Dubai Cares builds school in Bangladesh to honour nanny who died saving Emirati boys

Sufia Akter, a Bangladeshi nanny, died in October 2014 after saving the lives of the four boys aged between six and 10, two of whom were in her care.

Tariq Al Gurg, chief executive of Dubai Cares, sits beside Sufia’s husband while speaking to members of the local community. Dubai Cares is building a school in Bangladesh in memory of a nanny who dieShow more

DUBAI // A school in Bangladesh is being built in honour of Sufia Akter, a nanny who died in her attempt to save four Emirati boys from drowning.

The Dubai Cares project follows the directive of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.

Akter, a Bangladeshi, died in October 2014 after saving the boys, who were between six and 10 years old at the time. Two of the boys were in her care.

She managed to pull the children to safety despite the strong waves, but she was swept out to sea.

Although her employer, the ­father of two of the boys, jumped into the water to save Akter, she died before the emergency services arrived.

Dubai Cares has been campaigning to honour Akter’s bravery with an education project in Bhata Para, the village where she was born and raised and where her family still lives.

“Out of the devastating tragedy of this story comes great hope. The construction of the secondary school in Sufia’s village, Bhata Para in Bangladesh, by Dubai Cares will forever be remembered as a symbol of the courage of Sufia,” said Tariq Al Gurg, chief executive of Dubai Cares.

“For the first time, children in Sufia’s village will have access to secondary education and by the sixth year, the school will be entirely self-sustained.”

The ceremony to lay the foundation stone of the school in the village in Bangladesh’s ­Sunamgonj district was held last Tuesday.

Dubai Cares will also fund the school’s operational costs for five years after completion of its construction.

The campaign to build the school was supported by the UAE Embassy in Bangladesh, the Bangladeshi embassy in the UAE, NGO groups and government officials.