A team from Tameside will be heading on a major fundraising mission to help those living in poverty in Bangladesh in the new year.

Among them will be Hyde Past and Present’s Facebook page founder Andrew Richardson.

He is supporting Hyde restaurateur, Mizan Rahman Mizanur, who has been a charity fundraiser for more than 40 years.

Seventeen years ago he founded the Just Help Foundation as a registered charity, to help raise funds for projects across Tameside and further afield.    

Mizan was originally from the region of Sylhet in Bangladesh, where he was a famous international hockey player for his country.

Since making his home in Tameside, he has been a key member of the large local Asian community here and also the wider community.

He has had several successful restaurants, most recently Adnan’s in Hyde, named after his youngest son.

His passion has always been to help vulnerable people, wherever they may live, which led him to a specific dream.

Many people in his homeland Bangladesh are extremely poor and don’t have access to the medical services we take for granted.

After years of fundraising and support of organisations such as Tameside Rotary, enough money was raised to build an eye hospital in Sylhet, to treat those who would otherwise lose their sight.

The hospital has modern laser equipment to treat cataracts and other sight defects, as well as providing GP services for other ailments.

Mizan said: “To me the eyes are the most important part of the body. Without eyes I couldn’t see the beautiful world, my family or my children. So I wanted to give something back to my country and my society.

“The hospital has now been running very well for the last six years and more than 6,000 patients have been seen, not only for eye treatments but there is a GP service too and all treatments are free.”

VISION: Mizan talks to our reporter Olivia Briggs 

Thanks to Rotary and international help, the treatments and state-of-the-art equipment have all been funded to keep the hospital operating.

“The dream is becoming a reality,” added Mizan.

The Just Help Foundation also helped to fund a school for street children, who would otherwise go uneducated and are open to abuse by criminal elements.

In January, Mizan will lead a team of Just Help Foundation representatives, accompanied by members of Tameside Rotary, to see where donated money is being used.

Rotary will also present 10 sewing machines to needy families, to help them provide incomes to support themselves. The party will also take donated clothing items, to help those who lost everything in recent monsoon floods, which severely impacted on Sylhet infrastructure and housing.

A donation page is open for anyone who wishes to contribute to the Just Help Foundation’s work here in the UK, or be used to fund the cataract operations in the eye hospital, each operation costing just £35.

Money is also used to fund food and hygiene packages for those affected by the floods.

All those going on the trip will be doing so at their own expense. To make a donation, visit the organisation website https://justhelpfoundation.org.uk/ 

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