Last distribution

After almost 2 weeks of faithful service, my iPhone is failing to access the network today, so this is being posted from the hotel's computer, which is crawlingly slow, so there will only be a couple of pictures. [Update: Upon arrival back home in Canada, I discovered a message from Rogers Wireless, left on my home phone in Brampton, advising that they had arbitrarily suspended my cell service because they thought the roaming charges were higher than normal. Duh!]

We went to Tongibari today for our final distribution of 600 bedkits. This village on the Meghna river is shown in the above photo.

After the kids received their kits, we visited the home of one of the recipients, and strolled around the village. This was the first time we had actually seen how the poor in the countryside actually live. It is appalling. This particular group of families had lost their homes when the river flooded its banks, and had relocated to rented houses. Fuel for the cooking fire is dried cow dung. The cooking stove is hand moulded from clay by the wife and mother. She was making a new one as we visited.

As you can see here, the bedkit had been unpacked, and the mattress was drying in the sun. Other parts of the kit were seen inside the house. All of the items are highly prized by these people who have nothing but what they can make for themselves.

I am out of gas, as are my team mates. We are in sensory overload, and will need time to process all of the information we have taken in. We have no frame of reference for much of what we have seen. We know it will be impossible to accurately describe this to our friends and family back home. We can show them the pictures, tell them the stories, but they will not really understand if they have not experienced something like this first hand.

So our team shares a special bond that comes from going through this together, discussing it, trying to understand it, trying to assess whether we made much of a difference by being here.

We think we did make a difference. There are 8,000 kids who have a decent place to sleep, a new outfit, a mosquito net, a water bottle, a back pack, a sweater for the cold weather, pyjamas, some school supplies, and some other odds and ends. The proof is in the smiles.

I think my job was the best one on the team. I had the last station, where the kids received their bedkits. I could see that they didn't really believe 100% that they were going to get one until it was actually in their hands, and then every one of them broke out in a big smile that said, "Yeah, it IS real. I'm actually going home with this. Wow!"

Team photo

Here we are with some of the kids.

Crashworthy

I've mentioned the crazy traffic here. All cars and vans are outfitted with heavy steel bumpers like this, front and rear, to provide at least some protection. It's rare to see a vehicle that has no dents or
scrapes.

School days

This gong is the bell at the school in Shibpur where today's bedkit distribution was held. The teacher rings it by striking it with the curved stick at the top of the picture.

Construction site

We passed this construction project on the way to our distribution site. Most of this kind of work is done by manual labour. These workers, male and female, were filling baskets with dirt to be carried away.

Yesterday, we saw railway cars full of gravel being unloaded in the same fashion.

High touch

There is much more touching in Bangladesh society than in Canada. Men of all ages and social strata are often seen holding hands while walking or chatting. Here, in a relaxed moment, one of our helpers throws an arm over the shoulders of his workmate.

Cricketeer

Cricket is huge here. This young batsman demonstrates his form.

Going down the road

After a distribution, the paths and roads are full of children wearing the new clothes they received in their kit, and carrying the rest of their bedkit on their heads as these girls are doing. (Photo by Marg).

Bonus photo

As we were packing up, this girl was starting the evening chores, tending to the goats and cattle.

Homeward bound

This mother is loaded up and ready to head home with bedkits for her son and his friend.

Toilet talk

We're getting pretty familiar with squat toilets, which are the norm here.

They range from high-end models with a hose for bum flushing, to the kind pictured here with a couple of bricks and a bucket of water, to a hole in the floor and nothing else.

Personally, I find wet wipes work well, but then there is a disposal problem as it is poor form to throw anything in the toilet.

User feedback

Team member Marg, with Mr. Hadi translating, gets parents' assessment of the usefulness of the bedkit's contents. Feedback was very positive.

Arrival at Shibpur

As they always are, the kids were ready and waiting for us. This morning, as we arrived they broke into loud applause that lasted a minute or two.

It was very moving and several of us had a moist eye. Then they sang their national anthem, and we reciprocated with a rousing chorus of O Canada.

