The sun rose across the city of Dhaka and we once again awoke to face the day. Today we continued our efforts to fully understand our individual programs and compile interview questions. Our various programs are working out quite differently depending upon the meetings that we have had and the available information. But as a whole we are having success.
We are starting to settle into a routine at the office and the group seems ready to head into the field and continue our adventures. The time at the BRAC headquarters has been great but the group is a little stir crazy after a long week inside. It can be difficult sitting inside working when we look out the windows at the bustle of the city the whole time. We are all quite passionate about the project and excited about promoting BRAC but Bangladesh has so many new places to go, people to meet and unique situations to find that it can be hard to sit inside getting teased by the beautiful view and potential.
Last night in the TARC we were playing our board game Karambul with local students. Like many nights before this turned into singing, jokes and leaning Bangla fraises. One of the students was talking to me about religion and wanted to teach me some terms. He had me repeat a number of consecutive phrases before telling me what they meant and after about 30 seconds of repeating, he said that I had officially converted to Islam. So today is my first day as a part of the Muslim community. So far it has been very receptive.
Over lunch we further expanded on our linguistic abilities by learning some German for the European Cup soccer game tonight. Rob is our resident speaker and fanatic Germany fan so he lead the charge with Sam and John as his sidekicks. We realize this will probably not help us very much in the field but we all now know how to say dance pants if we ever get caught in a jam in Frankfurt. As a side note Germany lost the game and Rob is still lamenting.
We celebrated some office birthdays today and all got to indulge in one of our collectively most missed experiences from home: chocolate. This was part of meeting the new interns from various universities around the world. The students are all working on different projects but we came together for a while this afternoon to get to know one another and talk about mutual questions and curiosities.
Our group continues to work well together and we are all looking forward to getting out into the field and finding out how BRACs programs translate on the ground.
Allah hafez, and Auf wiedersehen
Friday, June 13, 2008
It's Been A Hard Day's Night, and I've Been Working Like A Dog (Adam Nathan, 06.11.08)
Yesterday was, by all accounts, not the best or brightest day we’ve had here in Dhaka. As we gathered in the area outside our rooms that morning to depart for the BRAC Centre, a strange silence permeated throughout the group. Everyone was exhausted—the night before was full of socializing with the local kids in the TARC (Training and Resource Center) and flicking little wooden pucks in this immensely popular Bangladeshi game called Grambun. We went to sleep late, and by Wednesday, the cumulative effect of hard days and long nights started to impact our attitudes.
The breakfast was full of spicy local flair: curry-flavored hash brown-like potatoes, which we wrap in chapatti (dense fried triangular dough) with fried eggs and fruit on the side. We definitely needed the sustenance, and the tea and coffee were welcome additions for our tired group.
The week had been full of executive meetings, where our group of Dukies met with the program heads of the various BRAC divisions. We were incredibly fortunate to have the opportunity to talk with many of BRAC’s most senior members, many whom are also highly respected scholars and practitioners in their respective fields. Wednesday continued to be full of such discussions. While all interesting, the conferences vary greatly: some inspiring, others considerably less so. Unfortunately, Wednesday was full of the latter.
The morning started off with a meeting with the BRAC Health Programme, which does amazing world in ensuring the physical and medical livelihood of millions of people across Bangladesh. The meeting was full of statistics and facts about BRAC’s record of achievement. By the end, our brains were bursting with information overload, though we did have a thorough understanding of BRAC’s amazing medical services for the poor.
We were then to meet with the head of BRAC’s agriculture division, who is highly regarded around the world for his work on farming, cultivation, and livestock advances. He was going to talk with us in the TARC, where we live, so we all crowded into a van and made the ten minute drive over the our place of stay. However, he was a no show—he had another meeting and was forced to cancel our appointment. So, after milling around while Rachael (our BRAC supervisor) and Shana tried to figure out what was going on, we got back into the vans and went to the BRAC Centre for another conference with BRAC environment staff.
