Blogs from Bangladesh, Asia - page 18

Bhola would clearly be a difficult place to be an adolescent girl. Of the three districts that we work in, Bhola is the most isolated and rural. It takes two ferries—one that is an hour long—just to reach the area from the division capital. More women in Bhola wear burkas, and those who don’t are more likely to wear other Saudi-influenced head dresses and full length overcoats. In the Safe Spaces, group participants tend to be younger, because most girls older than 15 years old have already been married and moved out of the village. Those girls who have married into the village are typically not allowed by their parents-in-law and new husbands to attend the peer sessions. We also see more illiterate girls in Bhola. Even those girls who are able to attend school often ... read more

You heard me correctly - there were roaches on the plane from Kathmandu to Dhaka. It was a horrible airplane experience with a horrible Airline. Biman Airlines, I hope to never fly with you again. To start things off we sat on the tarmak for about a half hour apparently waiting for some VIP's to arrive. Once they boarded it seemed we would be on are way, the engines were going, we got the safety announcement, the VIP's even got some drinks. Minutes later the engines stopped and there was an announcement that they were having some minor technical problems. At one point they even got out what looked to be an owners manual for the plane. Let me say, we were a little uneasy. It was right about then that we saw the first of ... read more

As you can see I am not in India. This is just a quick message to tell you all that we are all okay here despite the terrorist attacks in Mumbai. The internet is not that great here, so I will be brief. There is one volunteer in Mumbai currently that Bonnie is in communication with and trying to get her out of harms way, this is difficult thought because the city is in lock down and it's hard to get people in or out. I will try to write more tomorrow. ... read more

Penguins and Sharks So I mentioned a cool quote from a book Tara was reading and it’s pretty simple. In every group of penguins, when it’s time to jump into the waters, there is always a high risk of killer whales and danger, but one of those penguins always has to be first. I think I’d like to begin my life tomorrow being the first penguin in the water. I’m talking about turning into a, “yes,” man, finding Jesus under my bed or learning how do knit, but there are several new possibilities that exist within our finger tips back in the states, that a majority of people in the places I’ve traveled of late can only dream of. In short, I feel like I keep meeting people with the same story; they all wish they ... read more

I've been back in Bangladesh for almost six weeks now, and must admit that I have been remiss in my communication. Life moves very quickly here, especially with our frequent traveling between our office in Dhaka and our field site in Barisal. I am working on an entry that will briefly explain what exactly it is that I do here in Bangladesh--the acronyms and places and terms and people that define my day to day life. In the meantime, please accept this video as a virtual postcard from Bangladesh. It is a video of a small village that we were visiting for work, taken during the afternoon call to prayer. The imam (priest) singing the call to prayer was in a stilted shack just beside where I stood as I took the video. Everything in it ... read more