Seminar on Parbatya Bouddha Mission

Presentation on Parbatya Bouddha Mission (PBM) by Ven. A. Panna Joti, Co-ordinator of PBM at Flinders University, Adelaide Australia on 15-16/Oct/2006.
The Chairman, Venerable Ajahn Sujato, Venerable Thich Thong Phap, distinguished guests, my dear Dhamma friends.
Background of the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT):
The CHT is situated in the south-eastern part of Bangladesh and covers an area of approximately 5,093 square miles (13,180 sq km’s) bordering with India and Myanmar. It is divided into three districts: Khagrachari, Rangamati and Bandarban. The region is mainly mountainous. The total population of 974,445 people are living in the CHT according to 1991 census. The same census indicates 51% of the total population consists of various ethnic indigenous minorities of which 49% are Bengali Muslim. Approximately 60% of the population are followers of Theravada Buddhism. The remainder are practitioners of Animism, Hinduism, Christianity and Islam.
From time immemorial the CHT has been the homeland to twelve indigenous ethnic peoples. They collectively identify themselves as the Jumma people, the first people of the CHT. They are the Chakma, Marma, Tripura, Tanchangya, Murung, Lushai, Khumi, Chak, Khyang, Bawm, Pankhua and Mru peoples. The Jumma people are distinctly different from the majority of Bengali Muslim people of Bangladesh in respect of race, language, culture, heritage and religion. The CHT is one of the least developed regions of the country due to various significant changes that have taken place over the last 30 years. One such change was the construction of the Kaptai Dam in 1960 which resulted in the creation of a huge water reservoir in the central part of CHT. The creation of this dam and subsequent lake, has had a major impact on CHT eco-systems. The spectacular beauty of the lake hides the catastrophic impact for thousands of farmers. The Kaptai dam project involved the flooding of 650 sq. km’s of valley land and also displaced about 100,000 people from their ancestral homes. Their houses were completely submerged including the palace of the Chakma King. About 35,000 indigenous people fled to India as refugees.
One of the bloodiest and longest running civil wars in southern Asia took place from 1973 to 1997 between the Government of Bangladesh and the CHT people. The CHT people were trying to wrest self governance away from a better equipped Bangladeshi Government. Quite expectedly, no meaningful or large-scale socio-economic development could take place in such an atmosphere, and as a result, the CHT was lagging behind in other areas such as political and infrastructural development. At the end of December 1997 a peace accord was signed between the Indigenous leaders and the Government of Bangladesh. It is believed that this historic accord will usher in a new epoch in development for the region. Instead of following through with the peace accord, the Government of Bangladesh reneged on the agreement, decided to use military force to assert control over the CHT in a military operation called “Uttaran”.
Introduction of PBM
The PBM is a non-profit NGO working in a charitable way for people within the CHT. It is the oldest voluntary-based organisation in the CHT. The PBM formed in May 1983 with the opening of a new Buddhist temple dedicated to teaching the Buddha-Dhamma among the hill people in the village of Pilotpara. There was also an opening of an orphanage for children who were dislocated through the on-going conflict in the CHT. Venerable Sumanalankar Mahathero, late Upendra Lal Chakma (Member of Parliament), Mr. Hangsa Dhaj Chakma and other local leaders formed a committee in the name of PBM. Venerable Mahathero is the founder President of PBM since its establishment. He is one of the outstanding Buddhist scholars from Burma. He spent many years in Burma studying Pali and Buddhist scriptures in addition to his meditation practice. He is one of the senior vice-presidents of International Network of Engaged Buddhists and president of Parbatya Bhikkhus Sangha. I first met Venerable. Mahathero in 1989 at Shillong Buddhist temple when he was visiting in India from Bangladesh. In 1998, I returned from India and became involved with the PBM as a voluntary teacher. Even in 1998, everyday after school, Venerable Mahathero, myself and orphaned children had to work in the fields to plant vegetables such as potatoes, chilly, beans, rice among other food crops. At the end of 1998, the PBM sent me to Myanmar for Buddhist studies at the International Theravada Buddhist Missionary University. In May 2003, I guided a German delegation to inspect the project that their NGO (MISERREOR) had sponsored.
The orphanage started with 16 boys in a simple bamboo house structure. Cyclones and floods destroyed the house. Each time, we rebuilt the house, another flood or cyclone would come and destroy it. Even with the difficulties we endured in rebuilding the house, we still continued to reconstruct and repair the house after a flood or cyclone. Finally, in more recent years, with the help of local & foreign friends, we were able to build more permanent and weather tolerant structures using bricks and concrete.
Since its establishment in 1983, PBM has been implementing programs relating to income generation, healthcare, women's rights issues and education to assist the impoverished indigenous minority people in the CHT. The PBM was registered in 1985 under the Department of Social Welfare Directorate and the NGO Affairs Bureau of Bangladesh Government (Registration No. 06/85 & 977 respectively). The registration of the Department of Social Welfare Directorate of Bangladesh permits PBM to receive funds from local NGOs and the government of Bangladesh. The registration of the NGO Affairs Bureau of Bangladesh Government permits PBM to receive funding and donations from foreign NGOs, local donor agencies and individuals.
PBM is centrally located at Pilotpara, approximately three kilometres from the main city of Khagrachari. PBM projects spread throughout the district and future plans include reaching out to both Rangamati and Bandarban. The children of the orphanage project come from all three hill districts and many of PBM’s beneficiaries are returned refugees from India and internally displaced refugees who have not been adequately rehabilitated. PBM’s campus covers about four acres of land and is surrounded by rice paddy fields, banana, coconut, jackfruit and mango trees and many villagers’ houses. PBM’s campus has about twelve buildings and construction is currently underway for a new girl’s dormitory with more classroom space.
PBM, now a leading NGO in the CHT, has aimed at alleviation of poverty of the poor indigenous community through initiating rural development, gender equality, employment, environmental conservation, medical, disaster management and human rights programs.
The vision of the PBM is to develop an alternative modality and empower members of the disadvantaged indigenous minority groups. Special effort goes into assisting women and children; to lead a life free of poverty and oppression. The PBM wish that people within the CHT can realise the dignity, peace and justice of a free society.
The PBM is sponsored by organisations such as:
The World Bank & The United Nations,
The governments of the Netherlands, Canada and Bangladesh,
AusAid and BODHI (the Benevolent Organisation for Development, Health & Insight).
These organisations provide monetary assistance for the PBM so it can conduct educational programs in the areas of vocational training, building, community health, schooling, infrastructure, welfare, water supply, sanitation, human rights, advocacy and legal aid. All the activities are aimed at supporting social and economic empowerment of the indigenous communities. The officials of the local government and NGOs occasionally inspect PBM's field activities to monitor the progress of its projects to ensure all monies are being responsibly used.

