A distant reminder

When I was in Bangladesh I wrote a blog post all about trash. The act of littering is one that has always, and will always, mystify me.

Crowds

I was digging around my photographs from Bangladesh and found this one that a good friend of mine took while a group of us were on a field visit during our first month with VSO. The image is stitched together and accurately show just how many people were around us while our bus back to Dhaka stopped for a quick break. We had walked just a few feet away to take some pictures of the nearby river. I was busy making adjustments to my camera when I turned around to see what must have been fifty or more people starring at us. Crowds like this are common thing no matter what the subject of focus is. Traveling just about anywhere in the developing world requires massive amounts of flexibility...and an equal amount of humor.

...That Started It All

Looking Forward while thinking back

Below is an excerpt from an email I wrote the day after my birthday which was celebrated while I was in Dhaka. It was truly one of my top five and one I am looking to see if I can have a variation of while I am overseas this coming year.

...What a birthday it was... [I] went to lunch with friends of mine to a Mexican restaurant. Think Mexican food meets Bangla spices meets US (Chili's) decorations! We then crossed the street and had ice cream at Baskin' Robins. We ate it while watching the TV which was showing Free Willy. Truly bizarre.

After that we took off for a party at the apartment of a United Nations AIDS country coordinator - whose building is across from the Russian Embassy. We (Laura, Megan, and I) were invited to the event. My birthday party was extended that much longer!

The party ended at 11:30 and our group of VSO volunteers made our way, by Rickshaw, a few blocks down to catch a taxi. Two of my friends jumped onto a rickshaw and I joined them. Our driver, once he saw me getting on, said that he wanted me to peddle. So, taking the opportunity to do so, peddled my two friends and the rickshaw driver, down the street. Highlight in my book! The driver, not much older than 14, made jokes the whole time.

I made the ride just fine - accept for two moments where the rickshaw went coo coo and I almost hit a few lamp posts. Our group of six made it to the main intersection to then jump in a tiny four door cab. The floor of the cab was probably only a few inches off the ground....but, with what felt like half my body hanging out the window, I made it safely to my apartment.

As far as birthdays go - this one will for the ages.

From Before

The Flux Capacitor

The shortest distance between my new home and my old apartment in Dhaka is 12,272 kilometers. Or expressed in miles its 7625. Or by boat it's 6626 nautical miles. You choose. Either way it's far by any means of expressing distance. I could go into the emotional distance of it all but that's just not my thing.

This morning I dropped five dollars into a coin machine at my local laundry-mat. As the coins dropped down like some low budget slot machine it hit me just how far I am from Dhaka. This feeling has come over me before but for some reason it wasn't until today till I wanted to know just how far I was. My brain could connect the dots better than my eyes could so seeing it on the computer, in actual quantifiable numbers, helped pound in the last nail that I am actually back in my home country.

I left Dhaka on January 31st. It was a Saturday. With the plane racing the sun to see which one of us would hit the mark of the east coast first my mind went to autopilot as what I was experiencing felt like a dream. I still don't know why I left other than to follow a dream. I gave up one to follow another. Doing so was in the simplest terms an act of faith - the space between reaching for one wrung on the monkey bars and the other felt infinite.

But I am here now. I am home. I am taking the time to learn the craft of documentary photography to return to Bangladesh (possibly) and others like it. With this new skill set in hand I aim to photograph images of suffering, hope, destruction, and great achievement. In the act of taking a photo comes with it the possibility to change the way we all think about the world around us. In so doing we can all connect the dots between ourselves and those right next door or dozens of time zones ahead.

Time travel is quite a trip.

Bangladesh - from the street to the press

There are a lot of things I could be writing about in this post but feel it necessary to provide an update about what is going on in Bangladesh.

I am in the process of finding out, from my friends there, what exactly is going on. So I'll leave that part of this post out. And while I don't want this blog to turn into a link-to site there are a few good articles from reputable sites worth reading from. They are:

Mutiny Aftermath...

Bangladesh Mutiny calls for...

Mass grave found...

The challenge of trying to keep the situation going on in Bangladesh from afar is no simple task. What to say from the safety of distance? How to report 'the word from the street' while no longer on the street? Rhetorical questions abound. From what I have heard the new government means business in trying to create stability prior to and after the horrific event took place last week. These are not just words but tangible actions.

Bangladesh has become ingrained in my thought. As such I plan on keeping a close eye on the country both now and in the future.

