Thanksgiving in Dhaka

I have always loved Thanksgiving.  What's not to love?  Food takes the center stage.  The last few years, I've had a great time at the Thanksgiving party hosted by an American family with long ties to Bangladesh.  But this last summer, they moved back to the states.
Luckily, Amanda's friend who works for USAID had offered to host a dinner, and generously extended the invitation to Shazzad and me.  US Government staff had the day off, so they were started at 4PM, but we said we'd be along a little later, once our workday was over.  By 5:30, we were en route.  We swung by the VERY upscale Uni-mart, which is definitely aspiring to be something like a fancy Sam's club or Target.  It even has North End coffee shop in it!  So we order a coffee while picking up starters to take with us.  Clearly there are still some kinks in their inventory--we can find salsa but no tortilla chips.

Amanda at the North End, in Uni-mart.
Dhaka's moving up!

All that mumbo jumbo

Mambo! Jambo! Or “Hello!” “Hi!” in Swahili.  Seriously, it’s so simple that it’s astonishing that "mumbo-jumbo" could somehow morph into a term for confusing jargon! 

Going (coco)nuts about Zanzibar.

 Dar es Salaam is an impressive place.  It buzzes with activity.  Yet there is a running joke about “no haraka” (hurry) in the city; when ordering lunch, expect it to take at least an hour to arrive. The beaches are spectacular.  I steal some time to enjoy them—mainly at night when the crowd disperses and the breeze comes in.  But I see the ghost crabs scurrying around, so I am a little wary of wandering too far.

There are so many references in development to the success of Coca Cola in setting up universal supply chains.  “If we can get coke to remote villages in Africa, why can’t we get (fill in the blank—malaria meds, clean water, etc.)??”  I find it irritating and in most cases, a false comparison point.  Plus, there are so many places in Bangladesh where you can’t find coke!  Though perhaps you can find one of the more dubious local beverages, like mojo or thums up (yes, I spelled that correctly).  But in Tanzania, coke was everyone.  I loved the billboards near the Coke factory that said, “One billion reasons to believe in Africa’s future.” (there are roughly a billion people in Africa).  I thawed a bit on my annoyance with the Coca cola references in development.  And will postpone the launch of my #nocokehere campaign.  For now.

Pic and choose

Amazing how time goes by when you are having fun!  I've been delinquent about blogging--my last post was over 3 months ago.

But I have a lot of photos to share from my many travels.  Today I'll post the link the the portions in the United States, with the Africa and Europe portions soon to come.

In September, I went to San Francisco for a conference on Social Innovation and got to visit Travis and Holly for the first time since Thanksgiving, 2010.  We spent a lot of time outdoors, and rarely went more than a waking hour without eating something very yummy.  I learned that Travis is doing this running streak (at least 1 mile per day, every day), and was inspired to try the same with push-ups.  I set my minimum at 10 per day.  But I seem to forget more than he does--he's done over 365 days straight.  I started on Sept 16 but have only managed to get to 28 days straight.

Then in October I went back, this time solely for fun and accompanied by Shazzad.  We went on a trip that even Jack Kerouac would envy!  Flew into Chicago, then to South Dakota, then to Vegas with my parents, where we rented a car to drive to Denver, Colorado, via the Grand Canyon, Bryce, Zion, Aspen.....more beautiful scenery that your brain can process.  From Denver we flew to Raleigh, took the bus to DC, and then flew to our respective next stop (for Shazzad: Dhaka, for me: Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania).

Hope you enjoy the photos and the (occasionally witty) captions.

Few snaps from India

Breakfast at Srijita's parents' house in Kolkata.
Sweet way to start the day!

With Amanda at the Dkashineswar
Kali Temple, in Kolkata. 

The hills of Orissa on a rainy day.

For many women in Orissa, bringing water up to the village
is a daily task.  These women now have piped water and taps
in their kitchens and bathrooms.

Large parts of Orissa are vulnerable to cyclones.
All homes in this village were constructed
in a disaster-resistant design.

Formal opportunities for women to work are rare in Orissa.
Women and girls shell cashews all day for about $1.50.

We stumble across a tree that's at least 200 years old.

Traveling from Brahmapur to Bhubaneswar (Capital of Orissa),
we sneaked up to the sleepers' class where we could sit comfortably.
There were a steady supply of vendors with tea and tasty snacks,
like this freshly made jhal muri.

A quiet Saturday morning on College Street, back in Kolkata.
Nice to be back in a place where no one really stares at us,
and everyone speaks Bangla.

Self help groups are a popular strategy to help women
become more involved in family finances and save money.
This is a group of women from the slums of Patna who help
each save about $4 monthly.

A government school in Patna, where most of the students are
the children of informal workers--domestic aides, rickshaw
drivers, street vendors--living in nearby slums. 

A community library in a Patna slum.  Clearly no shortage
of talent and energy here.  Once time this slum was
brutally evicted, and the community members stood in front
of the library and said, "you can destroy our houses, but
this building, we will protect."

One of the first areas of Patna declared a "vending zone."
Here the vendors can sell produce free from police
harassment, extortion from contractors and local
gangs, and with ample space for customers.

Bihar may be famous for its mangoes, but I loved the guava.

(Not) just another manic Monday

Note: I wrote this on Tuesday, but didn’t account for not having internet access for two days.  Welcome to real rural development…..

 

Out in "the field"!

It was a heavy sleep, but I had to wake up.  The driver had switched the engine off and was opening the truck to grab my backs.  I opened my eyes and saw a stone castle in front of me.  Its sign said “guest house 1.”  I had not expected to stay in such a noble building while visiting rural Orissa, India.

But there was no time for wonder.  Sleep could only be kept at bay long enough to come inside and throw on my pjs.  While drifting off, one of the many large ants scurrying around my room crawled onto my arm, so I got up and hanged the mosquito net.  I had also discovered that a disproportionate number of malaria deaths in India took place in Orissa, so it didn’t hurt to be cautious.

My first sensation upon waking was sound.  The lullaby of a gentle rain, in a quiet place.  I looked outside and realized that not only was I staying in a castle, but a castle in an enchanted forest.  It was beautiful.  Amanda, who was staying in the next room, was also up, and we were both hungry, so we went off to find the canteen.

Think fast

When you're hungry, you find new meanings
in everything.  Thanks for sharing
this picture, Dad.

Back in high school, one of my best friends was a guy named Melih.  His family was from Turkey, and they were Muslim.  I didn't know much about Islam, but one day, he mentioned he was fasting.  At our high school, everyone ate lunch at the same time, in the cafeteria.  It seemed lonely to skip lunch every day.  I offered to fast with him.  Mainly because I was a teenager and liked to surprise people.  But also because we were close, and it seemed to easier to fast when you had others around you doing the same thing.

My version of fasting was not by the "book," so to speak.  I was on a 5AM-5PM fasting schedule--no food or drinks during daylight.  I'd wake up at 4:55AM, gulp down some gatorade, maybe a few bites of dry cereal if I was really ambitious, and then wait until 5PM to have anything else.  Ramadan fell during basketball season, which was tough.  But I had the superhuman energy of a 15-year-old, so I managed.