The environment meeting was especially exciting for me, because it was the first meeting on one of my topic areas. Rob and I, who are responsible for the environment programmes as well as BRAC’s signature microfinance division, were looking forward to the meeting, but in retrospect, we should have known better.
The thing is, BRAC doesn’t have an environment programme. They have a few projects, but as we were told in the meeting again and again, BRAC’s commitment is to “alleviating poverty and helping the poor.” If some project also helps the environment in the process of achieving this goal, then BRAC thinks that’s great. But the environment, simply put, is not a priority for this organization.
The meeting turned out to be hilariously unproductive. We were interviewing two members who work on the “environment programmes” (despite the fact there is no programme) in BRAC’s research and evaluation meeting, who started off by telling us that “We are pretty low on the food chain here at BRAC, so we really don’t know what’s going on.” We knew then we were in for a good time.
We also interviewed the head of BRAC’s (for-profit) Solar Panels Project, which has built over two million such devices across the country. His deep knowledge was about the project was very helpful, until he spent twenty minutes telling us in minute detail how the solar panels work. When we asked him about the future of BRAC’s environment programme, he and the others responded, “There is no future.” Everyone tried to stifle a laugh, but the meeting was, to say the least, not very helpful in our information-gathering pursuits.
That afternoon, we met with the BRAC’s education programme. Despite having a packed room of experts, the education officials seemed to not want to answer the questions. When Heather or Anne, who are focusing on education, asked a question, the officials would start to banter. “You should answer the question.” “No, you should, you’re the director.” “No, it’s your responsibility, you have to.” And so it would go, for every query we had. Needless to say, the meeting was not everything we had hoped for.
After our meetings, all of us Duke students met to discuss the website content. We had earlier decided to structure our work into “features:” innovative, multimedia presentations of BRAC’s structure, operations, history, and impact based around cohesive themes. For example, the unique elements of BRAC are showcased in a feature called “The BRAC signature,” the personal effect of BRAC’s work is illustrated in a feature called “Impact in Action.” That process of choosing out features was fairly smooth and congenial. But the next task we had was not as easy.
We tried to make a “coordination guide,” to get everyone in the group on the same page about what exactly the features would contain, how they would be written, and in what media format they would be presented. It was tough work: after a long day, nobody really wanted to think about small details necessary to complete the guide. However, we prevailed, and at the end, everyone was very happy with the work we produced.
After a long day of meetings and an even harder group project after that, we went back to the TARC, ready to relax a bit and prepare for another day at BRAC. We knew it couldn’t get more demanding than Wednesday, though, and we made it through fine, stronger and smarter than we started. And for that, at least, we were thankful.
Then, it was time to sleep it all off.
The breakfast was full of spicy local flair: curry-flavored hash brown-like potatoes, which we wrap in chapatti (dense fried triangular dough) with fried eggs and fruit on the side. We definitely needed the sustenance, and the tea and coffee were welcome additions for our tired group.
The week had been full of executive meetings, where our group of Dukies met with the program heads of the various BRAC divisions. We were incredibly fortunate to have the opportunity to talk with many of BRAC’s most senior members, many whom are also highly respected scholars and practitioners in their respective fields. Wednesday continued to be full of such discussions. While all interesting, the conferences vary greatly: some inspiring, others considerably less so. Unfortunately, Wednesday was full of the latter.
The morning started off with a meeting with the BRAC Health Programme, which does amazing world in ensuring the physical and medical livelihood of millions of people across Bangladesh. The meeting was full of statistics and facts about BRAC’s record of achievement. By the end, our brains were bursting with information overload, though we did have a thorough understanding of BRAC’s amazing medical services for the poor.
We were then to meet with the head of BRAC’s agriculture division, who is highly regarded around the world for his work on farming, cultivation, and livestock advances. He was going to talk with us in the TARC, where we live, so we all crowded into a van and made the ten minute drive over the our place of stay. However, he was a no show—he had another meeting and was forced to cancel our appointment. So, after milling around while Rachael (our BRAC supervisor) and Shana tried to figure out what was going on, we got back into the vans and went to the BRAC Centre for another conference with BRAC environment staff.