Home again, home again, jiggity-jig

I'm drinking freshly pressed apple cider. It's snowing outside. By this evening we're supposed to get 8-12 of snow. The radio was just playing Neil Young's Sugar Mountain. I'm home... in the sense that I am living in a rented apartment back in my beloved New England. More specifically I'm in Maine which I have long considered my second home.

It's snowing outside. The radio just switched tunes to someone I don't know but keeps my interest as I write. I've been back from Dhaka almost a month now. A month of flights, packing, unpacking, packing again and finally unpacking one last time (till I have move again).

There have been a few interesting things going on in Bangladesh since I left. Most recently a rebellion took place within the capita, Dhaka, leaving some 140 officers dead. The stand-off between the countries Bangladesh Rifles (BDR)- boarder guards, over pay and command structure lasted for two days. Some 1,000 suspected BDR attackers are currently being tracked down. To read more about this fluid situation please see: Bangladesh Manhunt for Mutineers .

It's difficult to get an accurate sense of what it is actually like to be in Dhaka now. I hope to find out more and if I do will post what I find in next weeks posting.

Moving forward, moving on

Right. Given the title of this entry one can guess, assume, or draw several conclusions all of them near, far, or right on the dot as to what has unfolded over the past few weeks.

The short version is that I left Bangladesh to attend an intensive course in photography/journalism back in my home country. The decision to do so was not easy nor one I took lightly. It was also one that was needed so that I may return to Bangladesh, and other places like it, to better document and report on global issues pertinent to both myself and the world at large.

Prior to leaving Dhaka I had the opportunity to have an Oped piece be published by the Christian Science Monitor. The link to that article is here. It was a great opportunity to say good-bye (for now) to a place I plan on returning to for many years.

The blog will continue on so check-in every Monday as while the location of my writing has changed the subject matter and emphasis of the blog has not.

-From my newest location to yours be well.

A (thought) Development- Part Four: All said and done

IV. The countries population continues to grow by roughly 2% each year. Under current population projections Bangladesh will see its boarders fill to an estimated 190 million people by 2025 and a larger population of 231 million people by 2050. Trying to fathom the first 150 million people already existing in this tiny country is like trying to count a sack of pennies while in the front row of Metallica concert of as 747 lands over your head. It’s just not going to happen. Dhaka is a vibrant pulsating city. The streets are filled with Rickshaws as colorful from the first days of Technicolor movies- saturated and overdone. At night, the only chance to dart around from shop to shop without gaining the attention of dozens of onlookers seeing a foreigner walk down the street, the city changes tone dramatically. Calls for the evenings last prayers from the mosques reverberate off of the buildings. Neon bulbs from the markets become beacons for last minute shopping. One is all of the sudden left with the overwhelming sensation of trying to deal with a day of never ending noises, people insistently asking you “where are you from”, “what is your name”, and dodging traffic.

A (thought) Development - Part Three

III. Dhaka is a vibrant pulsating city. The streets are filled with Rickshaws as colorful from the first days of Technicolor movies- saturated and overdone. At night, the only chance to dart around from shop to shop without gaining the attention of dozens of onlookers seeing a foreigner walk down the street, the city changes tone dramatically. Calls for the evenings last prayers from the mosques reverberate off of the buildings. Neon bulbs from the markets become beacons for last minute shopping. One is all of the sudden left with the overwhelming sensation of trying to deal with a day of never ending noises, people insistently asking you “where are you from”, “what is your name”, and dodging traffic.

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.

A guest in my own home

On December 29th Bangladesh will hold it's first national election since the caretaker government took control of the country in 2006.

The official state of emergency was lifted on the 17th of December. Since then the streets have been filled with marches, bands, and loud speakers attached to rickshaws and CNGs all blasting the positions of the election candidates. The energy here is heightened further still by the large presence of military and Rapid Action Battalion patrols roaming the city ensuring that the entire election process goes smoothly.

It is an exciting time to be living in Dhaka right now. Crowds can gather at a moments notice. Peaceful demonstrations can turn heated. No one is sure how the national elections and then subsequent local elections on January 11th will go. All eyes are zeroed in on the two major political party leaders- Khaleda Zia (BNP) and Sheikh Hasina (Awami League). Dhaka has become eerily quiet at night. During the day and into the early evening the sound of marches and rallies fills the air. I have talked with a lot of Bangladeshi's from both sides of the political spectrum. Each one of them is truly excited that the national elections are going to actually take place. Each one of them has also confessed doubt as to the legitimacy and transparency of whichever party ends up winning.