A long and winding road

Everything looks so much better in sunshine. Even the potholes seem shallower. This photo shows the road into Shibpur for today's distribution of 700 bedkits at the local school.

No other motorized vehicles passed down this extremely narrow and twisty road all day.

Traffic is so light that a man was drying his rice right on the road.

The pause that refreshes

Here I try coconut water from the green fruit, considered a special treat here.

Pedal power

I have mentioned the 740,000 rickshaws in Dhaka. Team mate Doug M shot this one in the rain.

School Days

Most of our distributions with the Lions Club are in schools. This picture shows the wall of a typical classroom. Headmasters and teachers are very high status people here, reflecting the importance accorded education by parents. The schools are poorly equipped, and supplies like paper and pencils are in short supply.

Today we went to Balaboo. We started out in wind and rain on a good road that quickly deteriorated into the world's biggest potholes, some 12 ft. in diameter.

This went on for half an hour, with van creaking and groaning as the body twisted. Good thing Marg, with her stomach problems, wasn't on this ride. The sun peeked out briefly at 9:00 a.m., the rain stopped, the winds died down, and the highway smoothed out a bit.

At Baraboo, all went very well. The people there were particularly friendly and the kids seemed extra-handsome. It was fun to see moms and dads heading home with bedkits on their heads and children in tow.

It was also good working weather in the mid-20s. The forecast is for a return of the hot stuff later this week.

We're being taken to an Indian restaurant tonight.

We have now distributed 6,000 of our 8,000 bedkits.

Team member down

We are short one team member this morning as Marg has fallen ill with stomach problems.

This is not uncommon among westerners exposed to unfamiliar, spicy foods, sometimes served on plates washed under the village pump
without benefit of soap (as was the case yesterday).

Here's a shot of yesterday's working conditions.

High fashion

Lions Club representatives Mr. Hadi and his wife Marzan proudly show us their clothing store and adjoining factory.

Some of their saris are priced at $USD 1,000+. Shown are two skilled workers embroidering with gold thread.

There is a huge gulf here between the relatively small business elite and the poverty-stricken masses.

Sreenagar

It rained steadily for the second day in a row, and we were forced again to find an indoor location for picture-taking and handing out bedkits.

At the village of Sreenagar, a school room filled the bill. It was impossibly dark, lit only by whatever light entered through a louvred window on this overcast day.

There was, of course, no electricity. Somehow, team leader Richard and Doug M were able to find camera settings that produced good photographs, and we got 500 kits distributed to kids who arrived on foot and by boat from the surrounding countryside.

As this picture shows, water was everywhere today, and the temperature plummeted to 22 degrees. This felt cool in contrast to last week, and some of our party reached for sweaters and jackets.

Waterworld

Today we struck out for a distribution at Naria, a village near the Padma River.

The 3-hour trip took us over a winding single-lane road, through rice paddies and potholes that could swallow a VW Beetle. Traffic stalled when a large truck ahead of us got stuck in the mud.

The shoulders of the narrow road were lined in places with houses and shops just inches away from our van and hanging out over the river, their backsides supported by stilts.

We marched aboard a rusty old shallow-draft boat singing "O Canada" and waving the Canadian flag that always accompanies us. I took this picture through the open hatch. The crowd typifies the kind of curious attention we attract everywhere we go.

After almost an hour on the river, subjected to the deafening noise of the engine, we arrived at Naria, and clambered up a rain-soaked mud bank to the footpath leading to the village.

The villagers had erected a large canopy on a bamboo frame to keep us and the kids dry for the picture-taking, but this plan collapsed along with the canopy as wind and rain assaulted us without let-up.

We moved our operation indoors, using a funeral bier (used to carry
the dead to the cemetery) as a backdrop for the kids' pictures.

We distributed 800 kits, and then reversed our journey after sharing a light meal with a family in the village. Of course, we were soaked and had to sit in our wet clothes the four and a half hours back to Dhaka. None of us complained. We could only say how lucky we are to be having this adventure, seeing things we couldn't have imagined, and putting a big smile on a lot of kids' faces.

Must be ready for a 7:00 a.m. start tomorrow, so will sign off for now.