The environment meeting was especially exciting for me, because it was the first meeting on one of my topic areas. Rob and I, who are responsible for the environment programmes as well as BRAC’s signature microfinance division, were looking forward to the meeting, but in retrospect, we should have known better.
The thing is, BRAC doesn’t have an environment programme. They have a few projects, but as we were told in the meeting again and again, BRAC’s commitment is to “alleviating poverty and helping the poor.” If some project also helps the environment in the process of achieving this goal, then BRAC thinks that’s great. But the environment, simply put, is not a priority for this organization.
The meeting turned out to be hilariously unproductive. We were interviewing two members who work on the “environment programmes” (despite the fact there is no programme) in BRAC’s research and evaluation meeting, who started off by telling us that “We are pretty low on the food chain here at BRAC, so we really don’t know what’s going on.” We knew then we were in for a good time.
We also interviewed the head of BRAC’s (for-profit) Solar Panels Project, which has built over two million such devices across the country. His deep knowledge was about the project was very helpful, until he spent twenty minutes telling us in minute detail how the solar panels work. When we asked him about the future of BRAC’s environment programme, he and the others responded, “There is no future.” Everyone tried to stifle a laugh, but the meeting was, to say the least, not very helpful in our information-gathering pursuits.
That afternoon, we met with the BRAC’s education programme. Despite having a packed room of experts, the education officials seemed to not want to answer the questions. When Heather or Anne, who are focusing on education, asked a question, the officials would start to banter. “You should answer the question.” “No, you should, you’re the director.” “No, it’s your responsibility, you have to.” And so it would go, for every query we had. Needless to say, the meeting was not everything we had hoped for.
After our meetings, all of us Duke students met to discuss the website content. We had earlier decided to structure our work into “features:” innovative, multimedia presentations of BRAC’s structure, operations, history, and impact based around cohesive themes. For example, the unique elements of BRAC are showcased in a feature called “The BRAC signature,” the personal effect of BRAC’s work is illustrated in a feature called “Impact in Action.” That process of choosing out features was fairly smooth and congenial. But the next task we had was not as easy.
We tried to make a “coordination guide,” to get everyone in the group on the same page about what exactly the features would contain, how they would be written, and in what media format they would be presented. It was tough work: after a long day, nobody really wanted to think about small details necessary to complete the guide. However, we prevailed, and at the end, everyone was very happy with the work we produced.
After a long day of meetings and an even harder group project after that, we went back to the TARC, ready to relax a bit and prepare for another day at BRAC. We knew it couldn’t get more demanding than Wednesday, though, and we made it through fine, stronger and smarter than we started. And for that, at least, we were thankful.
Then, it was time to sleep it all off.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Stunning and being stunned (Robert Lehman, 06.10.08)
After the clock had struck 12 on the eve of June 9, Mr. Adam Paul Nathan reached spectacular heights in our pursuit of cultural exchange with Bangladeshi locals, and started what was to be a remarkable day in a most memorable fashion. Mitu, one Bangladeshi student, asked Scott and me whether we enjoyed singing. Excited to represent America in as favorable a light as humanly possible, we answered that while we were not strong singers ourselves, Adam was one of the finest singers that our country has to offer. Adam's resistance fell upon deaf ears, as word of his supposed talent spread through the third floor of the Training and Resource Center like wildfire. Before he knew it, Adam was standing in front of an wide-eyed group of young men who were smiling with eager anticipation. Bravely, Adam took on the challenge, and stunned our ears with a dedicated - if somewhat floundering - rendition of The Star-Spangled Banner. Adam drew more kind-hearted laughter than applause, but was congratulated on his efforts by all. Mitu, it appeared, appreciated the performance the most, as he soon serenaded a somewhat bewildered Adam with a passionate interpretation of the Bangladeshi song "Tu mi amar premika", which translates into English as "You are my lover." It was going to be a great day.
