I'm not in India

An amusing line from a recent issue of The Economist, on India-Bangladesh relations:

"Bangladesh, a semi-hostile nation of 153m delta-dwellers, which is currently under military rule and often under water, is another worry."

Additionally, seems inter-country trade (at 2%!!) is lower in this region than anywhere in the world. Unfortunate.

Christmas in Bangladesh

Merry Christmas!

I celebrated the holiday by going to midnight mass at one of the two local catholic churches. At no time in recent memory have I been to a catholic mass, so why not in Bangladesh? About 15 of our students came with us (Everyone wanted to come, but only the Christians were allowed to attend!) The church was mostly Sri Lankan ex-pats. And it was, of course, decked out with bright lights:

Walkway into the church:

On Christmas Day, there was a special lunch at school. Chef tried his hand at mashed potatoes, steamed vegetables and roast chicken! It was really quite tasty, and he was quite proud. The students, however, thought the food was way too bland for a special holiday.

With Chef (Gias) and his masterpieces!

Chittagong has a lot of garment factories, where people sew ready-to-wear clothes. One of our students gave us a gift-- she hit the jackpot in surplus granny-panties, and wanted to share the wealth. So we each got our own pair.

modeling the granny-panties

Today's Language Moment

Miss Cindy: If you have any questions, come see me! OK? Come see me.

[Cambodian students start laughing hysterically.]

Cambodian students: Miss, in our language [Khmer], "Come see me." means "Come eat noodles with me."

Eid Mubarak!

Or, "Happy Eid!"

The sighting of the moon last night marked the beginning of the second Eid, Eid Al-Adha. This is the "Festival of Sacrifice". It is a celebration of Abraham's passing of a trial from God, showing his willingness to sacrifice. Abraham was asked to sacrifice his son Ishmael to God, but the devil tempted him to disobey. Abraham overcame temptation, willing to make the sacrifice, when God intervened and gave him a lamb to sacrifice instead.

Eid Al-Adha also marks the end of the Haji, the annual Muslim pilgrimmage to Mecca, and the reason for the postponement (again) of the Bangladeshi national elections.

Most of what I know about the actual celebration of this Eid comes from the ex-Palestinian taxi driver that drove us from Amman, Jordan to Petra around this time last year [here I take pause to reflect on the past 1.5 years with a smile]. It's all very simple. Step One, he says: Slaughter a goat. Step Two: Divide goat into three parts. One part for the family, one part for the neighbors, and one part for the poor. In Bangladesh, they seem to use cows instead of goats. Unfortunately, I don't have a goat, a cow, or even a sheep. So for all you at home, no need to anticipate an excitingly hairy and grisly package any time soon.

the slaughter
(seen from my window)

Long Beans

They taste like green beans . . . yum!

Grameen Bank

I'm no economist, but this was pretty neat!

Grameen Bank is a Bangladeshi claim to fame (at least in the world of development-minded people). We had a chance to visit Jobra, where the bank was started by Muhummad Yunus in 1976. The bank pioneered microfinance-- giving the rural poor access to small loans. Small amounts of credit give people the chance to lift themselves out of poverty. Maybe by starting a small business with the purchase of their own weaving loom, for example. Before Grameen, people often borrowed from money lenders charging exorbitant interest rates. If you want to weave cloth, for example, first you need yarn and a loom. Perhaps the money lender gives you money for these raw materials, but on the condition that you to sell your finished product back to him at his price-- inevitably less than the market rate. Your profit is minimal-- so minimal that you don't have enough to buy the raw materials for the next batch of cloth. Back you go to the money lender, and the cycle continues. Microfinance is a way to break this pattern.

In Jobra, we got to attend one of the weekly meetings of borrowers. Most of the borrowers (97%) are women. This is intentional. Women, surprisingly, hold the reins when it comes to advancing change. According to Banker to the Poor (Dr. Yunus's book about the bank): "If one of the family members has to starve, it is an unwritten law that it will be the mother." Women, reliant on their husband's income, are also in danger of being divorced at any time. When the going gets rough financially, all the husband has to do is say "I divorce thee" three times. Suddenly he has one less mouth to feed, and a woman is left to fend for herself. Finally, a woman's life revolves around her children, making her more likely to spend money to keep food on the table and improve the household. Men, on the other hand, prove more likely to keep the money and spend it on themselves.

