In honor of Victory Day, the students of AUW held a parade in the neighborhood around campus. Armed with signs, banners, and a great deal of red and green clothes and face paint, they marched out the driveway onto M.M. Ali Road and then made their away around the entire extended block (actually a triangle), singing and chanting the entire way. Unsurprisingly, the large group of vibrant vocal young women garnered a great deal of interest from the local residents, most of which stopped whatever they were doing as the procession passed, and some of which even got up and started to follow along the sides (taking as many camera phone pictures and videos as they possibly could along the way).
Photo taken in Chittagong, Bangladesh on December 16, 2009.
After the students (and several participating staff and teachers) returned to campus, they continued to celebrate in the AUW driveway for quite a while. They sang songs, recited poetry, and took many pictures to remember the joyous event. The excess of color, noise, and positive energy flowing out of the huge group was a great symbol of the massive potential contained in such a passionate female student body that the university is working to help develop and enable to flourish. I promise I am not getting paid to write that questionably run-on sentence! It is just undeniably inspiring to see the power of AUW students in motion, especially in mass.
Photos taken in Chittagong, Bangladesh on December 16, 2009.
