Thoughts on Bangladesh

Well the highlight of my trip was that I got bumped up to business class on my Emirates flight! I was so excited. I was in the very back of the plan in the middle between 2 very stinky men. And then up to business with mimosas and a tv and incredible vegetable curry and a chair that completely reclined. That is the way to travel internationally, seriously.

As for Dhaka - it's the most densely populated city in the world, and I struggled to feel love and compassion for the mass of humanity - it was much easier to be annoyed! it’s certainly the poorest city I’ve ever been to – everything, no matter how nice, has that beat-up run down look. Even the "wealthy" area looks very shabby and downtrodden. But then there’s the contrast with the vibrancy of people and animals and fruit and so much life everywhere. And the colors - the woman wear the brightest saris, which was interesting - they don't wear hijabs as much. Which I was expecting given that it's a Muslim country. It's an odd mixture of Indian and Islamic culture.

Tourism in Dhaka is nonexistant. So of course that made it incredibly difficult to get around and see anything. I was really only able to be an outside observer of the mosques and markets and life along the river. I tried to walk around by myself but it’s fairly impossible to do so. There are very few women out and about - it’s all men on the streets, at the market, working at the hotel, everywhere, so the moment I step out of the car I am swarmed. I never felt threatened, it was just obnoxious and immobilizing. I have never felt so constrained from actually engaging with the people and the culture - a very frustrating experience.

The best and worst part of the trip was the 8 hour drive south through the country to one of the rural villages where CARE works (see the story I wrote about the small business development projects with women). I got to see so much of the country and the traditional way of life - ancient fishing nets, Islamic madrassa schools with children in uniforms, rice paddy fields, etc. I loved being able to observe everything. The "worst" bit comes in with the madness of the driving, especially once it hit nightfall. A one-lane road through the countryside with cars hurtling toward you with abandon - I was in the front seat and literally had to close my eyes because I was having so many panic attacks that I was about to be hit head-on. We witnessed 3 accidents - a car smashed into a rickshaw and flipped it over, a bus careened off the side of the ride and landed on its side, and, quite disturbingly, a car hit a man and killed him. I saw him laid out in the middle of the road, in full white tunic and hat, with a huge pool of blood draining out of him.

Spending time with the women entrepeneurs was inspiring and really encouraging. And the converstions I had on the drive with the Bengali CARE staff was really interesting as well, learning about Bangladesh's economy, the garment industry (check your clothes - 80% of the industry is now made in Bangladesh), and the role of women in society. I left with a lot of hope for the country and the way that development is occuring there, which is certainly not always the case.