Loans last one year. Repayment starts one week after the loan is given, and installments are made weekly (see picture below). The interest rate is 20%. This seems high-- one of the harshest criticisms of Grameen is this high interest rate. However, it is still better than the "everything %" interest rate of a moneylender. The loan repayment rate is high too, around 98%. Upon paying back a loan, it is possible to take out a new one of a greater amount.

Here's what we saw: borrowers all gather in a little hut each week to make their loan payment. Each row of benches represents one "peer group" of five women. Each group acts as social support for its members, making sure everyone is using their loan responsibly and following their repayment plan. It's not a financial support group, though. If one person defaults on the loan, the other four don't have to make up the difference.

Weekly meeting of borrowers

From its origins in Jobra, Grameen has spread throughout Bangladesh, South Asia, and the world. It was awesome to see where it all began!

Building of the weekly meeting we visited, in Jobra

Grameen monitors the economic progress of its borrowers, and evaluates each family based on a very particular list of criteria. Drawing the line between "poverty" and "out of poverty" isn't easy, and I think Grameen's criteria are notable for their specificity. So far, 65% of Grameen borrowers have crossed the line.

[Taken from the Grameen website]

A member is considered to have moved out of poverty if her family fulfills the following criteria:

1.		The family lives in a house worth at least Tk. 25,000 [about $370] or a house with a tin roof, and each member of the family is able to sleep on a bed instead of on the floor.
2.		Family members drink pure water of tube-wells, boiled water or water purified by using alum, arsenic-free purifying tablets or pitcher filters.
3.		All children in the family over six years of age are all going to school or finished primary school.
4.		Minimum weekly loan installment of the borrower is Tk. 200 or more.
5.		Family uses sanitary latrine.
6.		Family members have adequate clothing for every day use, warm clothing for winter, such as shawls, sweaters, blankets, etc, and mosquito-nets to protect themselves from mosquitoes.
7.		Family has sources of additional income, such as vegetable garden, fruit-bearing trees, etc, so that they are able to fall back on these sources of income when they need additional money.
8.		The borrower maintains an average annual balance of Tk. 5,000 [$74] in her savings accounts.
9.		Family experiences no difficulty in having three square meals a day throughout the year, i.e. no member of the family goes hungry any time of the year.
10.		Family can take care of their health. If any member of the family falls ill, family can afford to take all necessary steps to seek adequate healthcare.

Bangla Home

Life has been very busy for the last month or so. The teachers all moved into a new building, about 7 minutes (by rickshaw) from the school. It is so nice to live and work in separate buildings! I love the students, but it is such a relief to not open my door to a chorus of "Hello Miss!!" every hour of every day. The new building is absolutely gorgeous, too. Next year, the "real teachers" -- the university faculty-- will be living here. We'll probably have to move out in June, so they can move in.

My new room (ignore the laundry hanging up to dry)

It's not perfect, of course: there's no hot water, a zillion mosquitos and ants, the noise outside is deafening (cars, CNG's, people, wild dogs and jackals at night...), and the pollution gives me a horrible cough. But really, it's pretty nice. When I came to Bangladesh, I sure didn't expect to be living in such a nice place. On the other hand, I also didn't expect to be teaching high school level English literature without a curriculum. Hearing stories of volunteers in rural villages in remote parts of the world, where just getting through the day is a struggle, I recognize the fact that decent living conditions enable me to put a lot more energy into my teaching. Enable isn't the right word-- more is expected of us. And that seems fair to me!

The mechanic shop across the street. Apparently it's open 24-hours, as I've woken many nights to the sound of drills, hammers, engines, etc . . .

The view from my window

Fun fact: House values in our neighborhood have risen since we came to this new building. And no, it's not the result of some convoluted market theory. They rose because 15 Western girls moved in.

Language Moment

We're reading Charlotte's Web in three of my classes. They asked me to define an unfamiliar word that keeps appearing in the text: crate. I explained that it is a box with an opening, normally made out of either wood or plastic. Everyone nodded in understanding. Upon hearing the definition, however, one student's face fell. Her hand shot up in the air.