Water taxis

Bangladesh is essentially a huge delta. The water starts it's journey in the mountains of Nepal, travels down through India, dividing into several rivers --- the Padma, Jamuna, and Meghna --- as it flows to the Bay of Bengal on the Indian Ocean.

These rivers have deposited their sediment over the centuries to create the land now known as Bangladesh. Most transportation of goods and services is by boat. This picture shows water taxis that ferries people from one part of Dhaka to another.

New friends

Our "day off" culminated with a special dinner at a restaurant called Emanuel's Barbeque, hosted by the Rotary Club team in our honour. They are very gracious people, and all expressed sincere appreciation for our work here.

I particularly like Captain Khaliquzzaman (Khaliq) and his wife, both of whom we have gotten to know rather well. He, along with Captain Hossain, has been ensuring that we get around the country as comfortably as possible. They accompanied us on the steamer trip to Barisal.

She presented each of us with one of these hand-embroidered pictures, each a unique Bangladesh scene. Mine depicts a village. We will be proud to display it back in Brampton, and to tell the story behind it.

Right now I am capping off my day of R&R with a beer on the balcony. Yes, friends, when we checked back into the Rose Wood Residence upon our return to Dhaka, I scored a room with a balcony AND a queen size bed with TWO pillows.

This is the first beer since London 9 days ago, and was acquired at
our "speakeasy" source (see earlier post re: wine).

Seeing things

A day of playing tourist in Dhaka, and a needed break to get recharged as we have been working long days and travelling long distances. The Rotary Club half of this distribution trip is complete, with 4,000 kits given to the kids --- many in rural areas where few NGOs go. Now we begin the Lions Club portion.

Two wonderful young men who have been helping us with our work took us on a tour of the city, including a visit to a very old fort that is now a huge green space with gardens and a museum.

We discovered it is also a place for young lovers to grab some time together, away from the masses of humanity in this huge city of 14 million people.

Among facts learned --- there are 740,000 rickshaws in Dhaka.

Language issues cause many minor missteps. A street vendor selling maps approached our vehicle while we were stopped in traffic --- price 300 taka ($2.00). While negotiating for 2 maps for 500, the traffic
moved on after the money had been handed over, but before the second
map had been received. So this is now known as Doug's 500-taka map. Still a bargain.

The picture is a typical pedal-powered delivery vehicle called a rickshavan. There are thousands of every description carrying everything from chickens to sewer pipe.

Back in Dhaka

Pleasant overnight steamer trip. 27 degrees at 5:00 a.m. Humidex 40. Here is the scene at the entrance to the terminal. Today is a rest break, and we hope to some sightseeing.

We drove through the commercial, government, university area on the way to our hotel. Buildings were modern and tall along broad avenues. Quite a contrast with most of what we have seen over the past week.

A shining beacon

This Islamic prayer centre was built by a wealthy patron in this
otherwise remote agricultural area. We visited after dark as part of
an informal tour led by Capt. Hossain as he took us to the steamer for
the return trip to Dhaka.

Let's sing

Team mate Marg gets the kids singing When You're Happy And You Know It during a lull in yesterday's proceedings.

Happiness is ...

I liked this smile.

Record day

This picture shows the team in action at a massive 1300-kit
distribution in Barisal. We set a team record of 637 kits handed to
kids in the first 2 hours. Humidex was 42.

Wonderful hospitality from Captain Hossain, whose family has lived in
this home for 9 generations. We were treated to breakfast this
morning, and a lunch of traditional foods when the distribution was
completed around 3:00 pm.

The family's first generation was buried here in 1637, according to a
marker on the property.

Our steamer casts off at 8:30 pm for the return trip to Dhaka.
Shipboard passenger quarters last night were quite comfortable.

Barisal

After a peaceful night's sleep aboard the steamer, we've arrived in
Barisal. Here's the view of the dock from the foredeck.

Anchors away

It is 8:15 Tuesday and I am standing on the bow of the Barata, a river
ship that will take us overnight to Baisal for our next distribution.

Here's my view of the dock in Dhaka harbour. We expect see James Bond
mingling in the crowd.

