“Baro Mase Tero Parban” is a common Bengali phrase that means “twelve months, thirteen festivals.” It’s a fun way to say that Bangladeshis have a festival for every month of the year, and then some! While there are an abundance of Bengali celebrations to learn about, the most famous is Bengali New Year.

Picturesque hills and verdant swathes of tea gardens. Sherbert sunrises, flourishing jungle, and sinuous swamp forests. This is Sylhet, Bangladesh.

Notable for its natural beauty, tea plantations, and Sufi shrines, Sylhet is a little-known gem of Bangladesh. Here is a brief overview of its history and culture, tourist attractions, and economy, followed by a look at Sylhetis abroad.

Have you ever been to Hamtramck on Fat Tuesday, March 1 aka Paczki Day? I didn't even know this was a thing until I moved here eight years ago, but it is no joke. People line up early in the morning to get their Polish donuts called Paczkis. Hamtramck is well known for its Polish immigrant population. Many Polish people still live in Hamtramck, but many more drive from the suburbs to get their favorite Polish foods. Joy Thrift is across the street from one of these famous bakeries, so we will greet the crowds with a sign that says, "show us your Paczkis for 15% off." Anyone who comes in and shows us their donuts will receive 15% off their purchase at our store. We hope this becomes a tradition, so please spread the word.

One New Humanity is buying a house. It was an idea that came two years ago working out at Sylhet Farm that has not gone away. We mentioned it in our annual update and shared it with friends. The timing was bad two years ago, but the opportunity resurfaced at the end of 2021. We call it the farmhouse project because it is a small house adjacent to Sylhet Farm. The backyard of the home is the farm. We will be using it to run our water, electrical, internet, and all sorts of things needed to continue growing the community gardening efforts in the Banglatown neighborhood. Sylhet Farm is a partnership between One New Humanity and another non-profit called the Hope Center. The house comes with two side lots and a third we can acquire through the Detroit Landbank.

"A" was born in Afghanistan, and when the Taliban murdered her husband and uprooted everything she had ever known. She then fled as a refugee with her five kids to Turkey. Nothing was easy, but each step of the way, she persevered.

Last year we experienced tremendous growth, and it was fun celebrating and sharing stories with our team and volunteers. We decided to create our first-ever annual report highlighting a few of those accomplishments and stories. We hope you have time to read it, and we hope it is an encouragement to you as well. None of this would happen without donors and volunteers who come together. We will have some new ways to get involved in 2022, and the best way to know what is happening is to sign up for our email updates. We send these out every two to three weeks.

The Banglatown neighborhood borders the city of Hamtramck but is in Detroit. During the 1970s and '80s, a small number of Bangladeshi immigrants began migrating to the traditionally working-class Polish neighborhood. Today, nearly half of the area's residents are foreign-born, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates, and almost a third are from Bangladesh. Just under 20 percent of residents are African-American; 40 percent are white.

It is a safe space for women to meet their fitness goals, offering citizenship, English, and GED classes and fun community events throughout the year. They host an annual walkathon that is open to everyone who believes in this important work.