After arriving at the BRAC headquarters, we started off the day with a productive and constructive discussion about our thoughts on the progress of the project. We all agreed that we could do more towards effective communication to ensure that we stay on the same page and address budding conflicts. With fifteen minutes to spare before our first meeting of the day, we talked about how lucky we felt to have been given the opportunity to work on this fantastic project and to have been granted such extensive access to BRAC's resources.
Just on cue, Dr. Faustina Pereira, the director of the Human Rights and Legal Services at BRAC and an inspiring embodiment of BRAC's vision and enthusiasm, entered the room. She impressed us all with her distinct vision for the world's largest legal aid and human rights program, which was geared not only towards supplying tangible resources to uphold basic human rights, but towards instilling a legal consciousness in rural Bangladesh. In one instance, for example, Faustina Apa (Apa is the Bangladeshi form of address) contended that rather than simply supplying clean drinking water to those in need, victimizing them without a path for progress, BRAC must empower the poor by pushing them to stand for their right to demand clean drinking water. It was an interplay between supply and demand that none of us had ever encountered.
With the executive conference room still buzzing with enthusiasm after Faustina Apa had left, Mr. Muhammad Rumee Ali (or "Rumee Bai" in the Bangladeshi form of address), BRAC's director for program enterprises, came in to leave an unforgettable impression. BRAC's program enterprises are the industries and institutions that BRAC has invested in to generate income and make the organization more sustainable. Carrying such an imposing title, Rumee Bai surprised us with his genuine excitement about our project, and his admission to being nervous in dealing with such "young, nimble minds". He granted us an uplifting insight into how every single one of BRAC's money-making programs is solely engineered to empower the poor, as he described how BRAC had created and protected markets and filled gaps in governmental services to stabilize the ladder out of poverty. His description of BRAC's positive response to having other organizations copy their model and take credit for it emphasized its dedication to poverty alleviation, not self-promotion. "Imitation is the best form of flattery" Rumee Bai said, quoting Shakespeare, and smiled. This prompted a discussion on BRAC's unique and sustainable model of Corporate Social Responsibility, a model built on BRAC's determination to weave social awareness about what is right for every local community into the fabric of all systems and processes. We left the meeting with a more profound respect for the scope and quality of BRAC, and the integrity of its workers.
Our last meeting of the day was with Rabeya Bai, the director of the "Targeting the Ultra Poor" program, reinforced our appraisal that BRAC had struck a rare balance between social responsibility and results-oriented efficiency. She spoke with bright eyes about BRAC's approach of challenging the frontiers of poverty reduction through this program. Understanding the existence of different levels of poverty and entrepreneurial potential, the program was designed to provide training and resources for the poorest Bangladeshi demographic and give them the opportunity to eventually be successful in participating in BRAC's microfinance programs. Walking out of the conference room, we discussed how deeply impressed we have been with BRAC's phenomenal success in tailoring programs to cater to the specific needs and perspectives of the poor.
As we looked out the window of the 19th floor, the sun was setting on the increasingly breathtaking city of Dhaka, the children were flying their kites in front of the lake, and the last boats were making their way across glistening waters. We set back to the Training and Resource Center with a sense of excitement about a remarkable opportunity, a sense of pride in our project, and an inspired smile. It was a great day.
After arriving at the BRAC headquarters, we started off the day with a productive and constructive discussion about our thoughts on the progress of the project. We all agreed that we could do more towards effective communication to ensure that we stay on the same page and address budding conflicts. With fifteen minutes to spare before our first meeting of the day, we talked about how lucky we felt to have been given the opportunity to work on this fantastic project and to have been granted such extensive access to BRAC's resources.
