A life changing experience

Our sustainability ambassadors Sabine, Colin and Chantal are back home from the iwitness trip to Bangladesh. It was a life changing experience and a trip when almost every moment was a new impression or a new experience.


The Swiss and Dutch IKEA co-workers saying good bye to Bangladesh and to Mr. Carrot who now lives in Save the Children's office in Dhaka.

It was impressive to see how much education can change in childrens' lifes and Save the Children, our partner organisation, does a fantastic job supported by the donations from IKEA Foundation, raised through the Soft toy for Education campaign that we run at IKEA before Christmas every year.

On the longest beach in the world

Cox’s Bazar is beautifully located next to the sea and luckily we found some time to a walk along the beach. On the longest beach in the world, as the Bangladeshi claim it to be.

Picture taken by Chantal Rütsche

On our walk we heard someone calling out to us; “Hey, sisters and brothers” and towards us came a group of children from Mukti, the school we visited the day before. The kids had been to school in the morning and were now selling different handmade jewellery like earrings and necklaces. Other kids were dancing or singing for the tourists.



Picture taken by Sabine Wagner

They joined us on our walk and we were laughing together, they explained us about low and high tide and taught us how to find the starfishes hiding in the sand. One of children spoke very good English and we suggested him to share his knowledge and teach the other kids English too. The sun was shining and since we were walking on the longest beach in the world, the walk lasted for a while and the kids joined us all the time. Probably due to off season for the tourism and lack of buyers for the jewellery After a few hours, we got back towards the hotel, the sun set and we said good bye to kids.


Everyone is in love with Mr. Carrot! 

For the most important people in the world

The annual Soft Toy for Education campaign at IKEA makes a huge difference to children in many parts of the world. Bangladesh is one of many countries where children get a better life due to education provided by Save the Children, and already after a few days in Bangladesh, we have met many many children proving this.

Our Thursday in Cox’s Bazar started with a ride in a baby taxi, as yellow as the sun shining from a blue sky. The streets were free from any other motorized vehicles due to a countrywide strike and we got a picture of what Cox’s Bazar could have been like some decades ago.

On our agenda for today was a visit of a school class who had invited us to a cultural program. The taxi dropped us close by and we walked the last hundred meters. We met curious people along the way and I can tell you that we were as curious about them as they were about us.

The school we arrived at consisted of one single room for about 25 children with walls covered by posters with English vocabulary and all other kinds of useful information for children in their first years at school.

The cultural program started and proud and happy kids were singing and dancing for us, they asked us about our home counties and we told them about a country far away called Switzerland, with snow, high mountains and many many cows.

The children in this class visit school three hours per day and when we asked them if they like going to school, there was no doubt about their opinion. The answer was a clear and loud YES. The school we visited is part of a bigger education project called Shikhon run by Save the Children, supporting 5000 schools like this one, all over Bangladesh. With this kind of project, the children have the chance to receive education and a thereby later on, the possibility for a higher education, a higher life standard and a better life.

What we saw today is one of many projects showing how education can be a first and extremely important step to a better future for the most important people in the world – our children.

By Theres Wirell

A beautiful smile needs no translation 

After yet another night with very little sleep for most of us, we were to be checked out and picked up from the hotel at 8am. Of course, I accidentally hit snooze and slept until 7:20, so my breakfast was small and quick.

At about 8:15am, we were all in three cars and driving towards Mirpur in Dhaka, to visit the Bangladesh Protobondhi Foundation, though we had no idea what it was.

After squeezing through some tight and busy streets, we made it to the right place, where so many children dressed in bright colours were waiting patiently for us. We were showered with orange flower petals and beautiful, bright smiles as we entered the building, to discover it was a foundation, or school, for developmentally disabled children. It was incredible! We were shown through the many rooms, catering for the many children there with various disabilities.

Due to time restrictions, it was all a bit rushed as they wanted us to see the whole five-storey building. In one of the rooms, a young girl asked for the flowers that one of our team had received. Willingly our teammate handed the bunch over. This was followed by a couple more requests, until the original girl started telling each of our team that other members of her class didn’t have flowers. We left this room having made the children smile by giving them the flowers that they had originally given us—it was fantastic!

We were ushered to the top floor of the building where a dance presentation from the various classes had been prepared for us, with a sign behind them shining “Welcome IKEA Foundation”. It was amazing to see all that these children had devoted to this short visit! We were truly touched! Seeing how they smile regardless of the situation they are in, in the environment they are in, it is clear- this centre truly is changing the worlds of these children. On top of this, we could also be proud, as IKEA’s Soft Toys for Education campaign is playing a direct part in this!

We were then given beautiful gifts that the children had made themselves, and due to time restraints, a quick presentation about all that the foundation does. Rushing down the stairs, as a power outage refused us the use of the lift, we stopped at their little shop to make a few purchases of things the kids had made themselves, which would also directly support what the foundation does.

Rushing to the small domestic airport to catch our flight to Cox’s Bazar (a smaller city in the south-eastern part of Bangladesh) proved easier than we thought, even though we still only arrived 50 minutes before take-off. A very eye-opening airport and flying experience, which began our afternoon into the south of the country, before we were off to visit another school and training centre for children and teenagers—specifically focused on those who work on the beaches selling products to tourists.

By Colin Ward

Wondering what happened to Mr. Carrot? Don’t worry. He’s with us and we are taking very good care of him, our dear soft friend.




Asking ourselves how many rickshaws there are in Bangladesh...