, firstly from the Jaago Foundation which allowed him to go to school and then from his sponsor parent Russel Syed, a non-resident Bangladeshi who would go on to sponsor Lelin's education through the Jaago Foundation. 

When asked about how he got involved with Jaago Lelin said, "My student life began with Jaago. The Jaago school was not your typical school. The classrooms were adorned with balloons, toys and colourful rhyme books to entice the children into attending classes. Moreover, it was the only place where we could learn English."

The Jaago Foundation school started with only seventeen kids including Lelin and his sister Bithee. For the first year, the school only focused on English lessons and would give out one or two kilograms of rice to the kids who would attend. But soon the kids wanted more.

"My sister Bithee was a bit older than us. One day, she demanded that we did not want the rice. Instead, we wanted formal recognition for our efforts at the school. That's when the Jaago Foundation school began teaching the kids a standard English-medium curriculum," said Lelin.

After around three years, the school adopted the English version of Bangladesh's national curriculum and Lelin and many of his classmates would get their PSC, JSC and SSC certificates as students of the school. Lelin later did his HSC from the Scholar's School and College in Dhanmondi.

However, during his school years getting financial support was a struggle. The kids usually came from underprivileged families and could not afford the expenses of education. To address this, the Jaago Foundation would ask donors to sponsor the education expenses of one or two children. Russel Syed, a Bangladeshi expatriate residing in the US, decided to sponsor Lelin's education.

When asked about his motivations, Russel said, "I lost my dad when I was in fourth grade. He was our only source of earnings. So, we faced a lot of financial struggles. I came to the US empty-handed and a lot of people helped me come this far. I simply wanted to give something back."

Russel's partner Nadi Rashid happens to be one of the earliest organisers of Jaago, who worked with its founder Korvi Rakshand. When Russel's mother passed away, he decided to sponsor two kids at Jaago Foundation on his parents' behalf. 

"I do not want to take much credit for Lelin's growth nor do I want to be portrayed as a guardian angel. That being said, Lelin being accepted for the exchange programme was indeed a proud moment. I felt blessed that he made the journey and saw the light on the other side of the tunnel. Luckily, he came to the city where we live. He is a quick learner, very smart and very humble," Russel said.

Korvi is also immensely proud of Lelin's achievements. 

"I taught Lelin for the first three-four years at the school. As a student, he was very obedient and the teachers liked him very much. Lelin realised that education was his way out of poverty and he was also very determined to achieve that. It was his passion that has taken him this far," said Korvi.

"Lelin competed against kids from different parts of the world, who likely came from far more privileged backgrounds. It is a testament to the success of our education programme," he added.

The CCI programme requires students to go back to their countries and stay there for at least two years to contribute to their own communities. Lelin says he wants to become an entrepreneur and utilise his understanding of economics and financial management. 

"I want to work with the youth who are approximately one-third of the population. A large chunk of this population is not involved in education or training. I want to work on transforming them into human resources," said Lenin.