Thirteen-year-old Milon from the slums of Dhaka, Bangladesh, is finally living out his dreams. He is studying in Uptown High School in Dubai and living with his host family Dan and Michelle Housley and their two-year-old son, Hunter.
Milon is thrilled at the turn his life has taken. And it is all thanks to Maria Conceicao and her project, The Maria Christina Foundation (TMCF), which is giving children in the slums of Dhaka the chance to educate themselves and find their place in the world.
Milon shares an easy camaraderie with his host family and enjoys playing big brother to Hunter. Funny, quick-witted and sharp, Milon is fully aware of the chance he has been given to make something of himself. His father, Momin Miah, works as an office assistant at the Maria project. His mother, Lily Begum, is a housewife.
Milon used to live in the slums in Gawair with his parents and five siblings, and studied up to grade 5 at the Maria School, before being selected by Conceicao to come to Dubai for his education. He dreams of being trained as a pilot.
"I would love to earn lots of money, and then try to help my family and others in Bangladesh," he says with a grin.
Dan, Milon's host, teaches humanities at Uptown High School; he knew about the conditions of the slum in Dhaka and the plight of the children there. Dhaka is among the poorest cities on the Human Development Index. The Uptown High School is a part of Taleem, an education investment company and schools operator in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, which is one of the key sponsors of TMCF.
"I did some research on child labour and decided that I had to do something on a personal level to make a change," says Dan. "So when I heard about Maria Conceicao bringing in these six children to Uptown High School to educate them, I jumped at the chance to take in at least one child.
"Milon has been great company for Hunter, and I would urge more parents here to come forward and help a child who has not been as fortunate as your own."
Making life more meaningful
In another part of Dubai, Sujon Ishaq and Taslim Hussain are living with the host family of Christelle and Thomas Gateff. Christelle and Thomas work in the events and recreation industries respectively in Dubai, and have lived in the emirate for seven years. Christelle visited Dhaka last year and got the chance to volunteer with the Maria School, and in August 2010 decided to provide a home for two of the children, a decision she believes has made her life more meaningful than ever before.
Sujon, who has an aptitude for art and design, came to Dubai briefly in 2008 when the team he was representing at the International Children's Festival stopped over before returning to Dhaka. As a student of the Maria School in Dhaka, his life had taken a turn for the better but being picked to live and be educated in Dubai has been the best thing life has offered him so far. He hopes to become a heart surgeon and set up a cardiac hospital in Dhaka one day.
Taslim, a bright 13-year-old, knows what it is like to have to support his family and also try to find the time to educate himself. Studying subjects such as science, design and technology at the Uptown School is a boon. "I like the school very much," he says. "It is what we came here for. I want to do very well, and become an engineer and then some day, maybe, go and help my family, or maybe bring them here too."
The children are learning, but they are teaching their hosts too. "I have learnt so much about not complaining, and being grateful for small mercies of life from them," says Christelle.
Erika Elkady, Deputy Head, Uptown High School, where the children from the MCF are studying, praises their positive attitude. "These children are real risk-takers, having left behind their families and friends to enter a totally new and different world in Dubai. They live with their host families, people they had never met before, go to a school full of privileged and affluent students who can't relate to their world at home in Dhaka and yet manage to hold their own.
"They have worked so hard to become more knowledgeable in English, maths, science and all the other subjects, as they have so much catching up to do with the other children.
"Being open-minded is a challenging task for many people… they have been able to stay out of trouble; they never miss their homework, they show up on time and have missed hardly a day of school. They have shown us that they are able to balance the myriad of expectations we have put on them."
If something's not right, fix it
So who is the driving force behind the TMCF, and what is her inspiration? The answer lies in a mother's words of wisdom. "If you see something's not right, fix it." Conceicao holds this piece of advice close to her heart. They were her mother's words. "I remember her saying that frequently when we were growing up," she says.
As person behind The Dhaka Project (TDP), as well as TMCF and the activities that spin off as a result of these two dynamic projects, Conceicao has covered vast ground in the past decade.
She joined Emirates when she was working in London and arrived in the UAE in 2003. Born in a traditional, middle-class family in Lisbon, Portugal, as the youngest of eight children, she was lavished with love and pampered; a happenstance that probably explains her love for children and the need to empower them.
"When I moved to Dubai, I planned to stay here only for one year but that never happened because on one of my flights, I went to Dhaka, Bangladesh," she says.
Dhaka turned out to be a life-changing experience. As a first-time visitor, she took in the city during her time off, going beyond the main roads into the slums, where she was deeply moved by the extreme poverty she saw. Conceicao returned to Dhaka a month later, determined to do something about the plight of children in the slums. In July 2005, with the support of family, colleagues and friends, she started TDP to help the many families in Dhaka by founding a one-room school. She remembers how people looked at her as if she were insane when she first suggested the project.
