River cruise in Sundarbans National Park

Read John's elegant post below. This will give you a taste of the forest. The Internet connection is very slow and finicky here, so I had to keep this short. Will try to add more soon. ~K

Talking w/ some physics students in the local park.

Sundarbans

Photos soon to follow.
We returned last night to Dhaka and will miss the Sundarbans. The Owner and entrepeneuner Md (Mohammed) Faruk talked yesterday morning about his love for this forest and all forests in stating that he thought of the forest as a mother, something you would treat with care and respect, protect it and love it.

The outboat dropped us off on the shore and we all trekked across the land through fields that gave the feeling of hiding a tiger or two, to a wide open beach. We always had avoupke of guards carrying old enfield rifles. There were other groups there as well and the consequential litter. Faruk had his people picking up trash the entire trip so that when we left the beach and trails were clean. He then took the large bag of trash out on his boat and back to Kulna. Md Faruk was very impressive he not only talked the talk but walked the walk. I hope he understands what I mean by that. Make this man a Rotarian!

Thank you to the great man DG Huda the Governor who made this happen. An inside joke was that the DG always gave credit to his District Rotarian staff and they all said the DG should get all the credit because he is the Governor.

I just heard an update on Haiti. Awful news. In reflection on Bangladesh at first you have the impression of chaos and there is that, but you realize it is not mayhem. There is order in this and the people are living by code and ethics, Allah Jane(e), (praise to god) because with the sheer amount of people everywhere, if people here did not have it in their hearts to do the right thing, well then it would be mayhem.

With every Banladeshi that we have met there is a deeply felt concern for the wellfare and eventual uplifting of the poor. This manifests itself in many ways but it certainly isn't idol musing of the upper the classes. I believe that there are 159 Rotary clubs, 4500 members and 5000
Rotoractors (a college age Rotary Group), very impressive numbers for a single RI District. These are all people who have dedicated themselves to the Rotary ideal of 'service above self'.

I will try to stay away from becoming too political but I must say that large corporations with distant and passive ownership must realize that their long term interest will be met when the people and the country that they are using is cared for as if it was their own. Think: clean water, sanitation, education for all. Clean water, sanitation, education for all. Clean water...

Service above self
John

From John's cell phone
805 798 0886
Jlkenyon@aol.com John's Bangladesh cell is +8801710308215

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