"But Miss, it can't be made out of bamboo?!?!"

Happy Thank-You Day!

"Miss, how do you celebrate the Thank-You Day festival?"

Liberation War

With politics heating up in Bangladesh (Election Day is December 18th!), I thought now might be a good time for a little history.

Bangladesh was a part of Pakistan (despite the awkward geography) until the 1971 Liberation War. Many of our students are the proud daughters of Freedom Fighters. Prior to liberation, Bangladesh was East Pakistan, and today's Pakistan was West Pakistan. Despite the fact that East Pakistan was far more populous, West Pakistan maintained the majority of government power. When a Prime Minister from East Pakistan was elected, the government rejected his rule. They proposed a dual-minister situation, with East and West each having their own. This was not received well by East Pakistanis (the future Bangladeshis). The war erupted soon thereafter, and Bangladesh was born!

Additionally, there was the Mother Language Movement. In the 1950's, West Pakistan proclaimed Urdu as the national language, despite the fact that the majority of East Pakistan spoke Bengali. Protests followed. Although it preceded the Liberation War by a couple decades, the animosity between the two language groups surely contributed towards the Bangladeshi push for independence. Bangladesh, after all, means "land where they speak Bangla".

Head Start Needed

This article about birth in Bangladesh is pretty alarming: "Hard Start for Bangladesh Baby". And birth is most definitely not the last hurdle. I was speaking with Qamar Banu today, the woman who is basically the "mother-in-residence" for all of the girls. She told me that a lot of children in this country are very malnourished when they are young, and this is a big problem because then there are problems with their mental development. They have a difficult time with school later on in life, all because they did not have enough to eat when they were young.

Here Comes the Sun

More Nepal pictures, as promised (although it is a month later, oops!).

On the last morning of our four-day trek, we woke up at 4am to climb to the top of Poon Hill in the dark. Sure wasn't easy, but it certainly paid off!

JUST before the sun rose . . . we were above the clouds!

Just as the sun began to rise . . .

Suddenly, we saw the sun shining on the mountains in the west!

So beautiful.

LauraBeth, mountains, me (I was super cold, and wrapped in someone's scarf)

Posting this one to illustrate how horrible I am at posing for pictures :)

Hiking, the previous day

I miss Nepal . . .

Daal bhat (lentils and rice). Standard Nepali fare. We ate it everyday. Yum!

Congratulations!

The students are saying "Congratulations, Miss, Congratulations!" I think this quote from a recent New York Times article sums it up well:

GAZA — From far away, this is how it looks: There is a country out there where tens of millions of white Christians, voting freely, select as their leader a black man of modest origin, the son of a Muslim. There is a place on Earth — call it America — where such a thing happens.

Pretty incredible, huh?

The night before the results came to Bangladesh (when the polls had just opened in the U.S.), I walked down the street from my new apartment to the local convenience store-- three walls, a flat roof, not very big. We had a chat with the lman that owns the store, dubbed Mr. Moon Shine (after the name of his store). He has good English. "From America? The election? I hear many polls," he said, "You vote for?" "Barack Obama," I said. "Obama! I like him, too," replied the owner, "This world needs peace. He can. Obama can make world peace."

The next morning, I woke up at 6am to catch the results as the first polls closed in America. For that initial hour or so, McCain's electoral count was ahead. I sat there in the empty apartment, alone, in front of the BBC. I was beginning to think I should be worried. Then things starting looking up. I had to leave for class, but some students busted into my classroom when it was official: "Miss Cindy! Miss Cindy! Barack Obama is President of U.S.!!"

I watched his victory speech with my students during tea break. I admit I cried a little. I'm excited for America, and I wish I could describe how much people in other countries care. If only Americans could care as much about the politics of other countries.

I think the following dialogue illustrates the point:

Scene: An hour after Obama’s Victory Speech. In class, during silent reading time.

Student [whispering]: Miss! Miss! I have a concern!
Miss Cindy [walks over]: Yes?
Student [still whispering]: It’s not about the book.
Miss Cindy: Yes?
Student: This, Barack Obama in America? Is it a, um, turning point?
Miss Cindy: What do you think?
Student: Yes, miss, yes! I think so.
Miss Cindy: Well, we’ll all find out soon.


