The Entire Funding was for the Braille Book Publication

Total cost of the project was Tk. 68,700.00 (US $810.00) for 50 copies of the Braille book. The Exchange Rate on March 3, 2021 was Tk. 84.84 to US$ 1.00

The funds were provided in Bangladesh currency (Taka) and was funded by a WaveMaker who wants to remain anonymous.

“I am so excited to read my first mystery novel. I have never had the opportunity to read a novel in my life. All I have read were school text books.”- Nuvana Naima Haque

Most of the Braille books were given to visually impaired students and a few copies are retained at the newly inaugurated Braille Corner of the Sufia Kamal National Public Library in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Sporsho Foundation hosted an informal publication event on March 3, 2021. Present in that event were two students Nuvana Naima Haque (Naila) and Mohammad Tarikul Islam Najim (Najim); the author Ishtiak Ahmad; founders of Sporsho Foundation and BreaktheTide, Nazia Jabeen and Sarah Ahmad Abedin, respectively; and other distinguished guests.

Mohammad Tarikul Islam Najim is a student at Visually Impaired Education Institute of Gazipur. He is going to take the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) examination in 2021. SSC is a national examination that all students have to take after completing 10th grade. After successfully passing the SSC examination, students can move on to the 11th grade.

Nuvana Naima Haque (Naima) has a Masters degree in Music from UODA and a Bachelors degree in Music from Shanto Marium University of Creative Technology. She also has another Bachelors degree in Special Education. Prior to that she had successfully completed her Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) and Secondary School Certificate (SSC) examinations from Government Music College and Mirpur Ideal School, respectively. Naima is extensively invested in her interest in music and she has completed 5 years in music at the Abbas Uddin Sangeet Academy and Chhayanaut Shangskriti Bhaban. She has also taken courses from eminent artists like Mita Hoque. She is currently working as a music teacher at Blue Bird School.

With the author Ishtiak Ahmad are the founders of BreaktheTide Sarah Ahmad Abedin and Sporsho Foundation Nazia Jabeen at the informal publication event on March 3, 2021.

Sporsho is a Bangla word and it means “touch”

Sporsho is the first organization in Bangladesh to have published Braille books for the visually challenged, focusing on entertainment and culture in 2008. Sporsho started this initiative to showcase the fact that every individual in a society wants to acquire knowledge beyond the text books. Nazia Jabeen, the founder of Sporsho believes that a sustainable society can be built only when people are empowered with knowledge with an inclusive approach, by reaching out to all, including the ones who are physically challenged. Their slogan, “Manush drishtihin bole ondho noe manush muloto proggahin bolei ondho”, which in English would read, “people are blind not because they are unable to see with their eyes but are blind because they do not have the knowledge to visualize life from within.”

With this vision, Sporsho for the first time in 2011 launched a book stall for the visually impaired in the largest extravaganza of books in the country (Bangladesh), the “Ekushe Boi Mela”. From 2008 till February 2020, Sporsho has published 82 books in Braille version written by eminent authors and including variety of subject matter (some major titles can be provided if required). The books are placed in the stall for all to read and in addition are distributed free to those who attends the Boi Mela (book exhibition) and the major special schools of the country. From 2016 Sporsho decided to include all People With Disability (PWD) to make her initiative more inclusive. In addition, Sporsho plans to include activities beyond Ekushe Boi Mela to make her initiative available to all in the form of ‘knowledge center’, open throughout the year. As a part of this pursuit, Sporsho has celebrated her tenth year in a day long program in association with Bangla Academy including various activities that included both PWDs as well as able people of all walks of life from across Bangladesh.