USA Bureau

The Federation of Bangladeshi Associations in North America (FOBANA) will be a non-political platform that will embody the unity and culture of our diaspora Bangladeshis. Every year those who will lead the main committee and host committee of FOBANA will keep this platform away from politics. No politically motivated posts will be posted on Phobana's social media.

This proposal has been taken seriously at the 2024 Fobana conference. FOBANA's partner organizations unanimously supported the decision, and everyone present gave a warm welcome.

The three-day Fobana Conference 2024 was held in Arlington, Virginia, where a gathering of Bangladeshi expatriates took place. The event on August 30 and 31 and September 1, had a touch of joy, culture and patriotism. This year's event was full of various programs from morning to late night every day. Deep love for the country, culture and tradition of the country was revived in every moment.

There was no mixed reaction at this year's Fobana conference, only solidarity. All agreed, it was the most disciplined and successful Fobana ever. The sincerity of the host committee was evident in every phase of seminars, symposiums, film screenings, plays, science fairs, songs, dances and other cultural events.

Convener of Phobana, Roxana Parveen, was heartily applauded by all. He expressed his gratitude to those whose hard work made this wonderful event possible. Special mention to Member Secretary Abu Rumi, Host President Nurul Amin Noor, Anthony Pius Gomez, Pradeep Ghosh, Kachi Khan, Taskin Binte Siddiqui, Karim Salahuddin and all members of BAGWDC.

Roksana Parveen expressed her deep gratitude to the title sponsor Washington University of Science and Technology, PeopleNTech and all the other sponsors, without whose cooperation such a successful FOBANA would not have been possible. He specially thanked the media sponsor NRBConnect TV.

The three-day event included Science Fair, Women Empowerment, Youth Forum, Book Fair, Craft and Clothing Show, Fobana Short Film Festival, Kabya Jolsa, Immigration Discussion Seminar, EC Meeting, Shahhitto Ashar, Morok Unmochon, Fobana Film Festival, Fobana Granthamela, Seminar , AGM and many more.

The participation of children and teenagers in this year's Phobana conference and their performances made the whole event joyful.

Eminent journalist Iqbal Bahar Chowdhury, who started the journey to Phobana 38 years ago, was the chief guest on the opening ceremony of the first day.

Engineer Abubakar Hanip, Chancellor of Washington University of Science and Technology spoke as guest of honor.

He made a heart-warming appeal to all the expatriate Bangladeshis in the world - to extend humanitarian aid to the flood-ravaged people of Bangladesh, who have lost their loved ones, homes, cattle, wealth. , and most distressingly, their hopes. He also humbly requested everyone to send remittances to Bangladesh, to stand by the country in this critical time.

Virginia State Senator Saddam Aslan Salim, Ghazala F. Hashmi, Arlington County Regional Director Tanya Talento and Scottish Parliament Member Faisal Chowdhury among others also spoke.

On the second day, the main stage gathered in the evening. The auditorium was filled to the brim and the audience enjoyed one cultural performance after another. But the main attraction of the night was the song of Bangladesh's legendary artiste Kumar Biswajit, which kept the audience enthralled till late into the night.

The third day started with the Annual General Meeting of Phobana, where representatives from all the member organizations participated.

The seminar starts at noon. Chancellor Engineer Abubakar Hanip of Washington University of Science and Technology discussed various aspects of education and career formation in the United States. He highlighted how Washington University's triple mission—degrees, skills, and careers—is preparing students for the future.

The second seminar was on practical aspects of Bengali language. Its main speaker was Voice of America journalist and former teacher of Dhaka University Professor Anis Ahmed. Prof. Dr. was in charge. Aminur Rahman. Various aspects of language change, use and misuse of language are discussed in this seminar.

In another seminar, Abhik Sanwar Rahman discussed the history of Bengali literature. His episode was directed by eminent journalist Rokeya Haider.

Dr. on this day. There were multiple presentations by the Youth Forum led by Tarek Mahdi and Mahsadul Alam Rupam. At the beginning of the day there was a workshop on Art of Story Telling - Photojournalism. Which was directed by Nazia Rahman and Andrew Biraj. On this day too, the success stories of the youth are highlighted in this forum. There were also various cultural performances.

Young children participated in the science fair with their innovative projects, which was very interesting.

The main stage is packed in the afternoon. The performance of Banglaskool of Virginia was eye-catching with groups of artists coming from California, Michigan, Chicago, Houston, Kansas.

There was a special event to honor the freedom fighters in the 1971 Liberation War, also High School Gram.