A relatively small country (about 60% of the size of Victoria), Bangladesh is the densely populated home to around 145 million people - most of whom live in abject poverty.
Around 40% of the population are unemployed and need to resort to begging on the streets for food or money to survive. Around 43% cannot read or write - and millions of families cannot afford to give their children
even a basic education.
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The country is besieged by problems. Devastating floods killed thousands of people and left millions homeless in 2004 and the country is now experiencing further flooding again this year. Compound that with water pollution - especially of fishing areas due to the use of commercial pesticides and of the ground water due to naturally occurring arsenic. Around 36 million Bangladeshi people suffer from life threatening arsenic poisoning due to drinking water from polluted wells. |
The life expectancy of a citizen of Bangladesh is just 61.7 years ...
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DESHfest is all about giving these people help and hope for a better future - especially the children who live on the streets and in the slums … It’s about helping them BUSTIN’ OUT of poverty. |
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100% of the profits raised at DESHfest go to giving these kids a chance for a proper life - by helping fund schools in the slums and also homes for the orphans and street kids. |
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