Just on cue, Dr. Faustina Pereira, the director of the Human Rights and Legal Services at BRAC and an inspiring embodiment of BRAC's vision and enthusiasm, entered the room. She impressed us all with her distinct vision for the world's largest legal aid and human rights program, which was geared not only towards supplying tangible resources to uphold basic human rights, but towards instilling a legal consciousness in rural Bangladesh. In one instance, for example, Faustina Apa (Apa is the Bangladeshi form of address) contended that rather than simply supplying clean drinking water to those in need, victimizing them without a path for progress, BRAC must empower the poor by pushing them to stand for their right to demand clean drinking water. It was an interplay between supply and demand that none of us had ever encountered.
With the executive conference room still buzzing with enthusiasm after Faustina Apa had left, Mr. Muhammad Rumee Ali (or "Rumee Bai" in the Bangladeshi form of address), BRAC's director for program enterprises, came in to leave an unforgettable impression. BRAC's program enterprises are the industries and institutions that BRAC has invested in to generate income and make the organization more sustainable. Carrying such an imposing title, Rumee Bai surprised us with his genuine excitement about our project, and his admission to being nervous in dealing with such "young, nimble minds". He granted us an uplifting insight into how every single one of BRAC's money-making programs is solely engineered to empower the poor, as he described how BRAC had created and protected markets and filled gaps in governmental services to stabilize the ladder out of poverty. His description of BRAC's positive response to having other organizations copy their model and take credit for it emphasized its dedication to poverty alleviation, not self-promotion. "Imitation is the best form of flattery" Rumee Bai said, quoting Shakespeare, and smiled. This prompted a discussion on BRAC's unique and sustainable model of Corporate Social Responsibility, a model built on BRAC's determination to weave social awareness about what is right for every local community into the fabric of all systems and processes. We left the meeting with a more profound respect for the scope and quality of BRAC, and the integrity of its workers.
Our last meeting of the day was with Rabeya Bai, the director of the "Targeting the Ultra Poor" program, reinforced our appraisal that BRAC had struck a rare balance between social responsibility and results-oriented efficiency. She spoke with bright eyes about BRAC's approach of challenging the frontiers of poverty reduction through this program. Understanding the existence of different levels of poverty and entrepreneurial potential, the program was designed to provide training and resources for the poorest Bangladeshi demographic and give them the opportunity to eventually be successful in participating in BRAC's microfinance programs. Walking out of the conference room, we discussed how deeply impressed we have been with BRAC's phenomenal success in tailoring programs to cater to the specific needs and perspectives of the poor.
As we looked out the window of the 19th floor, the sun was setting on the increasingly breathtaking city of Dhaka, the children were flying their kites in front of the lake, and the last boats were making their way across glistening waters. We set back to the Training and Resource Center with a sense of excitement about a remarkable opportunity, a sense of pride in our project, and an inspired smile. It was a great day.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Growing More Impressive by the Day... (06.09.08 John)
Our first full Monday in Dhaka found us once again in the BRAC Headquarters. As usual, we began our day at the 4th floor restaurant, where we were served our usual array of breads, fruits, eggs, and some other mix of lentils and spices that I’ve quickly learned to avoid. Hoping to catch as much time on the internet as possible, we quickly stuffed down the food and scurried up to the 19th floor conference room. Our efforts to surf the net were soon for not, however, when the unreliable internet service turned against us and we were stuck starring at blank screens for 30 minutes before the work day started.
Today, we were all to meet with the directors of three of BRAC’s core programs. After spending about an hour going over good questions and preparing for these interviews, we first met up with Babar Kabir, the specialist for the WASH (Water, Sanitation, & Hygiene) program, a component of the BHP (BRAC Health Program). I may be slightly biased as this will be the program that I am focusing on for the summer, but I found the discussion to be incredibly interesting and inspiring. Hearing Dr. Kabir discuss BRAC’s goal of having 100% sanitation in Bangladesh by 2011 and the ways in which they plan to reach over 38 million people to replace and build new latrines and develop safer water supplies was a great start to the day. The best part of it all, however, was when he told Michaela and me that we had free reign when it came to deciding what topics to discuss on the website. The amount of trust he had in our ability to judge which features of the program are most exciting made me want to work even harder so he would not regret his decision.