The entertainer

I am sitting with a dozen kids under a tree in Dhaka waiting for another truckload of bedkits to arrive. The iPhone is keeping all of them entertained, particularly the Koi Pond, but they also seem to like the bluegrass tunes I'm playing for them. "Caravan" by Bill Keith is a particular crowd pleaser.

Southern exposure

We just got back from a distribution of 500 dedkits in Feni, to the
south toward the Bay of Bengal, which meant another long distance trip
on the crazy highways.

I am starting to develop an appreciation for the informal code of
conduct that makes these work in the absence of any traffic law
enforcement. It's a fine balance of aggression and compromise, and
there seems to be an understanding that the buses won't run the little
3-wheeled taxis and bicycle rickshaws into the ditch.

At it's best, it is smooth, almost balletic. At it's worst noisy and
jerky. Terrible exhaust fumes and grit in the air filling the nasal
passages and making the eyes water.

We have seen a couple of wrecks, but amazingly few under the
circumstances.

This picture shows men digging clay for making bricks in the kilns
behind them. Labour is cheap and plentiful, so you don't see power
equipment on construction sites and the like.

The countryside presents many wonderful views of rice fields, bamboo
weavers, cows and goats foraging on the roadside, fishing nets on long
bamboo poles.

Virtually the whole country is a river delta, the monsoon season just
ended, and everything is very green.

A very long day

On the road around 6:00 am for what turned out to be a round trip that
involved almost 8 hours on the road, which meant getting back at 7:00
pm after a 500-kit distribution.

This picture shows how well the Rotary guys had the kids organized at
Sirajgong. By the way, those snappy outfits are part of the bedkits,
and they put them on before getting their pictures taken.

There have been a couple of minor casualties from long days, hot sun,
interruption of our natural rhythms, and unfamiliar food. Both Marg
and Doug M are suffering flu-like symptoms, but both soldiered on
regardless.

The trip was wilder than any midway ride, with vehicles of all sizes
and descriptions cutting in and around each other, and buses without
lights coming at us out of the darkness. Thankfully we had a great
driver who got us back safely despite a couple of near misses.

The countryside is quite beautiful. Bamboo, sugar cane and various
vegetables are grown.

Falling asleep now and must be up for 4:00 am departure for Feni and a 500-kit distribution.

Wheels of commerce

There are thousands of rickshaws in this city and this is one of the repair yards, seen during an evening stroll with Richard. Looked to be hundreds of them waiting for a fix-up.

Getting' outa Dodge

With bedkits piled on the roof of the bus, they head home.

This must be the place

These kids were on one of 7 buses that made a 300 km round trip into
Dhaka for our distribution today.

Takin' it home

This shot of a girl heading home with her new bedkit kinda sums it all
up. The gentleman on the right is Mr. Choudhury, a past president of
Rotary and the man in charge of their partnership with Sleeping
Children.

Smiles

Second day of distribution in Dhaka.Must be up early tomorrow for a 6:00 am start for a 3-hour trip to Sirajgonj for another distribution with our Rotary Club partners. Worked hard today, but we all felt pretty good about how well the team has gelled and makes use of our individual talents.

This is the first of a few pix by fellow team member Marg, who as you
can see is very good photographer with a very good camera. Marg, a former teacher, had these kids smiling as they waited to receive their kits and get their pictures taken.

Also had chance to see a bit of the street life, and have pictures, so check back later for some touristy stuff. Had my first rickshaw ride.

Distribution day one

Parents and children begin to gather by 8:30 am in front of the
Golshan Ladies Community Club, venue for the first two days of our bedkit distribution.

Day one is in the mid 30s celsius and very humid, requiring constant vigilance to avoid dehydration.



These kids might be wondering what's taking so long.



Inside, we volunteers are getting everything organized. By noon, it will be impossibly hot for both children and volunteers, and we will stop the show and move everything indoors.



The first of today's 600 kids know they are lucky to be at the front of the line. Many more will wait all day to get their precious kits.

We're here

Here are my Canadian team mates raring to go.

We arrived this morning around 6:00 a.m. after 17 hours in the air and a 9-hour layover in London. We are all pretty bushed, but excited and looking forward to our adventure.