Given the uncertainly and safety surrounding the election VSO has requested that all their volunteers remain at home for the next three days. I will therefore remain, safe and secure, in my own home while the process of democracy unfolds.

It will be very interesting to see what happens next.

VHS

Rewind.

It is 5:30 in the morning and I am awaken to the first (Fajr) call to prayer. It's getting colder here and I realize, as I hear half a dozen or more azan (calls to prayer) bellowed out by muzazzins all over my neighborhood, I need to buy another blanket to keep me warm. My ears have now woken up just enough to hear an incessant low scratching noise coming from my dresser cabinet. It's been there since I first arrived to my new apartment. I don't know what it is. I don't know where it is within the depths of my cabinet either. But it's there and it's always making the same noise (scratch-scratch, scratch-scratch). I have, on multiple occasions dismantled my dresser to look at what it might be. Quite a funny site I promise you as it typically involves me wearing a headlamp. Only I can't see whatever it is that is making the noise. I've sprayed the inside of the cabinet with all types of over the counter insect repellents - all to no avail. I am sure that all the spraying will in fact lead to me growing a third eyeball. Either way, it's early, I am still very tired, and all I want to do is go back to bed.

Fast forward.

I have now been in Bangladesh for two months. Part of me knows that where I am, what I am experiencing, and seeing is in fact real. Other parts are convinced that the ones that know where I am have in fact gone off the deep end.

Pause.

Those that follow this blog know that I have been fortunate to see parts of Bangladesh that do not reach a tourist bureau employees in-box. For that I am eternally grateful. Most of what I see is so far off radar it would be hard to fully describe other than one coming here and seeing for themselves. Even then you will have your own brain telling you what is real and what is not.

I have been digging more and more into what I am experiencing here through the use of my camera. Out of this activity has come the idea to build a separate site away from my Flickr link. I hope, that through doing so, I can create a different type of opportunity for people to see a country, and greater world, that is both familiar and new to them. More on that later. You can check out some of the ones I am considering using for this project by clicking here.

Stop.

It's Christmas time here in the 'Desh. It will be quite a lot of fun to experience Christmas in my new city. Some how I envision Santa Claus having a difficult time winding his way through the sewer systems as I have never actually seen a chimney here in Dhaka. Perhaps as he is doing so he will be able to return to me my first cell phone.

With that I wish you all a happy holiday!

Election Buzz

December 29th is the planned date for the coming national elections. Bangladesh has been under a caretaker government since the winter of 2007. I thought it would be good to give some give some historical context surrounding this coming event. For a comprehensive timeline please click here.

1947- Partition from India - East and West Pakistan were formed.

1952- The language movement, Bangla becomes the official language in East Pakistan.

1970- Elections take place in East Pakistan: Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (Bangabandhu or "friend of Bengal"), with the Awami League, gain the majority in Parliament and this victory is then denied by West Pakistanis.

1971- War of Independence. The creation of Bangladesh is achieved at the cost of three million live.

1973- The country of Bangladesh see its worst drought since 1943. Many millions of people die. The country falls into deteriroration of law and order.

1975- Military coup. Sheikh Mujib and his family are killed. Only two of his daughters were able to escape.

1976- General Zia takes over the country and instills a autocratic rule.

1981- Military coup. General Zia is assassinated in the Chittagong Hill Tracts.

1988- Devastating floods hit the country. In no time the whole country becomes flooded. Thousands of people die.

1991- Devastating cyclone. 100,000 people are killed

1991- The first democratic elections are held since 1971. The Bangladesh National Party (BNP) are elected to run the government.

1996- After five weeks of hartals (strikes) the BNP steps down. New elections are held and the Awami League win.

1998- Worst flood of the century hits Bangladesh. Water comes in gradually, the people are prepared and as a result very few people die.

2000- Opposition party walks out of the parliament. Collaboration between the government and the opposition party is not reached.

2001- Elections take place and a new BNP government comes into power.

2007- State of emergency is called amid violence occurring due to the coming elections.

2007- Cyclone Sidr hits killing thousands and leaving even more struggling to survive.

Eid Mubarak (mid-week) update!

I just posted some pictures from Eid celebrations. It was a full day of photography, eating really great food, and getting to know those in my part of town that much better. You can see all of my pictures by clicking here.

Please note that some pictures from Eid-ul-Azha or the "Festival of Sacrifice" are of animals being sacrificed around my neighborhood. Muslims throughout the world on this holiday commemorate and remember Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son Ibrahim as an act of obedience to God through the of slaughtering goats and cows. A large portion of the meat is then given to the needy and poor.