We've got a new President. And there's a lot to be done. Talk about Great Expectations!

Yes!

Check us out in The Times of India: Torchbearer of Change

Bangladesh vs. New Zealand

I know next to nothing about playing cricket. Going to a game in Chittagong was less than educational, but it certainly was interesting!

An international cricket game in Chittagong is kind of a big deal, so the stadium was packed. It was the Bangladesh team versus New Zealand. NZ won :(

The Field:

The man next to me gave me us newspapers to put on our heads to block the sun.

Foreign, unaccompanied women seem to attract attention. The "sections" at the stadium were cordoned off by big iron bars. Welcoming design, really. Here's the audience we attracted (not different from the audience we attract . . . everywhere). I figured I was allowed one photo, for the 100+ cellphone photos they took of us weird-looking, light-haired, lone white women:

Language Moment

I like this one:
Asking "Are you healthy?" in Bangla translates literally to asking "Are you fat?"

So:

"Yes, I am healthy." means----> "Yes, I am fat."

UP: Looking and Dressing

This past weekend was the Opening Symposium for the Asian University for Women (AUW). What a weekend.

It began in Chittagong on Wednesday with some visitors (aka donors to impress) and a really nice dinner--including WINE-- outside at the future AUW site. The next day, we piled onto the $2 train (with 129 students in tow) to Dhaka. What a hot, loud, dusty adventure. On Friday, there were several interesting discussions on woman's rights, and about the university in general. Saturday was the most important of all. Fakhruddin Ahmed, the head of the caretaker government, or basically the acting Prime Minister of Bangladesh, spoke to us, as did Mohammad Yunus, founder of the Grameen Bank and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006.

Some pictures from Wednesday night, in Chittagong, at the future site of the university:

A group of teachers before the Wednesday night dinner.

Set-up chaos:

Security Personnel. I especially liked the female security uniform-- the Security Sharee

This event really came at a perfect time for me. Certain aspects of life at the Access Academy are sometimes quite frustrating, but last weekend reminded me of how incredibly amazing this project is-- check this out, if you haven't already. Its potential is enormous! The school, like any educational institution, is an investment in the future, and I can't wait to see what this place will become in 20 or 30 years. The weekend reminded me why I'm here (for the students). Meeting all the incredible people that support this project renewed my faith in the organization and hearing all the talks reminded me of the importance of woman's education in this part of the world. Its official, I'm an AUW disciple.

Here's a few pictures from the weekend. I wore a sharee for the first time. It was a little stressful! The sharee is basically just a long, long strip of fabric. You tie a petticoat around your waist, wrap the fabric around your body and tuck it in to the waist of the petticoat. Simple enough. Then fold it over, make several pleats, wrap it around your torso and up over your shoulder. Not so easy. The first day, I had a few students dress me. The second day, I put it on by myself, as well as I (plus a bunch of safety pins) could. The sharee made me incredibly conscious of my posture. Slouch, and it looks like I'm wrapped in a towel!

Sharee shopping:

Assembly Required:

with two students, at the events:

After all the hoopla, LauraBeth and I decided to stay in Dhaka for an extra day. We were exhausted, so we didn't get to do too much exploring, but I was fun nonetheless. Although, when people describe Dhaka as the crowded land of traffic jams, they aren't joking.

We took the night bus back to Chittagong. The buses are really, really nice and comfy. I couldn't resist taking this picture of the bus station, with all its dramatic portraits of buses racing through . . . the snow?!
More Nepal pictures are coming, I promise! It just takes forever to load them onto this page . . .

Movie Review

So we found this "stall" (the size of a bathroom) in the bazaar around the corner that sells pirated DVDs-- in English! And they work!

Six movies for $1.25.

Best part is, the descriptions on the back cover appear to literally be things Googled or taken from personal emails about the movie. This is my favorite.

Back-cover synopsis of the movie Come September:

We love the film and have watched it countless times. Last year we were lucky to find out where the location of Mr Talbot's "villa" was. It is in reality one of the most luxurious hotels in the world dominating the hill overlooking the bay of Portofino in the Italian Riviera. The staff in the hotel confirmed that the film was shot there. However, when we view the film, the shots from the terrace down to the harbour don't quite line up, so we imagine that another location was also used. If you ever get to Portofino, it is worth the climb to see the view and the coffee wasn't as expensive as it was down in the harbour. Best wishes, Peter and Ita Kay.