After the brief overview of the WASH Program, we all gathered and made our way back down to the 4th floor for lunch. Fearing that we would once again be served the same spicy fish (by at least my standards), my prayers had been answered when I discovered that we would be having chicken instead (this of course only lasted for a short while, as we were to be served fish, bones and all, later for dinner). During lunch, we met another intern, Julie, who has just graduated from high school and is planning on heading to UPenn next fall. We also received a short lesson in German from Rob. I believe Scott got the most out of the lesson, though, when he learned the always useful phrase “These are my dancing pants” (“Sie sind miene Tanzhosen” for those who were wondering).
After the lunchtime fun had ended, we forged onwards through the tight schedule and met with Harashit and Wahida, the two directors of the Adolescence Program. After Wahida gave a great overview of the program’s expansive and comprehensive work, things soon turned into a bilingual storm with both English and Bangla being thrown around after Harashit began answering some of our questions. Because he didn’t know much English, he would answer all of our questions in Bangla and soon even our own translators, Galiba and Khorshed, got in the act and started conversing solely in their native language, leaving the rest of us extremely puzzled. Luckily in the end, Galiba was able to slow things down and fill in the missing details for us so that we could get back on track.
At our last meeting of the day, the group met up with Zerina Kabir, the director of the Social Development Program. Along with some of her employees, she gave a wonderfully informative presentation on their goals of improving active citizenship in the Bangladeshi population and how they work closely with other BRAC programs, such as developing a public theater initiative for the Health Program, to work towards a “holistic assault” on poverty (a popular phrase used around here). It was during this discussion where I once again became completely amazed with the originality of BRAC, which as stated by Dr. Kabir, is the only organization in Bangladesh that links the community, through rural civil societies, to the government in face-to-face interactions.
After today, I have no doubt in my mind that BRAC really does think of everything when it comes to planning what is best for Bangladesh in alleviating the country’s poverty problem. With their ingenious methods of empowering the poor and encouraging them to work beyond their means, this organization truly is remarkable.
Today, we were all to meet with the directors of three of BRAC’s core programs. After spending about an hour going over good questions and preparing for these interviews, we first met up with Babar Kabir, the specialist for the WASH (Water, Sanitation, & Hygiene) program, a component of the BHP (BRAC Health Program). I may be slightly biased as this will be the program that I am focusing on for the summer, but I found the discussion to be incredibly interesting and inspiring. Hearing Dr. Kabir discuss BRAC’s goal of having 100% sanitation in Bangladesh by 2011 and the ways in which they plan to reach over 38 million people to replace and build new latrines and develop safer water supplies was a great start to the day. The best part of it all, however, was when he told Michaela and me that we had free reign when it came to deciding what topics to discuss on the website. The amount of trust he had in our ability to judge which features of the program are most exciting made me want to work even harder so he would not regret his decision.
After the brief overview of the WASH Program, we all gathered and made our way back down to the 4th floor for lunch. Fearing that we would once again be served the same spicy fish (by at least my standards), my prayers had been answered when I discovered that we would be having chicken instead (this of course only lasted for a short while, as we were to be served fish, bones and all, later for dinner). During lunch, we met another intern, Julie, who has just graduated from high school and is planning on heading to UPenn next fall. We also received a short lesson in German from Rob. I believe Scott got the most out of the lesson, though, when he learned the always useful phrase “These are my dancing pants” (“Sie sind miene Tanzhosen” for those who were wondering).
After the lunchtime fun had ended, we forged onwards through the tight schedule and met with Harashit and Wahida, the two directors of the Adolescence Program. After Wahida gave a great overview of the program’s expansive and comprehensive work, things soon turned into a bilingual storm with both English and Bangla being thrown around after Harashit began answering some of our questions. Because he didn’t know much English, he would answer all of our questions in Bangla and soon even our own translators, Galiba and Khorshed, got in the act and started conversing solely in their native language, leaving the rest of us extremely puzzled. Luckily in the end, Galiba was able to slow things down and fill in the missing details for us so that we could get back on track.
