How a simple photographer managed to change the lives of poor children in Bangladesh who worked like adults

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

School attendance is a completely normal, mundane way of life for many children and their parents around the world. Not in Bangladesh. It's sad, but more than four million children were forced to start hard work at the age when they should go to elementary school. In such a poor country, they simply have no other choice. In addition to frequent health problems, cruel exploitation, these unfortunate children miss any hope for at least some bright future and even just the banal right to be children.

Thanks to one passionate photographer, hundreds of Bangladeshi children have a chance for a better life. Award-winning photojournalist GMB Akash from Dhaka, Bangladesh, has a long history of providing insight into the lives and histories of the poor from his homeland.

He has dealt with child labor in Bangladesh for over fifteen years. The photographer took various steps, albeit small ones, which brought huge changes in the lives of children forced to abandon their childhood. Akash uses his own money to free the children from grueling toil and send them to school.

The photographer is committed to improving the lives of the people he photographs. He takes full financial responsibility for this. Akash invests in this noble endeavor all his earned money, leaving himself only the necessary minimum.

The photographer took some very touching before and after photos. The pictures show how the lives of the children he helped have changed for the better. Akash quotes Paul Shane Spier when he speaks of his humanitarian work: "As one person you cannot change the world, but you can change the world of one person."

At the moment, the philanthropist photographer has sent three dozen children to school and has no plans to stop there.

“By the grace of God, I have sent a total of thirty working children to school and I follow them very closely. I regularly visit their homes and schools to assess their situation. Hopefully, in a few months I will be able to send ten more children to school. Thus, in just a few months, forty children will be engaged not in hard physical labor, but in what all children at this age should do - to receive an education. I took responsibility for teaching them throughout my life,”Akash said.

“Likewise, thirty, more than four million children are forced to earn their living through grueling labor in our country. It may be difficult, but it is possible to give hope to all of them. If only everyone who can lend a helping hand to just one child, a real miracle will happen! This will transform our society into a more educated one, which will be able to make a greater contribution to the development of our country, and this will ultimately benefit all of us.”

Child labor in Bangladesh has been the main focus of various photographers for over fifteen years. Although the country is moving towards positive changes in combating child exploitation and ensuring a better future for them. Unfortunately, change is happening too slowly. Therefore, Akash decided to give up his own comfort in order to support children from poor families.

“From the very beginning of my career as a photographer, I wanted to make a difference and draw attention to the suffering of these children. I am extremely offended and painful to observe that the process of these changes is taking place too slowly in our society! So I decided to directly change people's lives myself. I started with those I photographed and those with whom I have already worked. I began to conduct trainings and teach business to those in need, especially parents of working children. With the help of these trainings, I managed to organize the life of each family so that now they can earn more money. Their children now go to school, not to a factory. So far I have been able to help one hundred and fifty families in this way."

Akash uses his own money to help those in need, but he spends very little on himself. He shares his income from paid photojournalism assignments from organizations and publications, royalties for photo shoots, seminars, book sales and other lucrative activities.

“I am not sponsored or paid by any organization. I am a freelance freelance photojournalist. I do not have hired staff to help me with the numerous campaigns and projects that I organize all year round on my own initiative. I do everything myself and take full responsibility for it. This includes collecting information, photographing, filming videos, interviewing people, writing stories, organizing charity campaigns. I myself manage the distribution of donated goods to underprivileged people. I manage social media accounts myself. I only use them to find ways to help the people I meet, to try to improve at least something in their lives."

“Helping poor people make positive changes in their lives is my mission in life,” says Akash. “I try to focus on getting as many children as possible to leave the factories and fields where they have to work in order to survive and go to schools. I personally sponsor the education of hundreds of children with my own money, because educated children are our only future."

This may sound crazy to people who are privileged enough to have easy access to education. The biggest challenge for the photographer was convincing the parents to let their children go to school. Children carry a heavy burden of supporting families in low-paying and often dangerous jobs.

“To bring working children to school, I had to go door to door many times asking my parents to do it. Finally, I was able to convince some parents of the extreme importance of education. I encouraged them to send their children to school. It was not easy at all. To do this, I had to take full financial responsibility for these guys. This includes their entrance fees, tuition fees, daily meals, books, clothing, and financial compensation to their parents. After all, now, instead of earning money, they have to go to school. I gladly bear all these expenses, if only the children learn!”, - says Akash.

The photographer also personally awards hundreds of scholarships to students each year. “Up to two hundred students have received my scholarships. Without this funding, it would be nearly impossible for them to take part in the SSC and HSC exams and continue their education. Many of them study in very prestigious educational institutions, which I am proud of!"

Akash has received over 100 international photography awards. His work has been featured in over a hundred international publications, including The Times, The Guardian, and The Economist, to name just a few. In 2007, he became the first Bangladeshi to enter the Top 30 Young Photographers, and in 2011 he was the first Bangladeshi to speak at a TED conference in Portugal.

It is sad that in our modern world children suffer so much. Unfortunately, there are also more tragic stories of children's lives. Read our article on the most famous "Mowgli" and "Tarzanach" in history.