Meet Hobu’s family:

And now, see his new rickshaw:

Several other volunteers and I have talked and talked and talked about it, but today I finally did it. I’ve just spent Tk 10,000 (roughly $140 USD) to buy my friend Hobu a rickshaw, and, if he works hard enough, there will be a dramatic change in his income over the coming year because of it. We first met Hobu outside one of the expatriate clubs in Dhaka.

Normally, Hobu has to pay 80 taka per day in rickshaw rent fees, and on a normal day he can make somewhere between 200-300 taka. But even if he has a good day, he will still have to pay what could be 25% of his daily earnings to the rickshaw garage where he takes his rented rickshaw. His is a life of indentured labour—without assets like his own rickshaw, his ability to make more money is severely limited, and his story is one of millions in Bangladesh.

I will admit I am skeptical: the first thing I’d heard about Hobu was how he drank a third of a bottle of vodka from volunteers and got so drunk that he lost a rickshaw that evening, after peddling two other volunteers across Dhaka in the middle of the night.

But my skepticism went away when one day, I was his passenger and I made that journey across Dhaka in the middle of the night. From that day, I learned a measure of respect for these hardworking men, and especially Hobu, whose spoken English is actually quite impressive.

Later we took the time to visit his home and meet his wife and two kids, and while he is certainly persistent, he has never asked me for my charity, he has simply shared his life with me. So today, I’ve decided to help him out. And now, if you want to help me help him, I’d dearly appreciate it.

By now you’ve seen the locations where photographs can be installed onto the rickshaw. If you’d be interested in having your photograph added, please send it to me and make a donation. It’s a “pay what you can” kind of thing. Although, if you really feel like it, for $100 I will get your face custom-painted on the rickshaw plate (depicted below). Any extra money I can chase up, I will simply plow into making this rickshaw more and more elaborate and a source of pride for Hobu.

It never ceases to amaze me how little it costs to change one life in this vast country.