Australian Cricketers visit Oxfam Bangladesh to meet poverty stricken families in slums

Australian cricketers, ahead of the 1st Test match at Dhaka, recently visited Oxfam in Bangladesh to meet the families from Satolla slum in Dhaka. The bunch of cricketers took out precious time from their schedule to learn about the lifestyles of people residing in the slums of Dhaka.

Oxfam is an international consortium of charitable organizations determined to eradicate poverty across the globe. Poverty is deep rooted to Bangladesh as almost half of the population lives on less than one dollar per day. The primary objective of Oxfam Bangladesh is Gender and Women’s Leadership, Economic Justice & Resilience, and Humanitarian Capacity Building and Response.

The Australian cricketers also heard about the struggles and challenges of poverty stricken residents of the slums first hand. Employment, water shortages and sanitations were the key issues that the cricketers were intimated about. Also, Oxfam briefed about their working in Bangladesh to counter these issues.

It was quite an experience: Khawaja

“It was quite an experience here today. Some of the kids and adults had amazing stories and have experienced really tough times growing up which although you expect in this part of the world, it really sinks in when you hear it firsthand,” quoted Usman Khawaja, according to BDCrictime.

The Chief Executive of Oxfam Australia, Helen Szoke also praised the cricketers for making a visit to the Satolla slums in Dhaka. Earlier in March, during Australian tour to India, the entire team visited a school near Pune to encourage financially challenged girls to take up sports.

“It’s fantastic that Australia’s best male cricketers have taken time out of their busy tour in Bangladesh to visit an Oxfam program generously supported by the Australian public and Government, to get a better idea of how we help people to tackle poverty,” quoted the Chief Executive of Oxfam Australia, Helen Szoke.