About us
Bondhu means friend.
That's how we see our work: as a friendship between people in Munich and in Faridpur.
Our story
In February 2015, Michael Kranz flew to Faridpur in Bangladesh for his student documentary WAS TUN. There he saw how great the hardship of the women and children in the brothels is. He met the married couple Chanchala and Shyamal, who have been working for decades for better living conditions for the women and children in the brothel and against forced prostitution. They had already founded a home for the daughters of women in forced prostitution. But there was still no solution for the boys, who kept growing up in a brothel environment marked by severe abuse.
While filming in the brothel, a woman asked him directly whether Michael could open a home where her son would be safe and could go to school. He said he couldn't manage that. But in the end, that's exactly what happened.
Michael asked his friends on Facebook for support. At first, just under €2,000 came together. Even so, Chanchala, Shyamal and Michael set about opening a home with it for around 20 children of women in forced prostitution.
Today the charity Bondhu Förderverein Deutschland e.V. looks after the project from Germany, finding donors to secure the home and let it grow.
Michael is still in regular contact with Shyamal and the children, and travels to Bangladesh whenever the situation calls for it.
The documentary
WAS TUN
The Bondhu project grew out of this documentary. Michael Kranz filmed it in Faridpur from 2015 onwards. In the film he searches for Nupur, and it also shows how the project began.
WAS TUN (German for “What to do”) premiered at DOK.fest München in 2020 and was then shown in cinemas and on TV, including on ORF and in the ARD Mediathek.
Watch the film
- Vimeo On Demand
English version (voice-over by Journeyman Pictures). Not available in Germany, Austria or Switzerland.
- Amazon Prime Video (US)
English version (voice-over by Journeyman Pictures). Not available in Germany, Austria or Switzerland.
- Amazon Prime Video (Germany)
Original German version with German subtitles
- Apple TV
Original German version with German subtitles
- YouTube
Original German version with German subtitles
- 2021Bavarian Film Award, Best Documentary
- 2021German Documentary Film Award, Audience Award
- 2021German Documentary Film Award, Promotional Award
Our partners in Faridpur
Chanchala Mondal and Shyamal Adhikary run the charity Shapla Mohila Sangstha and coordinate the Bondhu project on the ground. Both of them also appear in WAS TUN.
Chanchala grew up right next to the brothel in Faridpur. Back then, when women in prostitution died, they were thrown into the river because they were not allowed to be buried. During a stay in Japan, Shyamal saw how victims of sexual violence were helped there.
In 1997 the two of them founded the first charity in Faridpur to stand up for women in forced prostitution. Its work ranges from health education and caring for the children to freeing underage girls from the brothel. Visit the Shapla Mohila Sangstha website
Team Germany
The association is run by volunteers. The board in Munich:
Michael Kranz
Chair
Stefanie von Poser
Deputy Chair
Felix von Poser
Treasurer
André Lemmer
Secretary
Team Bangladesh
Shapla Mohila Sangstha runs the homes in Faridpur and looks after the children every day.
Chanchala Mondal
Director, Shapla Mohila Sangstha
Shyamal Adhikary
Director, Shapla Mohila Sangstha
Donate
Every euro you give reaches the people in Faridpur.
Here in Germany we are all volunteers, and there's no marketing machine behind us. Instead, we put our whole heart into the project.
Donate