Remarks

Dedication of Multi-purpose Building

Khulna

January 28, 2005

Mayor Sheikh Tayebur Rahman, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, as-salaamu alaikum, namaskar and good morning. It is indeed a great pleasure for me to be with you today.

Today we dedicate this new multi purpose building. It is right and just that we mark this dedication with ceremony. For it marks both an end and a beginning. It is the end of the time of construction for this building. It is this building that will be used in the near future by poor women to work in a sewing project much like the sewing project at the Women’s Center in Tongi.

It takes a great deal of effort to make this construction possible. Of course, it starts with an idea. But it also needs the assent of the community, its leaders, patrons and citizens. So much of the credit must go to the political and business leaders of Khulna, many of whom are gathered here, as is right, to see the fruits of their labors. And credit must be given to the supporters in the United States from Cape Cod, Massachusetts to Los Alamos, New Mexico whose friendship; financial support and personal convictions have contributed to making this building possible. These American friends of Bangladesh, in one way, are less fortunate than the collected audience before me. Separated by miles of ocean, they in the US unlikely will see first hand the end result of their contributions and labor.

While this day marks an end, it has its start many years ago, before even the first brick was put in place. It started with the “Friends of Bangladesh” and all around are the results of that friendship. As I look around me I see the other buildings, such as the children’s home next store, which have had similar ceremonies as today. You may know other buildings by other names: the Widow Center, the Telegue and Tongi Clinics, the Home of Joy for orphans, the Home of Joy High School, the Tongi School for the Deaf, and the Monipuripara Hostel.

While we mark the dedication of this building it may be to some just another multi purpose building. However, I ask that you to join me in considering what makes any building important is people. It is your presence here today that gives this building a special quality. In the future, it will be the presence of many poor women who will be afforded the opportunity to be free from want, which will make this building special and important. Soon these women will then join you as productive and contributing members of Bangladesh society. I would like to think that for these women, this building represents a renewal. This building I trust will be a renewal of spirit. Where once there was loss, there is now hope.

So today we mark a beginning in the use of this building. In marking this occasion I ask to share my hopes. It is my hope that it serves as renewal for both the spirit of the women and their families who will enter its doors. It is my hope that when you and others see this building it will serve as a reminder of the friendship between the American and Bangladeshi people. Finally, it is my hope that when you leave here today you too are refreshed in the spirit that comes from knowing that people miles apart and separated by oceans can build buildings that renew lives.

 

--------------------

 

Note:  A Bangla translation of this article is also available from The American Center.  If you are interested in the translation, please call The American Center Press Section (Tel: 8813440-4, Fax: 9881677; e-mail: DhakaPA@state.gov; Website: dhaka.usembassy.gov).