Bloom Chittagong used the entire funds for the technology upgrades in procuring:

• Laptop
• Tablet
• Digital Writing Board
• Sound System

BreaktheTide funded the technology upgrades at Bloom Chittagong for US $1,000.00 (Tk. 85,800.00, Bangladesh currency).

The Exchange Rate on November 29, 2021 is Tk. 85.80 to US $1.00

The funds were collected in US Dollar from numerous WaveMakers and it was transferred to Bloom Chittagong on December 20, 2021.

To respect the privacy and personal preference of the WaveMakers, we have only identified the WaveMakers who wanted to be recognized on our website, others are recognized as anonymous. However, we are grateful to all our WaveMakers.

Final Update as of March15, 2022: Bloom Chittagong used the remaining Tk. 34,650.00 ($403.85) to acquire a tablet with keyboard that is used by the students and staffs in the classrooms. The actual cost of the tablet with keyboard was Tk. 37,000.00 ($431.24) and Bloom Chittagong paid the difference of Tk. 2,350.00 ($27.15) from their own funds.

Interim Update as of January 16, 2022: To keep the administrative cost (fund transfer expenses) to its minimum, we took advantage of one of our Directors, Ms. Samina Jahangir who was visiting Bangladesh in December 2021. She personally delivered the entire $1,000.00 to Ms. Tasneem Abedin, Founder and CEO of Bloom Chittagong on December 20, 2021. She also visited the facility and met with the teachers, caregivers and the children. Needless to say, she was very impressed.

So far Bloom Chittagong acquired some equipment that are urgently needed with the funds. They have some funds remaining and they are currently assessing the needs of other technology upgrades that will best address the requirements of their various programs.

Bloom Chittagong currently uses the Laptop, Tablet, Digital Writing Boards and Sound System.

Final Update as of March 15, 2022:
Ms. Sarah Ahmad Abedin, Founder BreaktheTide, visited Bloom Chittagong on March 15, 2022. Ms. Tasneem Abedin (no relations to Ms. Sarah Ahmad Abedin), Founder of Bloom Chittagong provided an overview of the operations and functions of Bloom Chittagong. She also gave a tour of the facility, the classrooms and they met the students and staff. Ms. Tasneem Abedin also informed that they are using the newly acquired technology in the assessments, counseling and one on one teaching sessions.

Interim Update as of January 16, 2022:
Ms. Samina Jahangir, Director, BreaktheTide, visited Bloom Chittagong on December 20, 2021. She met with the teachers, caregivers and the children and she was very impressed with work Bloom Chittagong is doing for the children and young adults in their Individualized Occupational Therapies; Early Education Support; Speech and Language Therapies; and Online Assessments programs.

We wish Bloom Chittagong much success in the great work they are doing.

Laptop used in Online Assessment program

Bloom Chittagong

Bloom Chittagong is located in the suburbs of Chittagong, Bangladesh. The journey of Bloom Chittagong started in March 2017 as an awareness program that connected children with Down Syndrome in Chittagong. Since its inception in March 2017 and until November 2019, Bloom Chittagong hosted awareness programs, connected people, and did market research to assess the needs of Down Syndrome children and families in Chittagong.

Starting December 2019, Bloom Chittagong expanded its support to incorporate Occupational Therapy (OT) services with the donation from family and friends. The OT services were abruptly halted in March 2020 as COVID 19 ravaged through the world and upended all activities globally. Then in May 2020, Bloom Chittagong started offering online OT sessions to the children whose parents are not trained therapists.

Bloom Chittagong is operated out of a private home. In September 2020, upon the insistence of the parents Bloom Chittagong reopened with limited interaction with people, parents, children and teachers as COVID 19 restrictions were eased.

In October 2020, Bloom Chittagong started the Special Education classroom with the financial help from family and friends. Starting February 2021 Bloom Chittagong started classroom service and in June 2021, it started Speech and Language Therapy. Bloom Chittagong now offers all 3 services to ensure a child develop in a holistic manner.