Sir Frank Peters.
Sir,
I read with great interest and delight the letter from your readers Rashna & Afroze Begum about the humanitarian and good-natured work of Sir Frank Peters in Nurerchala.
As an animal lover I, too, care for the needs of stray dogs and applaud all who attempt to bring some comfort into their lives. What a shining example of humanity Sir Frank is setting for all. It’s highly commendable.
I read some time ago on Green Watch about Sir Frank campaigning to enlist the help of Bengali youth to help address the problem of food faced by our homeless canine friends.
He simply asked the youth, especially, to put to one side all the left-over food in their home in a plastic bag and on the way to school the following day to give it to the first dog they meet.
Simple, but brilliant! Instead of the food being destined for dumpsters, landfills and otherwise wasted, it would become a banquet for stray dogs and their puppies and demonstrate the very essence of humanity in a practical way.
I don’t know if that campaign was as successful as some the others he spearheaded over the years. Reducing the number of school days to five-per-week so both the teachers and pupils could relax and enjoy at least two solid days together with their families and friends is a classic.
The five-day school week has brought immeasurable pleasure into the lives of pupils throughout Bangladesh especially within the teaching community and teachers like me will be eternally grateful.
Sir Frank has proved, and is continuing to prove beyond a shadow of doubt, that he is truly a foreign friend. In answer to the question, why nobody thought of the five-day school week before he did, I’ll refer you to his cheeky, but brilliant, quote in The Daily Star (which hangs in my study), which says: “Genius is perception of the obvious that no one else sees!”
I take this opportunity to applaud and congratulate him on the inspirational work he is doing for our homeless canine friends and Bangladesh in general and I wish him every success. I pray to Allah the people will give his ‘feed a canine friend’ every support. It would be the compassionate and humane thing to do, and it makes enormous good sense.
Lorraine Hosan
Baridhara.