As part of the corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities that the company carries out regularly for the two primary schools near the factory, TMBD employees performed the Bangladeshi version of the radio gymnastic exercise called "Chol Chol Exercise" on November 1, 2015.
The dietary lifestyle in Bangladesh includes mostly oily food such as curry and fried food as well as sweets that are excessively sweet. On top of it, the habit of exercising is also non-existent with most schools not even offering physical training classes. Lifestyle diseases such as diabetes and heart diseases have become major social issues. As a preventive measure, the Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), together with the gymnastics division of the Bangladesh Institute of Sports, conceived a new exercise similar to the radio gymnastic exercise of Japan. The song used for the exercise is a popular march among the citizens called "Chol Chol Chol" (chol means march in Bengali) and hence the exercise was called Chol Chol Exercise.
For the performance, TBMD employee Shahidul Islam dressed up as Bantora Kun ("Ban" is taken from Bangladesh and "tora" means tiger in Japanese), the mascot of the Japanese Commerce & Industry Association in Dhaka created with a purpose to promote international exchange and business between Bangladesh and Japan, and livened up the event.
Despite dark news coming out of Bangladesh such as the assaults on foreigners including Japanese in the country in 2015, we will continue with our activities and hope that these children will grow up healthy and successfully become the bridge between the two countries.
