My Story

Hello, I am Joseph, I am a Master's of Architecture student at the Scott Sutherland School of Architecture in Aberdeen. I will be running the Edinburgh Marathon this May in support of Azuko and all they do to improve people’s lives globally. I would really appreciate any support you could give me in this endeavour

Azuko is an Architectural charity based in the UK which also has a significant presence in Bangladesh. In the summer of 2022, I attended one of their workshops in the country where I was able to be involved in the work they do. During that time, with the help of local builders and other participants we were able to build five new toilets for families living the rural northwest that lacked them. 46% of people in Bangladesh do not have access to toilets and the Rangpur division of Dinajpur where we were based has some of the highest rates of open defecation in the nation. This experience helped me understand how architecture can directly help people in a short period of time. This is something I was previously interested in through my research into Shigeru Ban and his work building shelters for victims of the 2011 Tsunami in Japan and so I was excited to experience humanitarian architecture first hand. I really enjoyed this experience and I want to support Azuko in doing more of this work and so when I was considering who I should fundraise for, Azuko was a first choice.

Thank you for your time and interest, I will really appreciate any support you can give and I hope to do more of this in the future.