Blogs from Dhaka, Bangladesh, Asia - page 13

Blogger Dougo Bec's Mum, Karen and Dad, Jim arrived yesterday evening. What better way to introduce them to Bangladesh then to take them into the hustle and bustle of Old Town? We left our place in a school van and headed into the heart of the city. Our school and where we live is in the north of Dhaka near the airport approximately 1hour from the 'old' town. As it was only a few days prior to Eid Al-Adha, the festival of sacrifice (more on that later), the roads were packed with people, rickshaws, cars and trucks. It took us nearly an hour and a half to get to our destination - Hindu St - a long lane way barely wide enough for two rickshaws side by side selling Hindu trinkets and incense. Our goal ... read more

Blogger Dougo Well it finally arrived. Christmas break, end of second term, the winter holidays. It is always a busy time of the year for anyone, but for international teachers this is particularly busy. It is a weird mix of total exhaustion having got through the first five months of a new school, report writing and getting to know everyone, and elation at knowing there is light at the end of the tunnel. Social commitments aplenty is the theme in the weeks leading up to any holiday break. Everyone is going somewhere (more often than not) and you are asked so many times that you sometimes feel as if they are having you on. ISD has such an abundance of differing nationalities heading home for Christmas. Cananda, US, England, Wales, Australia, New Zealand, Denmark, France, ... read more

Shabbir - who heads BRACS's Bangladesh microcredit program (manages 29,000 people) had asked me what I was doing on Friday - their holy day - and when I told him that I had no plans he asked Rozina to set up a tour for me. My expectation was that they were setting up a commercial tour guide and car. Instead what they had done was ask Rana, their Communications Officer to guide me, taking a BRAC vehicle and BRAC driver. Rana's office is near the Chairman and Founders office and Rana sets up all the tours for International visitors - as well as doing much of the Public Relations for BRAC. I knew I was in good hands when Rana told me of how he was in charge of Bill and Milinda Gates BRAC tour of ... read more

Twenty very tired participants from all over the world ended a glorious ten days together at Grameen Dialogue. It started by meeting Professor Muhammad Yunus and ended with our sharing our plans for the future, expressing our gratitude to all of our wonderful hosts at Grameen and telling about what each of us is planning do do with what we learned. I ended my sharing by telling them that one of the reasons I was there was to honor them and what they have done for the world. We toured the museum filled with the many many awards that Professor Yunus recieved and the highlight of the day was being able to see close up the Nobel Peace Prize that he and Grameen Bank received. Enjoy some of the sights.... read more

I have now enterred a new and very different phase of my trip. I have moved to be with BRAC - the largest NGO in the world and the second largest microcredit organizaion in the world. BRAC has a very wholistic approach and includes large components of Heath Care and Education along with legal support of the poor and other humanitarian services. They have a very different program from Grameen for the Ultra Poor and that was the original reason that I have come to BRAC. Anne Hastings of Fonkoze had told me of this program that she is using in Haiti and she was kind enough to connect me with these very hospitable people. Rabeya, who heads the Ultra Poor Program of BRAC has visited Fonkoze twice and told me of the wonderful work that ... read more