Current projects include:
1.Rehabilitation of landless & distressed Indigenous tribal people of the Khagrachari district (KD) in vocationally-based training.
2.Orphanage centre for poor, destitute and orphan children of the indigenous minority community. At present 187 orphaned children are living and studying in PBM facilities.
3.Residential high school for the students of the indigenous minority community. The school was established in 1995 with around 250 students studying in the school today.
4.Community-based health projects in the KD in Bangladesh.
5.Capacity building project for poor women self-development in the KD of Bangladesh.
6.Medical centre for the indigenous minority community.
7.Self-help credit union for indigenous minorities.
8.Sustainable social development projects for the indigenous peoples in the CHT.
9.Health programs for the indigenous communities in the KD.
10.CMWSP (Community Managed Water & Sanitation Program) in the CHT.
11.Community empowerment projects.
12.Integrated rural health development projects in the hilly region.


Future Plans:
Indigenous minority communities in the CHT are benefiting greatly from the assistance of the NGOs and Governments listed above. The CHT has not been able to grow as well as it may have due to the Bangladeshi Government's back-flip in following the terms of the 1997 peace accord.
The PBM wish to expand humanitarian assistance to areas such as child, adolescent and adult education. Other areas of interest include housing, banking, enterprise management, health and nutrition, water, human rights, sex education, meditation centres, transport, and sustainable agriculture.
My heartfelt thanks goes to Venerable Thich Thong Phap and the members of the Buddhist Chaplaincy at Flinders University for organising a seminar on PBM and my thanks goes to the audience for being patient listeners.

With the Dhamma,

Ven. A. Paññājoti


Sources:
www.pmb-cht.org
www.bodhi.net.au
www.sulak-sivaraksa.org
www.thirdculture.org
Notes: If anyone is interested to know the annual reports of the PBM, please write to Ven. A. Panna Joti, Cordinator of PBM, Australia; E-mail: bhante_international@yahoo.com.au.