Our local Rotary Club team members met us at the airport with flowers and transportation to the hotel. The traffic here is unbelievable. Our driver should take up grand prix racing. He maintained a high speed while swerving smoothly through 3-wheeled csabs, huge trucks and buses on multi-lane roadsthat have no lane markings.

Also having technical problems. The iPhone worked fine at the airpot but service became intermittent at the hotel and then ceased entirely. So I'm on the crawlingly slow Windows machine in the hotel business centre.

Bedkit distributioon starts tomorrow here in Dhaka with 700 kits as the experienced hands show we newbies the drill.

Somewhere west of Kiev

The moving map display on the aircraft entertainment system says we are just west of Kiev (thinking about my CharityVillage team mate Natalya, who comes from there), 6,000 km from Dhaka. The in flight meal was a delicious fish pie made with Alaskan pollack.

No idea what time it is in Kiev, but the time in Dhaka is about 11:00 pm, so we have about 6 more hours to go on this 9.5 hour leg.

Haven't really slept since leaving home, so will crash for sure at some point. A shower and a shave would be nice.

Halfway there

We're in London, well Heathrow, for a 9-hour layover before our
departure to Dhaka. We arrived here around 6:30 am, and are all in
need of a nap. Here's one of our team doing just that.

Here we go

Here's our team at Pearson International, ready to check in.

Ready to go!

I'm all packed, and managed to come in under British Airways' luggage limits --- bags can not exceed 51 lbs (23 kg) and total height/width/length dimensions of 62". Two checked bags are permitted. My second bag will be a hockey bag packed with soccer balls, cloth diapers, baby formula, baseball caps, hospital gowns, and other items that team members are taking over for the kids and their parents. We had hoped to take medical supplies, but the necessary customs pre-approvals could not be obtained in time.

The bag will be used to bring home a sample bedkit on the return trip.

Hearing from a lot of friends wishing me "bon voyage." This will be the last post before heading out to the airport tomorrow. All future posts will be from the iPhone, if the technology gods co-operate.

Registering with Foreign Affairs

Team captain Richard tipped us to the registration service provided by the Canadian government for all Canadians travelling or living abroad. This service is provided so that we travellers can be contacted and assisted in an emergency in a foreign country, such as a natural disaster or civil unrest, or in the event of a family emergency at home. The website for this is http://www.voyage.gc.ca/.

You can register in advance online, which I did, and then activate your file by phone when you arrive in the country.

Last of the meds

Made my fifth and final trip to the Travel Clinic today to get a prescription for Mefloquine, a new anti-malarial drug recommended when travelling to areas of the world where there is resistance to conventional anti-malarials. That's the last of the meds required for this trip. Possible side effects of this drug include strange dreams and nightmares. Whoo-hoo!

A week from today we're on our way. Current weather there is 28-31 Celsius and rainy.

A solution for team communications.

I had a little e-chat with team leader Richard about ways for team members to communicate with one another in-country. Cellphones are pretty much ruled out for the reasons mentioned in my last post. Turns out we had both been thinking about 2-way radios. These are available for around $100.

Bottom line, I will get a pair of these to take along. Problem solved.

Wireless woes

A couple of months ago, in preparation for this trip, I switched from Bell Mobility to Rogers Wireless in order to enjoy the GSM standard used in Bangladesh and most of the world outside North America.

Several of our team members, including me, were assuming we could buy a SIM card for our Rogers cellphones in Bangladesh, which would have greatly reduced the cost of calls between team members while in that country.

Unfortunately, we have discovered that Rogers Wireless does not allow their subscribers' phones to be "unlocked" in order to permit this. On the Rogers network, the mobile phone is locked to its [Canadian] SIM card, so all our calls will effectively be calls to Canada, even though both parties are in the same city in Bangladesh.

One of our team members thinks texting might be a solution. Sounds promising, but we'll see.

The paper flies

Today was label sorting day. In the above picture, members of our Bangladesh team sort the labels that will be photographed with bedkit recipients at the distribution sites. Each bedkit donor receives a photo showing the receiving child with her/his bedkit and a label displaying the donor's name.

Less than two weeks to go!