A (thought) Development - Part Two

II. So too, the challenge of trying to communicate the scale of what Bangladesh is going through seems at times feeble. It is clearly one worth attempting for how can one become educated if they don’t know what is going on in the world around them? Yet, even those who are in the mix of the international development field can find it difficult at times to grasp what they are seeing is real. I suppose this effect is some sort of a fail-safe so that work in a developing country can go on with as little lapses as possible.

A (thought) Development in four parts

Starting with this post and going on for the next three weeks I will be posting a one-paragraph post focusing on one particular aspect of life as a development volunteer. While previous postings have covered this topic before the aim with this series is to frame the context of volunteering within the confines of a snapshot so to speak. Each paragraph could stand alone, but together they build an image of development work that is both complex and at times quite elusive - as nothing about development work in a foreign country is every clear or easy to understand.

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I. It is just as easy, whether in a place like Bangladesh or comfort of home, to forget that that matters of pandemic environmental degradation, food security, or regional instability are ones the affect us all. It is just too hard to comprehend isn’t? Begin to wrap the mind around such interrelationships and one has the feeling of staring at the night sky for too long – the mind wobbles at the infinity of it all and finally has to stop looking for a moment.

On the road to finding out

After holding their first successful election since 2001 Bangladesh saw instances of violence against various political parties reach the newspapers almost immediately. These acts of striking out led to the harassment and deaths of a handful of political constituents across the country. Both heads of the Awami League and BNP have made subsequent press statements admonishing the violence and demanded an end to such behavior. Bangladesh has just one more election stage to go - the local district elections on the 28th of this month.

Being able to observe a country going through such a pivotal and historic change is quite amazing. With the last stage of the election process just around the corner it will be exciting to see how the new government goes about achieving its goal of creating a more peaceful and equitable Bangladesh.

Tang still tastes good

To begin, I did not end up living in my apartment like a hermit during the elections. I did demonstrate caution though and stayed at home during what felt like appropriate times. For example I didn't go out the night before the election. Nor did I walk around to the various polling stations in my part of town - though I wanted to.

The voting over who would have control of the government and Parliament went as well as any election in a free country could go. There were minor uplifts but no bombings or shootings at any of the election events. Back in 2004 these types of events did occur hence the amount of fear and over precaution everybody felt this time around.

In a landslide victory the Awami League, lead by Sheikh Hasina, won the election. Two days after the fact the official outcome announcement was made. While there were some victory parades no major clashes occurred. Peacefully demonstrated democracy never felt so palpable. There are still a few "ifs" and "wills" floating around. Will the fundamentalists try and attack the government once the energy from the election settles down? Will either Sheikh Hasina or Khaleda Zia still be held accountable for the corruption charges they faced prior to the election? No one really knows the definitive answer to any of these questions. For now people are just happy that everything went well. The "ifs" and "wills" will have to wait for another day.

Most of my time during the election revolved around watching CNN cover the election and current situation in Israel, re-discovering that Tang still has a soft spot in my heart and stomach, and building the first step towards a larger photography/writing project I am working on. To see it click here. You can also access the site by clicking on the Photography Portfolio link under the FP Picture option on the right hand toolbar of this page. I will keep the Flickr link going as well. The aim of this new site though is to frame the images I capture in a different context. I hope to develop the ideas I talk about under the Information tab on the new site into a larger project. Another new toolbar addition I added is the option for you to follow this blog. To learn how just follow the directions the pop-up window will give you after clicking on the "Follow This Blog" option on the right hand toolbar. I set this option up in response to the feedback on how hard it was to figure out how to receive updates under the older RSS option.

Enjoy the new additions and site.

-From Dhaka-