On Bangladesh’s temporary islands, Runa Khan helps families stand with dignity - Rappler

Along the Brahmaputra River in Bangladesh, some communities live on land that is constantly shifting. They are situated on sandbar islands called char, formed by sediment deposition from major river systems.

These areas, which are continuously reshaped by erosion and flooding, are home to up to 20 million people, according to some estimates.

Runa Khan was introduced to char communities in 1997 while doing her work in preserving traditional boat-building skills.

During her visits, one moment stayed with her: a woman feeding her sick child with only two meals to save money for lamp oil. The second meal, rice and onions, was the child’s early dinner, given in hopes that he would forget his fever and sleep throughout the night.

Khan, who came from a privileged, wealthy family, said she saw the injustice and poverty that had become the reality for those living on these temporary, shifting river islands. Residents there are at risk of displacement as river erosion threatens to wash away their villages. Families have to constantly relocate even with their unstable income, trapping them in extreme poverty.

Her sadness turned to anger — and it might have been anger that pushed Khan to search for answers to help these communities.

“Realization, as I keep saying, leads to a responsibility. The fact that you can do something, then it becomes your responsibility,” she said in a virtual roundtable discussion last September.

In 2002, Khan founded the social purpose organization Friendship and established a hospital ship along the Jamuna River, a branch of the Brahmaputra River, in northern Bangladesh.

Over two decades later, Friendship has expanded its services to include education and livelihood, as well as programs for climate resilience, for 7.5 million people annually.

“I started the work because I just couldn’t leave or not be responsible for what was staring at me in the face, which was incredible poverty. Twenty-five years ago, these areas were totally untouched,” the 67-year-old humanitarian told journalists.

Khan earned the 2026 Ramon Magsaysay Award, considered Asia’s Nobel Prize, for her “profound empathy for the poorest of the poor in her country, and her courage, vision, and tenacity in building and leading Friendship to accomplish her mission.”

Her work is not over yet, however, as char communities become more vulnerable because of the worsening climate crisis.

Char dwellers find it difficult to access healthcare services and be properly diagnosed with their diseases. Their communities are low-lying, flood-prone areas as they sit across rivers.

Residents frequently suffer from common infectious and water-borne diseases amid floods triggered by the monsoon season from June to October. Mothers and children could also have elevated health risks. If they get sick, they have to cross rivers to reach hospitals on the mainland — or rely on alternative medicine.

This did not sit well with Khan, who believes the first thing a person needs is good health. So, through Friendship, she converted a river barge into a hospital ship for these temporary river islands.

“Without access to health, you can’t provide…any kind of empowerment to a person or any kind of hope to a person, nor give them dignity,” Khan said.

“Impossible” was a comment she would hear about the floating hospitals. But those hospital ships now provide surgeries to treat cataracts, clubfoot, and other common but debilitating conditions; give pediatric, gynecological, dental, and eye care; and supply free or cheap consultations and medicines.

It’s part of Friendship’s three-tier health care system. The organization trained local women to become medic aides, who handle door-to-door check-ups, provide maternal care, and gather patient data through a mobile app.

Meanwhile, roving medical teams give primary healthcare services in mobile and satellite clinics. If patients need major interventions and specialized care, they are referred to the hospitals.

Today, the organization has seven hospital ships and two land-based hospitals, 550 mobile clinics, and 700 medic aides.