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Four Bangladeshi boys and four girls, who until recently were surviving on the streets of Dhaka, are heading for Lords Cricket Ground as semi-finalists in the Street Child Cricket World Cup.
The children have reached the semi-finals of the tournament representing Bangladesh.
In the knock out rounds they beat teams from Mauritius, Nepal, the West Indies and North India. They lost games against Tanzania, England and South India.
Mike Sherriff, the chairperson of Friends of Street Children Bangladesh, a small charity in the UK that has supported the costs of the team coming to the UK said:
“This has been an amazing journey for the children from the streets of Dhaka to the Peace Home run by LEEDO and now to Lords, the home of cricket, as World Cup semi-finalists. We wish them success at Lords, and we are also looking forward to the game with MPs who are part of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Bangladesh, which will take place on Thursday”.
During their stay in England the children were welcomed at a reception on the 39th floor of Canary Wharf.
They also visited the Tower Hill Memorial, close to the Tower of London, which commemorates people from the Commonwealth, including many from Bangladesh, who served in the Merchant Navy and lost their lives in the two world wars.
They have also visited the Oval Cricket Ground, Trafalgar Square and Westminster Abbey.
Before receiving help from LEEDO, which now provides the children a home, the children were experiencing exploitations and abuse in Dhaka at the railway station, the ferry terminal and in domestic service.