Dhaka, Bangladesh
Posted by pertorkelson | Filed under Bangladesh
During the Muslim holiday Eid-el-Fitr (it celebrates the end of Ramadan) I mostly rested to get well and free from my lung infection. I received a really nice gift from the Shishu Tori staffs; a panjabi together with white pants. A panjabi is a traditional Bangladeshi dress, worn e.g. during Eid. The panjabi I got has a very nice red wine color which suits perfect with the white pants. I also got a nice grey panjabi from Gausal, he is the brother to the owner of my apartment. Gausal visited me the past Saturday to see how I was doing and told me if there is anything I need, I just call him. He also told me that I could use the other rooms in the apartment and the balcony as well, which is nice to know. So now I have a quite big space; 2 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, 2 living rooms, 1 kitchen and 1 balcony. It’s nice to have access to the balcony, to just walk out once in awhile and try to see the stars at 03 o’clock at night. Future.
The following day (Sunday) was Eid day, and in the morning I received food from the family in apartment 8C, it was really sweet of them. The father and his son came down to me and greeted me and introduced themselves. The boy was really polite, maybe 8-9 years old, I told him; “it’s a pleasure to meet you” and instantly he replied “it’s a pleasure to meet you too”. Hehe, real cute.
The same day Forhad called me and said that he was coming over and that I should change my dress into the new panjabi I had received. Roughly one hour after his call, he came and we went out for about 1h 30min on a rickshaw. It was nice to get out and also see how much less crowded the streets were, as many people had gone home during the Eid (Muslim holiday). I really like my new panjabi, it’s really comfortable to wear, I like the fabric.
This past Monday, in the afternoon, I went up to the family on the 8th floor to return their plates and bowls (they brought me the food the day before). I came up to their apartment and met lots of children and a big family. Several relatives were around. I also met a man my age and he told me it’s his uncle who owns this apartment building, I spoke to him about Dhaka and Bangladesh, it was interesting to get yet another view of this city and country. The view from their apartment is an absolute astonishing view of Dhaka! They have the best apartment in the whole building. One of the sons, who visited me the day before, really enjoys my company and I enjoy his, and he speaks very good English. The family gave me some more food to eat, the son carried it down for me to my apartment. He left my apartment with a happy; “Erik, have a nice day!”
Later that same evening Forhad came to me and we went to Kanta’s house where we had been invited to dinner. Kanta lives in the Lalbagh area, not more than 5 minutes with rickshaw from my place. We came there just before 7 pm, we sat down and chatted with Kanta’s family members and Father Pope (an American missionary who has been living in Bangladesh for almost 50 years, serving the poor). It was really nice visiting Kanta’s house and meeting her family members. We were served a really feast meal, I couldn’t try it all, but the food I ate was real tasty. I also met Ekra, Kanta’s niece (brother’s daughter), she is 5 years old and a real cutie who showed me her mehndi on her arm. Mehndi is a temporary skin decoration, which is a way of beautifying yourself. When we were about to leave Kanta’s house, the rain started drizzling and the wind started blowing. I can feel that the winter is around the corner. By winter I don’t mean snow, just not as hot as usual.
I have now finished reading my Dalai Lama book, it was really good and I recognized myself several times while reading it.
Tuesday, 1+6 , what an end, what a night! More than 2 hours and 30 minutes…connection.
Yesterday it was finally back to work after my sickness and the Eid holiday. Dhaka is still quiet compared to its usual chaos and it’s because many people have gone home to their home towns/villages. I got to the office and started reading and reviewing a project proposal which Forhad and Monzoor has put together, it’s a proposal for a really good project; a rehabilitation shelter for street girls. It’s a very big project proposal and it needs a lot of time and focus, but I’m very happy to be part of it and work with it. I focused more or less completely on reading and reviewing it while I was in the office. During lunch I had a great discussion with Forhad about Bangladesh and Sweden/Europe and I was giving him my perspectives on things in life and why some people are the way they are etc. I really enjoy talking to him about these things, he has lots of knowledge about the streets in Bangladesh. I left the office around 3 pm together Milon, we took a rickshaw to the Osmani Uddan Park.
