Dhaka, Bangladesh
Posted by pertorkelson | Filed under Bangladesh
Your love, son, brother, grandson, friend, relative and so on started a new adventure in his life when he boarded an aircraft in Copenhagen, Denmark on 30th of September which took him to Bangkok, but his final destination was the heavily crowded city of Dhaka in Bangladesh.
I arrived in Dhaka around noon on Monday the 1st of Oct. After the standard procedures at the airport (immigration, money exchange, baggage claim and customs) I was met up with a local volunteer, Debashish, from Shishu Tori Sangstha (the organization I’m going to work for here in Dhaka). He and another colleague, Milon, took me in a taxi to the Shishu Tori office, which is located in the Motijheel commercial area of Dhaka. I was warmly welcomed and introduced to some of the Shishu Tori staff by Forhad, who is the coordinator of the organization. It didn’t take many minutes before I received good feelings and emotions inside of me telling me that I have come to a very interesting place and being in a Bangladeshi culture is something very new and exciting for me.
As there have been problems finding an accommodation, because of different reasons, I will stay in a hotel called Hotel Pacific in the Motijheel area until we have found a descent apartment.
While sitting in the taxi from the airport into the city and while walking around the streets of Motijheel (Dhaka) during the first day I arrived I both saw and met lots of beggars; children, women and men. The strange thing for me is that inside of me it felt like; ”this is normal”. Just around the corner of the Shishu Tori office there was a young boy lying down on the street with a really misshaped leg, but I didn’t react much. I don’t know why I didn’t react more, but I guess I have in mind that Bangladesh is one of the absolute poorest countries in the world with the majority of the population suffering from poverty. The country is only one third the size of my home country Sweden, but in Sweden we are around 9.2 million people, here in Bangladesh it’s about 150 million people.
Before heading out in the evening I then ordered room service (what do you think about that one my brother? Room service in Bangladesh!). So, my first day in Dhaka ended with a small city tour on a rickshaw together with Debashish, he’s a really nice guy (a Hindu) and he showed me the biggest Hindu temple here in Dhaka. That first evening I also bought a new mobile phone, because the Bangladesh SIM card didn’t work in my Swedish cell phone. It was a very nice first day in Dhaka and the people here are friendly and I feel secure.
The second day I got a more detailed introduction about Shishu Tori; its work, vision etc. Forhad and me, together with Monzoor (another Shishu Tori staff) discussed street children in Bangladesh and poverty in general, which gave me more insights and knowledge. We also drafted a working plan for me and as it seems now my working week will be between Saturday afternoon until Thursday afternoon, both in the office and in the field. Fridays are off (Muslim holiday). The majority of the population in Bangladesh is Muslim; I think it’s around 90% or more.
Yet another time, this day I realized how crowded Dhaka is, it feels like it’s rush hour almost the whole day; rickshaws, cng (baby auto rickshaws), taxis, buses etc. drive like it’s a constant race trying to reach their final destinations as quickly as possible. In the afternoon I had the pleasure of being on a local bus in Dhaka for roughly 45 minutes, it’s been a long time since I experienced a bus driver driving like he did. It was acceleration, breaking, right and left the whole time – it was an adventure where you most certainly didn’t know what would happen next. Back to Dhaka being crowded, the air is really polluted and it feels worse as time goes by. No wonder though, because of all the old vehicles and the way they drive. I also get dust and sand blown up in my eyes no matter if I’m on a rickshaw, in a taxi, bus or just by walking.
Back to the poverty issue, as I see how many people are living in the streets everyday I more and more realize how people in Dhaka are suffering. There is no day without several women, men or children coming up to me, begging for money for food. It tells a lot.
The third day at the office I worked with finding and writing down contacts for Swedish NGOs in Bangladesh. All the Shishu Tori staffs, including me, also had a small meeting and discussed a slogan for t-shirts we are going to print and give to the street children who are under the care of Shishu Tori, which will be given to them after the Eid festival (Muslim holiday) which is between the 12-15th of Oct. In the evening, on the way back to the Motijheel area, Debashish and I went with a rickshaw, a 40 minutes ride which cost about 0.5 USD. I really like the rickshaws, it gives me a different feeling of traveling around the city. This day and evening I once again realized how extremely crowded Dhaka is, the city has more than 14 million people. I can really feel and see the whole time how crowded it is, by the way the streets, buses, rickshaws etc are packed with people.
I have started to read a book by Dalai Lama; “Kunsten At Leve Lykkeligt” (“The art of happiness”). It’s in Danish! I’m happy with my life, who’s by my side and with what I do in my life, but I feel it’s interesting to read the book. I have heard a lot about him, but never read anything by him. I got the book as a nice gift from my dear girlfriend Alexzandra. Stars. Strength and honor! Ludde. Baileys. The earth!
The fourth day I did administrational work in the Shishu Tori office and I also met with Nilufar for the first time, she is the chairperson of Shishu Tori. She just got back from Amsterdam and an international conference where they discussed children’s rights. She seems to be a very sharp and intelligent woman who has been living in both UK and the US.
