Jan. 8, 2008

Shefat Nusrat Baishakhi, a junior on the Lewis-Clark State College women's tennis team, spearheaded a relief campaign at LCSC in response to the recent devastating cyclone Sidr, which claimed more than 3,500 lives and large-scale evacuations in her home country of Bangladesh.

Baishakhi has collected more than $1,000 so far, including a $500 contribution from the LCSC International Club. Baishakhi also has raised money at the LCSC Craft Fair held last month at the LCSC Activity Center.
Baishakhi says that parts of Bangladesh flood every year. In 1998, a big flood hit the country when she was 13 years old.

"I felt so bad about the people in my country so I wanted to do something for them and I asked my dad about it," Baishakhi said. "He told me that I was too young and could not do anything. Then I told my dad that I can play tennis and raise money to give to the Prime Minister's Relief fund."

Baishakhi says she played tennis as a fundraiser that year and gave all the money she earned to the relief fund.

"Now I am grown up, I think I have some duties and responsibility for my country," she says. "When the typhoon hit my country and thousands of people died or don't have a home to live in or food to eat, I decided to help them."

Baishakhi says her family and friends were not hurt by the typhoon, but considers the people of Bangladesh as one big family. "I just want to tell everyone that people from the other side of the world need help and are waiting for your help," Baishakhi says. "They are hopeless now so please help them."

Baishakhi is majoring in Information System Analysis at LCSC.

Baishakhi, 22, was the Bangladesh national tennis champion from 1997-2005 before joining the LCSC tennis team for the 2005 Fall semester.