Dear BASHA,

As we come to the end of the 2023-2024 academic year, I want to applaud the board of the Bengali Association of Students at Harvard for putting together so many events. It has been a pleasure to work with everyone and create happy memories and strong friendships. One thing for sure is that we ended off strong by bridging connections with other cultural organizations and making this a space and home for both Bengalis and non-Bengalis. Let us reflect on some of the amazing events we put together towards the end of the semester.

BASHA x EESA Iftar

The Bengali Association of Students at Harvard(BASHA) and the Eritrean and Ethiopian Student Association(EESA) collectively hosted an iftar where everyone wore their beautiful and vibrant cultural attire. BASHA and EESA had the opportunity to share our cultural dishes with not only each other but other students as well. This was an opportunity to share our culture, and a glimpse of Ramadan. 

Vistas Mango Lassi and Mingle

Congratulations BASHA Class of 2028! It was great being able to meet without all as we drank mango lassi and gave you all BASHA tote bags with South Asian snacks and candy. We cannot wait to officially welcome you all in the Fall into your home away from home. 

Boishakhi Mela

Our biggest event of the year wooo! This festival to celebrate the Bengali New Year is also in collaboration with the Harvard College Students for Uyghur Solidarity, the Tibetan Cultural Organization, the Pakistani Student Association, the South Asian Association, and the Harvard Undergraduate Nepali Student Association, where each organization hosted a booth consisting of a food or an activity. Undergraduate and graduate students from in and outside of the Harvard community attended in cultural/semi-formal clothing and watched student performances ranging from singing and dancing to a skit. This ended off with a delicious dinner with authentic Bengali food and an open dance floor.

Senior Send Off

This is not goodbye, simply see you later. Thank you to the seniors of BASHA for all of the hard work you put in the past few years. Especially with BASHA being a fairly new organization starting your freshman years! BASHA will miss you and cannot wait to see all that you all accomplish!

Board Bonding/ Board Meetings

Although this is not an event, this is truly a memorable part of being in BASHA. From our 2am mango lassi trip to our 3am IHOP suhoor trip, we cannot forget about our all-you-can-eat brunch, lots of laughs were shared and memories were made. Our board meetings are not your typical board meetings, our board group chat is definitely not your typical board group chat. We are not simply BASHA board, we are a family who is there for each other and we hope to provide the same to you all.

I cannot wait to see what the next semester holds for BASHA <3

With love,

Samia Afrose