I haven’t spoken about the weather yet, but most of the days it has been around 32-34 degrees Celsius during the day, and in the evenings it has been warm and nice. But now the winter season is soon coming, which means it won’t be as warm. I prefer that, because of all the pollution.
I can’t help talking about the smog throughout the city, because my nostrils are clogged everyday and my throat feels a bit sore off and on. I’m quite sure I have picked up some sort of bacteria/virus while being in the streets. I have almost lost my voice at one time.
We have now found an apartment where I will be staying, after four nights in a hotel, I have finally moved in to a place of my own. I can only use part of the apartment, but I have; one bedroom, one small bathroom, one small kitchen and a living room. It’s enough! And the best thing about the place is that I really like it, and it has a security guard and two elevators. I live on the fifth floor, but there is no view. I don’t mind, because I have finally got a place, after searching in various areas for several days. My own apartment in Dhaka, Bangladesh? Crazy!
Fridays are quite slow days, because of it being a Muslim holiday. I don’t work on Fridays. The past Friday I started arranging my things in my new apartment and washed some clothes in the kitchen sink. In the evening I got a small tour by Debashish in the area Lalbagh (Old Dhaka), close to where I’m living. He showed me the Sree Sree Dhakeswary National Temple which is a Hindu temple older than the city of Dhaka. According to what Debashish said, the name Dhaka comes from this temple. We continued walking and taking rickshaws in the area of Lalbagh. We passed by a place where they sold meat and one of the boys was shouting; “you want picture?”, of course I picked up my camera and snapped him and showed the picture to him, he smiled.
The sixth day of my new life in Dhaka; I and Milon went to Sadarghat to watch the boats and ferrys in the Buriganga River. There are lots of street children in this area, I saw many. After some touring in the morning and until afternoon, Milon and I met with Kanta (a Shishu Tori staff) to buy clothes for the street children of Shishu Tori. We bought them in Banglabazaar. I then went home, talked a lot on the phone, then in the evening I went out with Debashish to buy some fruits and food in the market. Debashish is a really kind guy, 27 years old. I’m not feeling well, I cough a lot and sweat. I have to visit a doctor in the next coming days.
This day I thought a lot about innocence. Where there is hope there is a will and where there is a will there is a way. Translated from a foreign language. Hehe!
At the end of my first week in Dhaka, Sunday, I decided to visit a medical doctor, because I had been coughing and not feeling well for the past days. I received the diagnosis that I have a cold, and the doctor told me that one of the reasons is the dust in Dhaka. I also took a blood test, swab test and did an x-ray of my lungs. The results will be finalized in a couple of days. From the clinic I and Milon (who accompanied me the whole day) went to a pharmacy and then took a rickshaw back to my apartment through really heavy rain. We got soaking wet, sitting on the rickshaw under the hood. The rest of the day I tried to rest and relax as much as possible, because I need to get well again. I will just try to rest for the next couple of days, so I can get fit. I also had short visits from the building manager and a man from the landlord office.
Number 7, a positive number. “The fall in Cocktail”, you know what I’m talking about.
Monday morning, a woman (Mabiya) and a young boy knocked on my door and came to ask if they could sweep my floors, they also wanted to wash my clothes and dishes. Off course I let them in and paid them for their work. They were both very nice and sweet. Later in the afternoon the building manager came with a technician trying to fix the toilet, because the pipe was jammed with tissue paper. The problem got solved. In the evening Debashish came to visit me, also Forhad came to see how I was doing. I stayed in my apartment the whole day and tried to rest as much as possible, because I’m still sick.
Yesterday, I was mostly in the apartment, resting, as I keep coughing and have a congested nose. In the evening Milon came to my building and we went to Labaid (the clinic where I was two days earlier). On the rickshaw Milon said to me; “I don’t phone you, but I feel you”, he meant even that even if he doesn’t call me he’s very concerned about my wellbeing. So is the rest of the people around me here in Dhaka, they are truly great people, both in the organization and in my building. They really care about me. Back to Labaid and the test results, everything was fine, except for that I have a non-specific infection (pneumonitis) in my lungs. That’s why I have been coughing so much. So I have to continue to rest and relax to get well, I have got the infection because of me not being used to the air here in Dhaka. If some people think that Los Angeles is a polluted metropolis, then just travel to Dhaka and you will see that you are living in a paradise. After visiting the clinic, we then headed for New Market where I bought some things for my apartment, which I was missing, and it was mostly kitchen utensils. I bought most of the things in a store with really nice and helpful people. We continued to another store to buy a lock, dish brush etc. Outside the store there were a couple of street children begging me for money, I took a few pictures of them instead and showed them the pictures, they got happy, but kept on insisting for money, they followed me and Milon for 5-10 minutes and when we crossed a road, then they stopped following us and were waving good bye, it was really cute. There are too many street children here in Dhaka.
Today I’m trying to just relax, I want to be free from my lung infection. It’s a Muslim holiday. This morning Mabiya and the young boy (Sagur) came once again; swept my floors, washed the floors and washed the dishes. They are very poor, so they are so pleased when I pay them something small. Really nice people and they laughed when I photographed them.
The Internet connections I have used here in Dhaka are unstable, but you can check my Diary 1-2 times a month, and hopefully I have written something.