Nahian of Sylhet

This is Nahian. She is a typical Bangladeshi girl in the 6th grade.
Nahian lives in the north east corner of the country in the city
Sylhet. Her father is a very earnest, sweet, and bro-mantic man named
Delawar. On our first night in Sylhet my host father, Rahim, took me
to their flat next door. After tea, and cookies, and conversation,
Nahian brought out her Harmonium and played and sang the Bangladeshi
National Anthem, and We Shall Overcome (which is a very popular song
in this historically tragic country). Her voice, unlike the ultra-high
pitch practised by many female singers here, instead was strong,
smoky, and of course sweet as only a childs voice can be. Afterwards
we talked about school and her dreams to be a science teacher someday.
Okay, so I made up the science teacher part.

On the day that we left her father took her out of school early so
thought she could join us for lunch and see us off. I gave her
Beatrice Land's letter and a necklace from Rhianna Shariff. You can
see the necklace in the picture below and the letter in the one above.
Like so many of the young people we've met here, Nahian is polite and
sweet and very friendly. She is a great kid, and if she lived in Ojai,
she would have a lot to add to our class. I'll always remember her
beautiful love of her country that she expressed through song and
spirit. Jim