The game is afoot

I am constantly mystified by trash. Not by why it exists, but why it can be found in all sorts of places other than where it has historically been placed - the dump. I have never been able to fully understand why we continue to place whatever we deem we no longer need almost immediately on the street, ground, or in our water systems. No matter how much we place in our dumps there is always an infinite amount that ends up everywhere else.

It is easy to see the effects of this phenomenon all over Dhaka. The same can be said for every roadside, town, and village I have passed through or visited here. Trash is everywhere. But why? This isn't just in Bangladesh either. I have seen trash everywhere I have visited on this planet. We are a littering species. We have always been and always will be littering fanatics.

Over the years I have talked with many people about a disconnect some of us have with our planet. Chicken comes from the grocery store, pencils from an office supply store, and gas from a pump. End results are how most of us see the many steps and cycles both natural and man-made products go through to reach our hands. We are thus removed (disconnected) from seeing how much actual time and resources go into to keeping us alive, healthy, and happy. It would be quite difficult for us to see all of these steps. Impossible really.

A clue now arises. Perhaps we litter because we are so far removed from everything. And so in turn don't see a connection between ourselves and our planet. If we did we might not treat every possible space as a trash bin. There are some that can argue this last point quite eloquently. But that lets us off the hook to quickly. There over 6 billion people on this planet and not all of us live with any sort of aforementioned disconnect. Yet littering still occurs.

We have always created waste. It is simply a part of living. Some of it can be broken down naturally and some not. Both are typically stockpiled in large depositories near and sometimes far from our sight. So enters the cycle of producing, consuming, and wasting (ad infinitum). Still, the answer of "why" we litter is not answered. Perhaps there is no why. Perhaps we simply just do.

This does not take away the importance of cleaning up our beaches, oceans, mountains, towns or cities. Nor does it release us of the responsibility to lessen future generations dealing with the environmental and social consequences of our present consuming and wasting— the ripples of our choices and behaviors move far beyond our sight.

Still, look around and you will find more and more of what we waste just sitting there. Perhaps we are simply not capable of seeing littering as a problem. Or, we are unable to truly do anything about it. Or any other complex combination you can think of.

Go back far enough in time and you will find the trash of those that were here before us. Evidence then falls to a hardwired pattern. Yet, even that reasoning let’s us go all too easily.

The mystery continues.

Stale sprite and distant roads

The daily reality of some 400,000 people in southwestern Bangladesh is far different than the one most of us live out. For over half the year dire water-logging, caused by human error, leaves thousands of people's lands and homes underwater. Centuries of river management have left many of Bangladesh's most poor and under-represented to fend for themselves.

Yearly floods affect the businesses, health, education, and livelihoods of six regional sub-districts under the larger Satkira (pronounced Shatkira) and Jessore (Jeshshore) districts. Some help is given. However, assistance is limited in relation to demand.

The first few days of this past week were dedicated towards taking part in a VSO conference on good governance (coincidentally at one of Uttaran's training centers). The rest of my week though was spent learning about the types of communities Uttaran is working with. Two of my days in Khulna were spent driving down countless narrow dirt roads drinking flat soda and taking pictures of camps, towns, and acres and acres of water-damaged land affected by the flooding. My Uttaran counterparts were gracious to give me such a "tour". As one of them so memorably said while driving home one evening "this is Bangladesh".

In some cases the flood waters cover over key transport roads. Often the nearest way around may be some 25 kilometers, down narrower roads, out of the way. Why does such an event happen? The simplest explanation is because of years of national and international river management. Starting near the Bay of Bengal, and moving further inland, are a series of dams, canals, and embankments. Water was, and continues to be, diverted and blocked in strategic places across the southern region of the country. Part of the reasoning is to control the river for safe travel and the other to create more farmland.

Over time though silt, essential to creating and stabilizing land on the coast, is left to deposit on the river banks. As years pass river banks grow higher and the land around it becomes lower. Take into account heavy monsoon rains in the summer and you achieve mass flooding.

To learn more about the history of river management in Bangladesh I suggest you look into the following websites:

World Bank

Banglapedia

Earthday Network

I have uploaded all of my pictures from this past field visit. You can access them either by clicking here or via the right-hand sidebar link FP Pics.

Calling what is happening here an "issue" is unfair. Categorizing and labeling situations like water-logging as "problems"or "issues" is to place them in a vacuum - alone, over there, out of reach. Reality however does not live in a vacuum. Neither does inhumanity or survival.