At our last meeting of the day, the group met up with Zerina Kabir, the director of the Social Development Program. Along with some of her employees, she gave a wonderfully informative presentation on their goals of improving active citizenship in the Bangladeshi population and how they work closely with other BRAC programs, such as developing a public theater initiative for the Health Program, to work towards a “holistic assault” on poverty (a popular phrase used around here). It was during this discussion where I once again became completely amazed with the originality of BRAC, which as stated by Dr. Kabir, is the only organization in Bangladesh that links the community, through rural civil societies, to the government in face-to-face interactions.
After today, I have no doubt in my mind that BRAC really does think of everything when it comes to planning what is best for Bangladesh in alleviating the country’s poverty problem. With their ingenious methods of empowering the poor and encouraging them to work beyond their means, this organization truly is remarkable.
Monday, June 9, 2008
The Impact of Passion (Anne Jiao, 06.09.08)
When you speak to someone truly passionate about their work, you really know it—their passion impassions you—their fire becomes yours. This was the effect of Imran Matin’s words to our group today. His message was one of social revolution—changes that affect mothers, daughters, fathers, and sons—a movement that moves and mobilizes generations of people. As the head of Research and Development at BRAC, Imran spoke to us about everything from the internal structure of BRAC, to the global applications of the BRAC model in countries such as
I remember sitting in many introduction economics classes at Duke and reading textbooks that always addressed the great debate in economics between utilitarianism and egalitarianism—whether it is more important to profit maximize or establish equity. From Imran’s lecture, this dichotomy is both present and relevant at BRAC. BRAC has programs in microfinance, social development, education, health, agriculture, and environment—all of which contribute to the past accomplishments and the future vision that BRAC has in reducing poverty in
What distinguishes BRAC to me, is the completely grassroots mentality of a huge workforce—the can-do mentality, the constant improvements and response to feedback and criticisms it receives. BRAC is certainly an active participant in alleviating poverty—they are the creators of a large ripple effect, and “it will constantly be about making big change and a real difference” in the world by truly waging a “holistic assault on poverty.”
A tailored shopping tour (Sam Halls 06.07.08)
We woke up early on Saturday morning to enjoy yet another meal at the BRAC center’s restaurant. I’m not entirely sure whether this has been mentioned to date but the staff at the Restaurant are indescribably courteous and nice and it is so refreshing to see them every morning. We then piled into our vans are set off for a tour around the foremost shopping areas in Dhaka.
We stopped at a conventional (by American standards) mall where Puspita took us to a DVD store selling unusually cheap DVDs. I was immensely impressed that they already had Iron Man on DVD considering its still in theatres in the States. All the films hovered around 80 taka (a little over $1 US) so everyone bought around 5. Galiba then recommended that we go to a more traditional Bangla shopping area with endless rows of stalls selling absolutely everything. We weaved through the market and one thing that really struck me was how segmented it was with jeans all clustered together, and all of the belt stalls in their own niche. This is something I also noticed when we visited the third tier of microfinance on Wednesday where all the cloth stores were next to one another. I wonder whether this is the result of legal restrictions, cultural customs or pure convenience. Anyway after touring the clothes we made our way to the local fish market. This was probably one of the most interesting stops to date. The vast majority of the fish in the market were being kept alive in small amounts of water and the catfish were absolutely terrifying. Scott was trying to get a photo of Rob standing next to the catfish and one of the men feigned throwing a live fish at Rob before catching it in a bowl and Rob jumped a good 2 feet. Adam also enjoyed being sprayed with fish blood as a man cleaned a live fish. I get the impression that Peta might be fairly cranky after reading this.
