Traffic in Old Dhaka

Here's a taste of the traffic and street scene in Old Dhaka. ~K

The District Governor

District Governor Huda lavished us all with gifts. Here he is giving a gift to Andrea. He will be traveling with us at the Sunderban, quite an honor for us. DG Huda is the District Governor for all of Bangladesh, one district. He and our District Governor Luz Maria Ortiz-Smith and her husband E Russel, became good friend and are doing joint projects in Bangladesh. John

Mahleka

Mahleka is one of the daughters of my host Waseque. She is seven turning eight shortly. Last night she stayed up until midnight (a school night) because it was her sister's seventeenth birthday the next day and at the stroke of the clock everyone sang happy birthday. John

Looking good

I promise Jim will wear this to school! I can't promise the same for
Kevin. John

Getting ready to party

Jim and Kevin getting into their party clothes. Incidently, all gifts
of Our hosts! John

The wedding reception of Tausif and Tahmina

We were invited to a wedding reception of the daughter of a local Rotarian. This was he'd at a military compound close to where we are staying. There were several hundred on attendance. The bride and groom here were posing for quite along time for photos. They were amazing as you can see. I think that the bride was a little shy in what seemed like the flood of flash bulbs and lights of paparazi video cameras, intense. Many in attendance were Rotarians and The Inner Wheel, one of my favorite groups of Rotarian women, was well represented. I'm sure that the bride and groom will be Rotarians soon as well. John

The wedding in Dhaka

All the women wore similarly, beautifully, saris (sp?) at the wedding recepton. This women had just had her hands hennad. To answer your unspoken question, yes, all the women here are stunningly beautiful. John

broken in

I've officially landed in Bangladesh - as in knees on bathroom floor. Still not sure whether it was the flu or something I ate. I have the distinction of being the first of our team to fall ill. Marjorie also isn't feeling well. I hope this will be the last of it, for all of us. Happiness now is bottled water, cold 7 up and emerging from the other side of one nasty 24 hours wrestling with this bug. I got lots of sleep and was amazingly attended to by our gracious host families. I am blown away by the hospitality of our hosts and the Rotarians we've been meeting. While ill, my team leader John also checked in on me regularly, which meant a lot to me. It reminds me that it's the hard - as well as the fun - times that build relationships, or at least confirm that I am indeed well looked after.

I missed today's tour of the city. My host joked that it was to be a traffic tour, and from what I heard the guys indeed spent nearly 2/3 of the time fighting traffic. Driving in Dhaka is wild. The streets are narrow and packed with everything from luxury vehicles to green "mini cabs" that look like motorized cages. The rickshaws compete for road space, too, and no one in cars seems the least bit concerned about cutting them off. Going against the flow of traffic is not unusual. Our host Waseque is quite the expert driver. He says if you can drive in Dhaka you can drive anywhere and it's got to be true. I have to admit I've enjoyed our wild rides with him, complete with the tightest turnarounds I've ever seen. The rickshaws seem mostly to carry working men, who are usually on their cell phones during the ride.

When stopped in a line of traffic, beggars rap on the car windows. The women usually carry babies and hold them up to make sure you see. One adorable boy, about 12 with a killer smile, was hawking a stack of new books. His selection included "The Namesake" and "Mein Kampf." I'm not sure how the rest of my team feels about these interactions so far. I asked Kevin's host - a dynamic and generous Rotarian woman - if people actually give them money. She said sometimes, if you have some spare change, but in general there is a movement towards establishing vocational programs for the poor that will truly help solve the problem. And we are often reminded that the children who wander and beg the busy streets are usually on someone's payroll. These are the conversations we have with our hosts. This is part of how we learn about the culture, the realities of this nation.

13 January 2010 the adventure continues

In case any of our followers need to contact us in Bangladesh here is my number +88001738194024 and our Host the GSE District 3280 Coordinator Waseque +88001713375002. Our host immediately insisted that we all have cell phones so we are all in touch. Cell phone reception with these, Grameen Phones, in Dhaka is very good. I don't believe that this will be the case every where. Waseque will be staying in Dhaka though, and you can always reach him. (FYI Waseque speaks english probably better than I do. This also seems to be the case with all the Rotarians and their children thus far). At our host in Dhaka we have either a stationary computer or WiFi so we can use our computer. The photos that we have posted have all come off of our iphones and only where we have discovered that we have WiFi available.

We are having a wonderful time. From the moment we got here the Bangladeshi people have been very, very welcoming and giving, from the two hour wait for baggage, when Jim whipped out his Ukulele, to Kevin's host mother, who has lavished us all with new sweaters.

All of Waseque's family lives within one block of each other, brother, sisters and many cousins. I am envious of the family culture here. We have a lot to learn.

Today, most of the team is on a tour of the city, hosted by three Rotarians. Tonight we will be going to a wedding of the daughter of one of the local Rotarians, this will be amazing. We have driven by the brides house, a large apartment building 4 stories high, picture a large box 100 ft by 100 ft by 50 feet high, draped with colored xmas lights! Tomorrow we depart by bus for Kulna and the famous Sundarban, the largest mangrove forest in the world and will travel the entire time, four nights, by boat. We will not have any outside connection, (I'm guessing) We will be hosted by all the Rotary Clubs of the Kulna region. We will be there from the 14th to the 17th and then back again with our host in Dhaka on the 18th.

This is John signing off, pore dakhaa hobe (see you later)

John Kenyon

GSE Team Leader
District 5240 to District 3280

Some rickshaw art

Marjorie Waseque, Andrea

John

Eating sweets in Bangladesh, Rotary style

John

Kevin doing the hard work of Rotary

John

Jim eating Baklawa at host house

John

Dinner With The Rotary Club of Ramna

When is plane leaving and what time is it anyway?

Dubai

We're delayed in Dubai. Cold showers and marble floors and chatting
with Bangladeshi girl we hope to meet again in Dhaka.

From John's cell phone
805 798 0886
Jlkenyon@aol.com

The light at the end of the tunnel has been shut down due to budget
constraints

In Dubai

A video from the base of the Burj Khalifa!

We are in Dubai

Just a quick hello to all our friends and students. We landed in Dubai
a little while ago and took a taxi to the Burj. That is one tall
building! Everyone is doing well and we all got hood sleep on the
plane.

An experiment for my students:
Our plane flew up and over the North Pole to get to Dubai (UAE) insted
of going across the middle of the globe. Why?Try this: take a length
of string and find a globe of the Earth. Hold one end of the string on
Los Angeles and stretch it straight across to Dubai (United Arab
Emirates). Mark the length. Now try the same thing going over the top
of the globe. What did you discover? Post your answer in the
comments ;).
Till Next Time, Mr. Bailey and the Team

Find your place on the planet. Dig in, and take responsibility from
there. -Gary Syder