Why South Asia?

Our History

Amarok is the Inuktitut word for 'wolf', which is fitting given the origins of Amarok Society which was first established by Gem and Tanyss Munro in their work in Canadian Aboriginal communities. Since 2005, the work of Amarok Society has focused on Bangladesh supporting the larger human family - particularly those people with no sort of support net.  We are working in Canada to expose people to the needs of the human family, by talking about and sensitizing people to global needs which broadens people's horizons and tolerance. We accept invitations to talk to any group of people. Contact us at info@amaroksociety.org if you know of a group of students, a club or any group of people that would like to find out more about Bangladesh and about what we do.

Our Approach

Through its Mothers of Intention projects, Amarok Society  works with local, partner NGOs (non-governmental organizations) to deliver education initiatives of its own design to the very poor as the foundation upon which poverty alleviation and all other social improvements may be achieved.

The situation in South Asia today

 More children live in desperate poverty in South Asia than in Africa, or anywhere else, both in number and as a percentage of the respective populations.

South Asia, with 23% of the world's population, is the planet's poorest region. About 540 million people, or 45% if the region's population, are living below the poverty line, with daily incomes of under one dollar. This proportion is higher than in Sub-Saharan Africa, East Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, the Caribbean or the Pacific region including China. Among the 200 million poorest people in South Asia, the average life expectancy is less than 40 years.

South Asia's poverty is perpetuated by the highest rates of gender disparity in access to, and completion of, primary and secondary school.

Among the region's adults, 395 million are illiterate.

Women suffer the most: of the illiterate, 234 million are women, or 64% of the total number of women.

These women's heads were meant for a better purpose than this.

Women tote sand for concrete at a building site. They are members of the world's cheapest workforce.

 A young boy as a beast of burden

 There is no need for powered cranes or hoists where an uneducated child's living energies are valued much less than dead fossil fuels.