"Here I was - a European with no money, no idea of the language, culture and customs, talking of living among the slum-dwellers, wishing to improve their conditions, provide the means for education, clothing…"
Since 2005, she has spent time developing and running humanitarian projects in Bangladesh that have free education for underprivileged children as the pivot. She has reached more than 650 families and more than 400 underprivileged children are attending the school she set up in Dhaka, the Maria School, on a regular basis.
In 2009, Conceicao started ‘The Catalyst', with the aim of educating and empowering parents to support their families. She also set up a small school in Gawair, Dhaka, to teach parents of the children in TDP. She has also helped some parents find employment in the UAE and is establishing the first non-profit job centre in Dhaka to support the community this year.
But it has not been easy. "In truth, I have knocked at many doors here in Dubai - support groups, private sector organisations, corporate houses, schools, government departments - I barely can manage to get any support or help; most pay lip service about helping," she says.
TMCF is helping to raise funds for the children's education for the next five to six years, through an expedition to the North Pole and others to follow. In addition to this, TMCF is also working at other projects like a Recruitment Institute, Community Projects (Using the Dhaka Model), School to School Projects and a Community Health Programme.
Rather than handing them aid, teaching people to become self-sufficient will benefit their communities and families as well, it is hoped. TMCF started working with the parents of children, providing intensive training for them, so they could get jobs. "Unfortunately, the caste system in Bangladesh makes it difficult for corporate houses to give these people a job," says Conceicao. "So I thought of bringing them here [to Dubai] and finding them employment as office boys, wheelchair assistants, etc. So far Emirates, Royal Mirage and Dulsco have employed some of these people."
A determination to raise funds
Secondary school, the most important second step, is the logical way to complete the circle of education for any child and Conceicao is only too aware of it. So in a bid to give that dream a concrete shape, she has embarked on what is the most challenging aspect of her project - a trek to the North Pole.
Conceicao's two-week-long North Pole expedition began in Borneo, a Russian ice station at 89 degrees latitude, on April 14 and was due to end on April 28. She set off with a guide on cross-country skis, pulling equipment weighing up to 40kg. Though the trek was her toughest test yet, she's no stranger to challenge. She has run international marathons, namely New York 2001, Dublin 2002, London 2002 and 2003, Dubai 2004 and 2011 and Beirut 2005.
In 2010, Maria climbed Mount Kilimanjaro and one day aims to complete the seven summits (Kilimanjaro, Elbrus and Aconcagua, the peaks of Mt Vinson on Antarctica and Denali (Mt McKinley) in North America, Carstensz Pyramid, a technical rock summit on the island of New Guinea and finally Everest, the highest point in the world.
"I had to find something to do," she says of her latest attempt to raise funds. "I had to do something that would be achievable now, rather than in two to four years - the Seven Summits would have taken four years of training, while Everest would take two years to train. I don't have the time, the children will finish school in less than four to five years, and like any parent planning for the future of their children, I need to set up a trust fund for them to finish university."
Among those who already help TMCF is Gulf 4 Good, which is contributing Dh60,000 as a two-year commitment - it wants to sponsor Bilkis, one of the children. "Some people don't give money, but help in kind," says Conceicao. "Manchester Clinic is contributing free medical care, a beauty salon is providing free hair-cuts, Smileline provides dental care for the children, Jumeirah Beach Hotel provides free scuba diving lessons, Atlantis on the Palm has given vouchers."
Then there are individuals who pitch in. "I have a driver, Nasir, who works night-shifts, and who drives the children to various classes at the weekends, there's diving instructor Ernst, who gives diving lessons, Aparajita, who built our website and maintains it without charging me… there's Sophie, the girl who cut her hair and donated the proceeds to the MCF… so many people, so many good deeds," she smiles.
By the way …
The idea of the seven summits was first publicised by Dick Bass in his book the Seven Summits, which describes his success in becoming the first to achieve the quest in 1986, to raise funds for charity. Maria Conceicao's work and dedication gained the attention of the President of Portugal, a number of news channels and in 2009 she was awarded the ‘Emirates Woman of the Year 2009', and the ‘Emirates Humanitarian Woman of the Year 2009'. She was also honoured with the ‘Most Exceptional and Innovative European Woman of the Year' in the 2007 European Union Women Inventors & Innovators Awards in Berlin.
Making a difference
Who: Maria Christina Conceicao
What: The Maria Christina Foundation
How: Six children from Dhaka, earlier studying at Maria's Dhaka Project school, have been given a chance to complete their primary and secondary education in Dubai, by placing them with host families in the UAE, with the Maria Christina Foundation raising the funds needed for their education.
Inside info
As the North Pole trek is a community project, Maria Conceicao and TMCF invite all philanthropic UAE residents to donate 1 dirham for every mile Maria completes. This epic journey of 100 miles is being done purely to raise funds for the children’s education. Your sponsorship will help these children complete the education they need, reach their goals and secure the future of many others.
For more Information or to volunteer or raise funds for the MCF, log on to www.mariacristinafoundation.org/MCFoundation/ For more information on Taleem, go to www.taaleem.ae/abouttaaleem.html
Interview by Anupama Chand, Dubai-based freelancer
