Today’s not a day for fancy language.
It’s a day for listening. For protecting. For showing up.
Yesterday, Bangladesh made headlines around the world — not for its resilience, not for its innovation or community strength (of which it has plenty), but for the violence that has erupted amid massive protests led by students. And while the international headlines are just now catching up, our team on the ground has been feeling the tremors for days.
As of Friday evening, a nationwide curfew is being imposed. The army is being deployed. Communications are fractured, telecoms are disrupted, and the country’s digital heartbeat has been muted.
And the part that’s hardest to read?
Dozens have been killed.
📵 When Everything Shuts Down, Who’s Still Reaching People?
At The Courtney Jordan Foundation, we’ve always said the real work happens when it’s inconvenient. When systems falter. When the infrastructure you count on suddenly collapses — and you have to lean not on what’s official, but on what’s human.
We work in Bangladesh because it’s a country that matters. A place where we’ve built partnerships with schools, women-led cooperatives, rural clinics, and youth leaders who are trying to build futures beyond the limitations imposed on them.
And this week, as tensions have escalated, our community liaisons have done what they always do: they kept going.
Even when Wi-Fi cut out.
Even when they couldn’t post updates or access bank apps or send high-res files.
Even when meeting in public became illegal.
Even when fear moved through Dhaka like smoke.
They still checked on families. Still tried to get kids to safety. Still answered the phone when someone whispered, “Is it safe to go outside?”
🧠 Context for the Chaos
These protests — fierce and led by students — are rooted in a fight over job quotas. But the frustration runs deeper. It’s about access. Fairness. A generation demanding to be heard, and being met with batons instead of answers.
When governments fear youth, they try to silence them.
When they fear networks, they shut down the internet.
When they fear truth, they block the news.
Right now, that’s what’s happening in Bangladesh.
❤️ Our Role, and Our Responsibility
This isn’t about choosing sides. This is about choosing people. And we are choosing to keep standing with the students, teachers, mothers, and frontline workers we’ve partnered with for years.
We’re actively working to re-establish contact with our teams in Rangpur, Khulna, and Dhaka. We’re using whatever backchannels we can find. We’re protecting identities, resources, and access to food, water, and medical support for those caught between protest and power.
And we’re calling on every humanitarian organization — stay alert, stay vocal, and don’t pull out. This is exactly when presence matters most.
🗣️ To the people of Bangladesh:
We see you.
We hear you.
Even when your government turns off the signal, the world must not turn off its conscience.
For those reading this from outside — this is your cue to care. Don’t wait for curated headlines. Don’t scroll past hashtags. What’s happening in Bangladesh right now is not just a political flashpoint — it’s a humanitarian crisis. And silence is complicity.
We’ll keep doing what we do.
Even in the dark.
Especially in the dark.
— Noah
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