This is my Life…

I’m back in Dhaka and I started working again on the 10th of January. I have slowly gone back to the daily routines in Bangladesh after the magical journey together with Alexzandra in Kolkata.

At work the first week after returning to Dhaka: We held a monthly staff meeting. I worked both in the office and in the field. One of the days I went with Forhad to the School Under the Sky in Osmani Uddan and supervised, the following day I sat down in Asha’s class together with the street children and participated in the English and numerals teaching. It was a great time in the class, we all laughed and joked a lot. During the class one of the street boys, Zaky, asked for permission to leave the class a little earlier as he wanted to help his father who has TB (Tuberculosis). Zaky is helping his father to pull his father’s food wagon. At the end of the class we played games. One of the street kids couldn’t hold it back and he peed in his pants, I felt sorry for him as several of the others were laughing at him.

The next day I and Forhad went to Kamlapur Railway Station and supervised the School Under the Sky, I also corrected some of the street children’s answers in their notebooks.

Since I have returned to my apartment building I have been invited to Ashu’s family home almost everyday to have dinner and during off days also to have lunch, they are enormously kind and caring. I spend a lot of time with their family.

I have also witnessed the Mourning of Muharram, which is an important time for Shi’a Muslims when they mourn Imam Husayn ibn Ali (a grandson of Prophet Muhammad) and a Shi’a Imam. During this time many male participants beat themselves on the breast as a display of their devotion to Imam Husayn and to remember his suffering. I didn’t see it with my own eyes, but here in Bangladesh as well as in other Shi’a societies around the world some men actually wound themselves by using knives or razors swung upon chains on their backs and knives or swords on their heads.

This past week I have been working mainly in the office with different assignments and I have been to a meeting with another non-governmental organization.

Today has been the coldest day since I arrived in Bangladesh on the 1st of October 2007, I have been shivering, I don’t know the exact temperature, but it has felt like a cool and rainy October day in Sweden.

…Breathe with me.

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I ended my 2007 and I have started the New Year with my dear Alexzandra in this heavily air polluted city with 14 million inhabitants. I didn’t think that I would go to India at this time in life, but I’m very happy that I’m here now with Alexzandra and we are having an amazing time together. For almost two weeks we have been exploring Kolkata in various ways; socializing with local people, visiting tourist attractions, shopping, relaxing (including spa treatments), dining… I thought Dhaka was bad with its air pollution, but here in Kolkata the diesel is floating around in the air everywhere and at the end of the day both the outside and the inside of the body have received a layer of dust, diesel etc. We are both leaving Kolkata tomorrow after an indescribable time together…

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