For many, the morning of 21 July last year is still a nightmare. The flames that came down from the sky, the screams and the wrecked school building still haunt many students of Milestone School and College. But life has not stood still under the weight of grief. A year after the tragedy, a humanitarian event, "Sobujer Majhe Omor Tomra" (You Are Immortal Amid the Green), second edition, was held at Chuti Resort in Pubail, Gazipur, to turn grief into strength and help heal the mental wounds of students who lost dear friends and relatives.

On Thursday, 16 July, at the programme organised jointly by Chuti Group and the Rotary Club of Banani Dhaka, the students did not just play games; they planted memorial trees in remembrance of every life lost. The organisers hope the trees will not remain mere name plates but will keep the memory of those classmates alive in nature. The trees will grow and spread their branches, just as the children will grow beyond today's sorrow towards the light of the future.

Prominent citizens and mental health specialists attended. In the "Tree of Life" art therapy session, supervised by Monira Rahman, students expressed their unspoken feelings through pictures and colour. Professional counselling to overcome long-held fear, and a lively football match, restored the students' lost confidence.

The main organiser, journalist and Rotarian Shahnaz Sharmin, said: "The helplessness I saw in these children while reporting at the Burn Institute for 12 days in a row drove me to organise this. These smiling faces today are proof that love and collective effort can heal even very deep wounds."

At the time of the accident, class six student Yusha dreamt of becoming a pilot, but the moment the plane crashed into the school veranda shattered that dream. The fear still shows on Yusha's face, but being close to nature seems to be teaching her to live anew. Like Yusha, Jannatul Mawa, who still carries burn scars on her body, spent a long time laughing and playing with friends.

Rotarian Sharif Ullah, president of the Rotary Club of Banani Dhaka, said relieving children's mental pain is a social duty. Chuti Resort Pubail managing director Shamsul Islam and Chuti Resort Purbachal managing director Alamgir Ferdous said they were proud to be part of the event. Out of a sense of responsibility to society beyond business, they said, they have always kept their resorts' doors open to these children.

In his closing speech, Chuti Group chairman Advocate Mostafa Mahmud Arifi said: "The trees we are planting today will grow far bigger than the grief. These children will not be confined to news headlines; they will be remembered for ever, like a green forest growing towards the light of tomorrow."

Mental health specialists believe there is no alternative to closeness to nature and creative work in bringing traumatised children back to normal life. A year on from the Milestone tragedy, the wounds will take time to heal fully. But the journey begun under the slogan "Sobujer Majhe Omor Tomra" shows that with love and compassion it is possible to come out of darkness into light.

Life does not stand still, and these Milestone students are learning to dream again, looking towards the future.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.