This is my Life…

On the 10th of February we had a staff meeting in the office and we discussed our recent picnic in Gazipur. In the meeting one of the teachers, Popy, told that the street boy Shoeib had said to her; “Erik is an angel”. It made me very happy to hear that he had said it.

Valentine’s Day. In the afternoon, after work, I went with Nilufar and Kanta to Nilufar’s brothers’ office. They own a big cinema (with 1200+ seats) in the same street as our office. We met with her brothers and then Nilufar, I and Kanta watched a horror movie in the cinema. As it was in the afternoon there were very few people in the cinema. After the movie had finished I spoke to one of Nilufar’s brothers for quite a long, we had a great talk. He also gave us a tour of the cinema, it was very nice to see. In the evening when I got home I directly went out to a Chinese restaurant together with Ashu and his family. I had a great time and the food was very good.

I have downloaded an emulator so that I can play Neo Geo games, this is a game console that I really wanted to get when I was young, but I never got it, I don’t know why. I have been playing two games; “Samurai Shodown II” and “Metal Slug 2”.

Earlier this week, on Monday, I left our office in the afternoon with Kanta to go to the Kamlapur Railway Station. I supervised the classes for a short while and then we got invited to see several of the street children’s homes. Some are living with no roofs, some are having plastic over their head etc. Most of the students are living along the rail line and in the slums nearby the railway station. It was a great pleasure to meet parents and relatives of some our street children and see how they are living. One thing that amazes me is the happiness among many of the people living in the slums, even if they are facing miserable living conditions they are still smiling and happy. When my colleague and I left the slums both our street children and their family members were calling “come back and visit us again”. I really had a nice time visiting the homes.

The following day I also worked in the office and in the afternoon I went with two colleagues to Sadarghat and distributed sweaters and sheets (donated by IKEA) to four street girls. Two of them, Hasina and Laboni, are girls we have interviewed before. The girls were all happy and especially Hasina was showing it, she said to me; “you have beautiful eyes, like a cat”. Then we distributed sweaters and sheets to two other street girls, Lipy and Poly, in another place. Lipy we know from before, but Poly was a new face to us. Both of them are working as prostitutes so they were waiting for customers when we met them. While we were with them the winds started blowing and they were cool, so it felt real good giving them sweaters and sheets.

Two days ago was a national holiday, International Mother Language Day. I had been invited to go on a river cruise with Ashu’s family and their relatives. We left early in the morning to go to the Buriganga river to get on the ferry. It was a whole day’s trip, a total of 14 hours of excursion. On the ferry it was relatives from both Ashu’s mother’s and father’s side, between 250-300 relatives. It was really nice to get out of Dhaka, to feel a different kind of peace, as Dhaka is a very busy and hectic city. On the boat we socialized, ate, laughed, played games, listened to music etc. I spent most of the time with some of Ashu’s cousins, who I have met before. At one point when the ferry was docked to land, then we walked off and Ashu and I met some carriers who were carrying sand and we asked them how much they were making and they told us that they make 300 Bangladeshi Taka (equal to 4.40 USD) in one day, their working day starts at 5 am and finishes at 6 pm. The work is really hard. While we were sailing on the river, the majority of the people onboard the ship threw the trash into the river, this is something I can’t do, it hurts my heart to see and it reminded me on how small the world is to many people. This world is wonderful, but it’s also sad, I can only hope for more soul in the next generation. At the time when we arrived back in Dhaka in the evening there were 15-20 street boys who jumped onto our ferry and started collecting trash, which they later sell and earn some money for. Instead of just throwing all the trash in the river, give it to the street children and improve their daily life a little. I’m not an ace in mathematics, but this is simple maths to me. I and Ashu’s family gave two street boys our plastic bottles and some fruits and snacks, they were very happy.

Yesterday…22…8…

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I have downloaded a SNES emulator and some games for my MacBook, it’s nice to play once in a while and it brings back fun memories from my childhood. I have been playing “Aladdin”, “Tom & Jerry” etc.

