Dhaka, Bangladesh
Posted by pertorkelson | Filed under Bangladesh
Last week, on Wednesday afternoon we (I, Forhad, Kanta, Milon and Nioty) were working in Ramna Park interviewing street girls. Before we started interviewing there was quite a crowd (maybe around 35-45 people) standing around us, just staring, not doing anything, I’m used to it by now but I got very annoyed and said loudly; “this park is very big, you don’t have to stand right here”. I know I’m an attraction, because “bideshis” (foreigners) are quite rare in Dhaka, but still once in awhile I get annoyed with the just-standing-and-staring-part. We interviewed six street girls that day; Rashida, Shanta, Sultana, Kobita, Shati and Asma. Some of them are really serious cases, Sultana was talking about how she has been sexually abused several times; when she was 8, 9, 11 and 13 years old. Probably the saddest story was from Shati who answered our question “what is your biggest problem?”, then she told us ; “In my first marriage I had a baby, when the baby was one month old, then my mother-in-law and brother-in-law killed it. In my second marriage I had a new baby, but I was not able to take care of my baby and sold it for money for someone to take care of it, but at the moment I don’t know how the baby is doing and where it is”. Her stories were really sad to hear.
When I got home that day, Amirsohel and their servant came with some evening food for me; sandwiches, malta (similar to orange) and bananas. Their whole family is always caring about me. I like them a lot.
Last week I also received an invitation from the Swedish Embassy to its Lucia reception, which is going to be held on the 13th of Dec. I don’t know yet if I can attend, but it was nice to receive an invitation.
On Thursday, last week, I donated some money to Shishu Tori, so that we could buy sweaters for 200 street children. The rest of the money I donated will be used for other projects, e.g. the “Schools Under the Sky”. One sweater is approximately 0.5 USD, which is very small money, but which will help the street children a little now when it’s winter time (it’s getting cooler and cooler in the night time) and also they have suffered during the time of the cyclone, like many others in Bangladesh.
The same day in the evening I had several children and people knocking on my door, wanting to meet with “the foreigner”. One small boy (4-5 years old) first came and had a peep at me, then he went out and he came back and an older girl told me; he doesn’t know your name, but he wanted to meet “how are you?” (he thinks I’m “how are you?” hehe, too cute). One of the girls said to me; “I thought that tall people from England are rude” then I replied “I’m from Sweden and I’m nice…” she replied me; “Nooo, you are very nice…”
On Saturday (last week) I went to Sadarghat with Kanta to meet up with Milon and Nioty as we were going to buy 200 sweaters for the street children, which I had donated money for. After we had selected and bought the sweaters, we then all four of us went to the Shishu Tori office in Motijheel to work there the whole day. I and Forhad worked with a project proposal, while the others were sorting the sweaters. That day I left the office after 6 pm.
The following day (Sunday) I worked a couple of hours in the office with a brochure about the street girls rehabilitation center project. I, together with Forhad, practically worked with it the whole time I was in the office. In the afternoon I, Kanta, Milon and Nilufar went to distribute 45 sweaters in Kamlapur Railway Station and 30 sweaters in Osmani Uddan Park. It was nice to give the street children the sweaters, they were very grateful when they received them. The next day (26 Nov) we were in the office until around 4 pm and went to Kawran Bazar where we distributed sweaters to 35 street children, it was a very good and successful distribution.
We have finished with the brochure about Shishu Tori’s planned project; Street Girls Rehabilitation Center at Kamlapur Railway Station. Please download the brochure and spread it to everyone you know. Download here
The following days in the office I worked mostly in the office with different assignments. The past week I worked six days and after my working week was finished, then I was very tired and somewhat exhausted, so during my two days off (Friday and yesterday) I mainly relaxed and rested in my apartment, as it was very well needed.
Today it’s been back to work. I have been working in the office the whole day, mainly working on the computer.
Now I have been living and working in Bangladesh for 2 months, when I look back at the two months I realize I have experienced a lot and gained a lot of new knowledge. It’s less than a month left of 2007, a year which has been filled with indescribably great experiences from Ghana, Sierra Leone, Denmark, Sweden, Greece and Bangladesh. I don’t know where I will be in one year’s time from now, but I know thing; the world is endless with new experiences…
Save the cocoa, one day I will come and drink it…