About the Charity
The home and school were started by Bruna Colombo-Otten and Howlader Muhammad Akkel Ali in 2004. Bruna was first introduced to Ali on a visit to Bangladesh, where she had hoped to be involved in another charitable project.
Ali told her of his dream. He dreamt of a home and a school catering for every kind of disability, and was certain that disabled and orphaned children would benefit from living together, helping each other, learning together and supporting each other.
Bruna said that she would finance such a project. Ali then returned to his home district, Barisal, and found the empty property Bhola Garden which belonged to Interlife Bangladesh. He established the WOD Trust (Welfare for Orphan and Disabled) with trustees from the Barisal Technical College, collected a group of orphaned and disabled children and young people – and moved in.
Bruna, together with Lars-Erik Wallhagen, a friend of Ali who had been working in the country since 1970 in various capacities (associated with Interlife Bangladesh) and Lars-Erik’s contacts, financed Ali and the home for the first three years.
At the end of 2005 Bruna met Dinah Wiener, a literary agent, in London. Dinah had become interested in visiting Bangladesh thanks to a young author Anne Hamilton, who had written a delightful travel memoir A Blonde Bengali Wife, about the time she had spent in that country. Dinah, together with José Luis Andarias from Madrid, joined Bruna on her first ever visit to Bhola in November 2006. The three decided to buy the property together with the Swedish supporter group formed by Lars-Erik. It was also decided to set up a charity and raise money so that the orphaned and disabled children could have a happy and secure life, and Ali could fulfill his dream.
The charity was set up in March 2007 and took over the day to day funding from April 2007.