One day when I had been to the GPO (General Post Office) and was walking alongside the Baitul Mukarram (mosque) gold market a man came up to me and asked; “Pakistani?”. Since I came to Bangladesh I have been asked if I’m “Japanese?” and now “Pakistani?”, I don’t know whether I look more like a Japanese or Pakistani? Hehe. Your choice!

Good news! The IKEA office here in Dhaka has been very generous and donated 500 “sheets” to Shishu Tori. Any donation is very welcome, as these street children are living in a very cold environment with “nothing”. We started distributing the “sheets” to our street children in the Schools Under the Sky in Osmani Uddan, when we arrived we were met by the majority of our street children having various sicknesses. Some with skin deceases, someone with nosebleed, someone with eyes filled with blood etc. Constantly hearing the street children coughing makes me remember their horrific situations in the nighttime. The following day we continued our distribution of “sheets” to our students in Kamlapur Railway Station. While we were giving out the “sheets” we got quite a crowd around us who was interested in what was going on. We talked to the street children about the importance of taking good care of what they have received, as it is a valuable thing for them. The third day we distributed the “sheets” to our students in Kawran Bazar. We will continue to distribute “sheets”…

The day that we had distributed “sheets” (donated by IKEA) in Kamlapur Railway Station, a “madman” followed me, he wanted to interact with me, shake my hand etc. His monologue was something like this; “Country? China? Singapore? Thank you!” and he also gave me a piece of newspaper and said to me “Thank you!” He wanted my attention and also something valuable out of my pockets and bag. It’s no wonder some people become crazy while living in the streets, as it is a world far away from a sound mental environment.

One thing I really laughed about one evening was when my servant Sagur pulled up my t-shirt a little and instantly commented the hair on my stomach; “Africa jungle!” with a bad English. I really laughed my a** off. I wish I could have recorded it. Where is that dictation machine when I need it? Hehe.

Yesterday we took our street children to the Bhawal National Park in Gazipur, outside of Dhaka, to have a picnic together. The bus started from Osmani Uddan in the morning, then we picked up the students from Kawran Bazar along the way. On our way to the national park I was sitting on the upper floor of the double-decker bus. The street children were cheering, singing, laughing and joking. When we arrived in the park the street children were served breakfast. After finishing the breakfast I went with the teachers and students from Kamlapur Railway Station and Kawran Bazar to the Shishu Park. On the way to the park, which was 10-15 min walk from where we had our breakfast, I had 3-4 street children holding my hands. There was a fee to enter the park, but it was only 2 Taka, so I paid for all the street children. Inside the park all street children were really enjoying themselves and it was great to see them happy. Practically almost all of them were shouting; “Erik bhiya!” (bhiya means “brother”) as they all wanted to be photographed while they were playing. After some time in the park, we returned to our picnic spot as the TV channel ATN Bangla had arrived and was going to film our street children. I’m very happy that they came and shot from our picnic. After playing games, then the street children were served lunch and after the lunch we gathered ourselves and returned back towards Dhaka. On the way back on the bus it was great to see how happy the street children were, they were singing, laughing, joking and cheering the whole way back home. I had a couple of boys in my lap, both sitting on my lap and sleeping in my lap. Two brothers from Kamlapur Railway Station invited me to their “home”, I will definitely visit where they live. One of the brothers, Shoeib, kept saying he wants a copy of a photo I took of him. Rajeeb was telling me “I want to stay in your home tonight, just for one night”. These two brothers are very cute. This day I gave a lot out of myself and I made the street children happy. Shoeib who doesn’t know much English said to me; “I’m fine. Thank you!”, it was his way of saying I made him happy and it made me very happy to hear it. These are simple things to me, but at the same time this is what life is about. Happiness. When I got home last night I was exhausted.

I’m not part of this world, this world is part of my world…

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