<i>A different day for 17 girls</i>
BROUGHT UP AT ORPHANAGE, THEY NOW START NEW LIFE: Seventeen girls residing at Lions Shishu Niketan, a charitable home meant for sheltering and educating orphan girls, at Nimnagar Balubari in Dinajpur town, pose for photograph with their grooms as Dinajpur Lions Club, founder of the home, organised the 'mass wedding' on Friday. Photo: STAR
It was a happy occasion for 17 orphan girls and their bridegrooms who tied nuptial knots at a festive mass wedding at Lions Shishu Niketan, an organisation meant for rehabilitation of female orphans, in the district town on Friday afternoon. Founder of the charitable home, Dinajpur Lions Club provided the wherewithal for the function including printing of invitation cards, decoration, feast, and cultural programme. Each couple also received a bicycle, a sewing machine, furniture and other things to decorate a new home. Local lawmaker Iqbalur Rahim joined as chief guest at the function attended by over hundred guests including the grooms' relatives. Dressed in attractive wedding attire, the couples got wedded amid necessary rituals. Seeking blessings from all, Masuda Tara Moni, who was wedded to Mostafa Kamal, said, "I passed my HSC and learnt skills in sewing clothes here. We have been deprived of parental affection since childhood, but the authorities of Lions Shishu Niketan never let us feel the vacuum." The orphan girls who are brought to the home receive schooling as well as trainings to earn livelihood, said Lion advocate MA Mazid, president of Dinajpur Lions Club. "Every year we organise such mass wedding for the matured girls living here," said Md Mozaffar Ali, a member of the club. "Of course we could not give them what parents can, but we tried to meet their other requirements," said Md Nakibul Haque Khan, president of Lions Shishu Niketan in Dinajpur. The guests blessed the couples and encouraged the organisers to continue their philanthropic efforts.
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