The Osmani Uddan park is just opposite the Dhaka City Corporation, which is a self-governing corporation which is running the affairs of the city. It is a really majestic building! Milon and I went into the Osmani Uddan Park to go to the street school run by Shishu Tori. The street school is called “School Under the Sky” and Shishu Tori is running three different schools in three different areas in Dhaka. The street schools are held in open places and selected street children are gathered to learn Bangla, English, maths, health/hygiene and get some body exercises at the end of every class. The class is six times a week, Saturday-Thursday, two hours in the afternoon every day. Because of Eid (Muslim holiday), the attendance in the school was lower than usual. They were approximately 10 children in each class (two classes). There is one basic class and one more advanced class for the children who are a few years older. The English lesson was very clear in the more advanced class, they received two new words “apple” and “book” and they all wrote it on their blackboards and spelled it out loud. The mathematics lesson in the more advanced class was disciplined and well-structured, in general the advanced class had a good discipline and was well structured. Even if I didn’t understand the health and hygiene lesson (because of it being in Bangla), I see it as a very important part of the street school, it’s something that should always be encouraged. I was showing the children to use the left hand while coughing, as there are so many people coughing right out in the open air in Dhaka and that manner will just keep the viruses constantly floating around. At the end of the class the street children got different exercises for the body that I also see as very important for a more healthy life. Most of the children are suffering from different health problems, so it’s good that they are given help in the right direction. Nioty, who is the health manager in Shishu Tori, is also giving the street children some medical treatment if needed. The children were smiling a lot when they saw me and when I was participating in the class and especially during the singing and exercise part at the end of the class, it made many of the them to really smile. I’m also really happy with how the Shishu Tori t-shirts turned out, the slogan was more or less my idea; “street children need love”. It’s written both in English and Bangla. When I saw the dirty t-shirts on the boys, it made me sad in a happy way, I realized that they are only between 5-10 years old, living in the streets, trying to look for love and care from other people. My slogan came straight from my heart, because these street children are filled with it, they are innocent human beings who are born in this world and are either sadly neglected by their own families, abused, thrown in the streets or simple don’t have any family. After class some of the street children were waving good-bye to me, hehe, they just show pure love and I try to return it to them in the same way. I really enjoyed this day, I’m living life and everyday that goes by fills me up inside with knowledge, experience, love and soul. I can really feel that my own world has become very big.
This morning it was raining, so I took a CNG (mini auto rickshaw) to the office in the Motijheel area, because I didn’t want to get soaking wet on a rickshaw. I came to the office at 10:15 am and continued working with the project proposal I was working with yesterday. Then a bit later, when Nilufar had arrived in the office I went to her room and talked to her both work related and private matters. She is a very nice person and I really enjoy talking to her. She is sharp, intelligent, warm and caring. We discussed the situation of street children, how different people are behaving etc. After our chat, then I returned to Forhad’s room and continued the work with the proposal.
This afternoon I, Nilufar and Forhad went in Nilufar’s car to Kamlapur Railway Station. This is another place where Shishu Tori is having a School Under the Sky. The school is by the end of a platform. Because of absence of one teacher, both classes were put together today into one big group. Despite other people standing around the class, the street children are eager to learn. They are being taught the same subjects as in Osmani Uddan Park; Bangla, English, maths, health/hygiene and singing (body exercise). One of the songs is both in Bangla and in English and hearing the street children sing; “…deep in my heart, I do believe, we shall overcome one day”, it really puts life in perspective while understanding that these street children are trying their best to survive every single day. Most of these street children live in the railway station on the platform or nearby. It’s a quite sad place to see, because on another platform there are alcoholics, drug addicts and young girls prostituting themselves. It’s just two railway tracks between the two platforms. I mainly supervised the class today, to get introduced, but I introduced myself and wrote my name on the blackboard. All the street children wrote my name and held up their blackboards and also spelled the letters in Erik and said my name out loud. While I was around there were some other people who came up and talked to me, also another street child came to great me nicely by shaking my hand. It was very interesting to see the street children in this class at Kamlapur Railway Station, which is the largest railway station in Bangladesh. It’s been another great day at work.
I’m very happy with being back at work, feeling well and being happy with my life and inside myself. Through this I enjoy giving joy to the children and making them smile.
6 Responses to “Dhaka, Bangladesh”
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Dave Says:
October 18th, 2007 at 8:30 pmHej!
Skönt och höra att du mår bra nu. Drygt att bli sjukt så tidigt, men nu är det ju bra igen!
Ha re bra Per Lama! -
Mattis Spansk Says:
October 18th, 2007 at 8:35 pmhello again!!
this holiday u´r talking about Eid-el-Fitr, is it the one where they skin alot of cheaps. because one of all the times i´ve been in egypt, was during a holiday whn they slaughtered and skinned alot of cheps, so there were laying huge ammounts of cheep-skins all over cairo!
take care man!
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Emma pemma Says:
October 19th, 2007 at 8:32 pmhej hej! tack för kommentaren på min hemsida….jag har fått paset till Mellangårdens Emma nu och det visade sig att hon heter viola
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Viktor Says:
October 20th, 2007 at 7:31 pmHallå Per(Erik)!
Bra att du blivit bättre med din lunginflammation, förhoppningsvis så vänjer du dig vid luften, det hjälper väl iofs till med din cowboyscarf som du har över munnen och näsan.
Kul att läsa och se bilder, barnen är jättesöta och det är hemskt att de ska behöva bo på gatan.
Sköt om dig så hörs vi!
kram
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Ola E Says:
October 24th, 2007 at 11:13 amTjenare ERIK!
Du är trogen läsare av min dagbok, och jag är ett troget fan av din också! Känns som vi befinner oss på två helt skilda platser (hmm, det gör vi ju oxå) och upplever lite olika saker. Skönt att höra att du blivit frisk! Hur akn det komma sig att de fått för sig att du heter Erik? Har de svårt att säga per?
sköt om dig! -
car7d3 Says:
November 21st, 2008 at 3:30 pmnwom xbwa