Later in the day we visited Aarong, BRAC’s profit making store. Aarong has an expansive collection of clothes, home-goods and accessories and Scott and Rob modeled the Lungi or more descriptively, the man skirt. I think all the products had added significance considering we saw the factories and the immense dexterity of the workers. We also ate a late lunch at the Aarong café and most of the group tried Tamarine juice, which is apparently fairly common in Bangladesh. After a lot of shopping we made our way back to the BRAC center for dinner and then back to the training center to conclude an amazing day.
A Day in the Lives of Celebrities [6.06.08 Heather]
The weekend comes earlier in Dhaka . Special prayers on Friday replaced the usual workday, and we were excited to finally spend a day out exploring the city.
First stop was the massive memorial forBangladesh
A short van ride later, we arrived before a beautiful brick building –Dhaka University
We then rode rickshaws to the nearby pottery market. Pots, vases, clay art, wooden art, jewelry, flowers and all sorts of other crafts were on sale along the street. Apparently at night the merchants simply pull tarps over their goods and leave for home – no locks or security needed. It’s inspiring that the people of the humblest possessions adhere to such high moral standards. When we got to the end of the street, we had amassed quite a following of kids. A toddler boy especially admired Rob, holding onto his leg with a big smile.
At the Shaeed Minar, the language martyrs’ memorial of 1952, we observed a game of cricket while Sam explained the rules to us. Then he impressed everyone as the guest bowler in the game.
Noting that it was almost time for Jumma Prayer, we headed for Khorshed’s university dorms. As Eric, Rob and Scott observed prayers inside the student mosque with Khorshed, we took a break to eat the boxed lunches we brought – the cheese sandwiches were crustless!
A quick bathroom stop at Voot quickly turned into a coffee break as we admired the restaurant’s luxurious ambiance and modern décor. The mango juice was freshly crushed fruit and tasted divine. A few brave souls ordered faludas, a local dessert that combined ice cream and what looked like noodles with other fruits and flavors.
Next stop was Ahsan Manzil, a brilliantly pink palace in Old Dhaka. Standing on the main stairways, we saw a breathtaking view of a nearby lake withDhaka as a backdrop. Inside the museum, we saw everything from old faucets used in the palace to the skull of the ruler’s favorite elephant. And it was here that we began living the celebrity life – people curiously gathered to look at us and actually followed us in crowds as we walked away! We were both very surprised and highly amused by completely unabashed stares and growing crowd. And we briefly flirted with the idea of developing a performance routine for our spectators as we waited for a few people to return from the bathroom.
TheNational Assembly Building
First stop was the massive memorial for
A short van ride later, we arrived before a beautiful brick building –
We then rode rickshaws to the nearby pottery market. Pots, vases, clay art, wooden art, jewelry, flowers and all sorts of other crafts were on sale along the street. Apparently at night the merchants simply pull tarps over their goods and leave for home – no locks or security needed. It’s inspiring that the people of the humblest possessions adhere to such high moral standards. When we got to the end of the street, we had amassed quite a following of kids. A toddler boy especially admired Rob, holding onto his leg with a big smile.
At the Shaeed Minar, the language martyrs’ memorial of 1952, we observed a game of cricket while Sam explained the rules to us. Then he impressed everyone as the guest bowler in the game.
Noting that it was almost time for Jumma Prayer, we headed for Khorshed’s university dorms. As Eric, Rob and Scott observed prayers inside the student mosque with Khorshed, we took a break to eat the boxed lunches we brought – the cheese sandwiches were crustless!
A quick bathroom stop at Voot quickly turned into a coffee break as we admired the restaurant’s luxurious ambiance and modern décor. The mango juice was freshly crushed fruit and tasted divine. A few brave souls ordered faludas, a local dessert that combined ice cream and what looked like noodles with other fruits and flavors.
Next stop was Ahsan Manzil, a brilliantly pink palace in Old Dhaka. Standing on the main stairways, we saw a breathtaking view of a nearby lake with
The
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