^_^ (eyebrows)

All my efforts at explaining eyebrow threading make it sound as though I pay someone to floss my forehead. So, here's a visual aide:


And I guess that's not too far from the truth. The woman holds a very fine, sharp thread with her hands and her teeth in a loop. She puts the hairs between the strands and pulls quickly. This rubs the threads together and plucks out the hair in the middle. In about 5 minutes, my eyebrows are a picture of perfection. And for only 45 cents!

Trekking in Nepal, Day One

While unsure of the textbook definition of Trekking versus Hiking, I do know that trekking requires added protein:

Breakfast, Day One: Ants in My Honey

After our interesting morning evading a strike, we stopped for a quick breakfast. Then began our slow ascent!

Our first "summit" by 9am. The flags in the foreground are Buddhist prayer flags. We saw them everywhere around Nepal.

Next came rice paddies . . .

Teachers hiking through the rice paddies:

Big Mountains! The whole group, our awesome guides included:

Can't get enough of the view:

We tried dried water buffalo meat, at one point. Here are some wet water buffalo:

Nepalese school children!

The tea house we stayed at, the first night:

View from our tea house:

The bathroom:

Cozy Room!

BYO...TP

Not even toilets are the same all over the world. The sit-down toilet is a [lazy] Western invention. The rest of the world, when actually using a toilet and not the road in front of my window (like half the men of Chittagong seem to do), uses . . . The Squatty Potty!

Here's the one in my apartment:

And an educational video:

I've yet to see one that flushes, although I'm told they exist. The squatty potty runs on a BYOTP (Bring Your Own Toilet Paper) basis. The majority of the world, having not grown up with toilet paper, uses the left hand and a bucket of water (usually provided nearby). That's where the eat-only-with-your-right-hand custom originates.

There are pros and cons to the Squatty Potty. It's far more environmentally friendly (no TP, very little water) and it strengthens the thighs! As for negatives, can anyone say Hepatitis A? It's spread through feces. There's no way to wash your [left] hand at many of these toilets, so they're probably a major contributor to the increased presence of the disease abroad.

Durga Puja

. . . is a Hindu/Bengali festival celebrated in Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka and some parts of India. And, of course, by many of our students!

Durga is the name of an important, beautiful 10-armed goddess, who is married to Shiva. Puja means "worship".

A few of us teachers and a busload of students went to visit a bunch of "pandals" -- temporary statues of the goddess set up around Chittagong. There were Christmas lights hanging all over town, making for a carnival-like atmosphere!

Lots of lights!

Decorations at the front of our bus:

We stopped for a snack:

I have no idea what the food was...there were definitely some potatoes and lentils in there, but that is about all I could identify. Tasty!

Some student/Miss Cindy pictures:

Suba, Me, Silojah

On the far left is Tomoko (a staff woman here from Boston to help us get organized for an upcoming big event . . .), Chelvi, Me, Kumary, and Thusha

Me and Kumary

Durga Puja lasts for nine days. On the final day, our students invited us to a celebration in the morning. Apparently, the final day of Durga Puja involves blessings from parents, religious leaders, and sometimes teachers, too (who are third down the totem pole). Since the girls are away from home, they asked us teachers-- they actually called us gurus!-- to give them to blessing.

Each teacher crushed beetlenuts on the forehead of all the Nepali students, and touched their heads:



And then all of the Sri Lankan and many of the Indian students came up to us, one by one, and kissed our feet. That was a new experience for me. They also gave us a blessing:


At the end of Durga Puja, the idols are cast into the water-- symbolic of Durga's return home to her husband Shiva in the Himalayas. They take all of the idols down to the harbor, and send her out to sea! (Wrong direction from Chittagong but hey, minor detail).

This is another one of those holidays that involves goat-slaughtering. We saw these mountain goats on our trek in Nepal (where there is also a large Hindu population). The goats were raised in Tibet, and were being walked (herded?) by shepherds through the mountains down into Kathmandu for the slaughter. We tried to warn them, to no avail!