21/07/2026
Today, we commemorate the brave souls of Milestone School & College whose courage will stay with us forever. After the tragedy at Milestone School & College last year, that weight settled into the eyes of so many children: the loss of friends, the fear, the uncertainty that no child should ever have to carry. It doesn't fade easily, no matter how much time passes.
On July 16, in Purbail, Gazipur, we came together again not just to organize an event, but to simply be present. This second chapter of "Immortal Amidst the Green" (āĻ¸āĻŦā§āĻā§āĻ° āĻŽāĻžāĻā§ āĻ
āĻŽāĻ° āĻ¤ā§āĻŽāĻ°āĻž) gave the children a green field to run in, a football to chase, and colors and brushes to say the things that are often too hard to put into words. In the tree of life session with us, some painted trees full of hope. Some painted the quiet memory as a source of strength. And in the most tender moment of the day, each child planted a tree in memory of one of the classmates they lost with their own small hands, in soil that will hold that memory long after.
None of this would have been possible without the people who have carried this dream from the very beginning. Our deepest gratitude goes to journalist and Rotarian Shahnaz Sharmeen, who has stood beside Milestone's children since the very first difficult days after the tragedy, who spent twelve days at the Burn Institute witnessing their pain up close, and who turned that pain into a promise to never let them face it alone. Healing Together exists because she refused to look away, and it continues because she still hasn't.
Our heartfelt thanks to Sharif Ullah, President of Rotary Club of Banani Dhaka, for standing by these children as a matter of duty and heart, not just as an event. To Advocate Mostofa Mahmud Arifee, Chairman of Chuti Group, and Shamsul Islam, Managing Director of Chuti Resort Purbail, thank you for opening not just a beautiful space, but your hearts, believing that a business also owes something back to the society it belongs to. To Rehana Parvin, Bangladesh's first female footballer, thank you for running, playing, and laughing with these children on the field, and for reminding them that joy is still theirs to have. And to Monira Rahman, thank you for holding space for the children's art therapy session, gently helping them put into color what they couldn't yet put into words.
To Rotary Club of Banani Dhaka, Chuti Group, and everyone at Chuti Resort Purbail- thank you for walking this journey with us. And from all of us at Innovation for Wellbeing Foundation, our sincere gratitude to every teacher, every guardian, and every volunteer who showed up that day simply to make sure these children felt less alone.
The trees planted that day will grow tall one day, and give shade to others. We believe these children will too, that they will turn their grief into strength, and carry new dreams forward. And for as long as it takes, we will be right there beside them.
Immortal amidst the green- the children of Milestone we lost, and the children of Milestone still finding their way home.
