Coming Home

It's been about a week now since we landed in Winnipeg and I've been trying to return to my everyday life as a student home for the summer from university. It's been an interesting mental process trying to reconcile my time in Bangladesh and my life in Canada. In a lot of ways I really can't believe the two places exist on the same planet with them being so incredibly different. I am overwhelmed with the large open space of the prairies and the quiet of fields and valleys. It almost feels like I have new eyes and a whole new appreciation for what I once thought was boring open space. There's been a few instances now of walking down the street and wondering where the call to prayer from the mosque is. I have been revelling in having water from a tap I can drink and if we're being completely honest, having no squat toilets anywhere is a huge and glorious relief. I know I learned a lot from the experience and that there are things that we did there I'll never forget but it's a little more difficult to explain in a nutshell what the trip was or how I felt about it to family and friends. I know it was a great experience in terms of personal growth and giving me more perspective but I don't know if I would go back. I don't regret my time spent in Bangladesh at all and I wouldn't mind travelling to more underdeveloped or third world countries but I found the culture of Bangladesh hard to work in to the capacity that I wanted to as a girl. It's also been difficult for me to think of what I plan on doing differently now that I'm home. For me, meeting the girls of the rehabilitation center and hearing their stories really resonated and I want to advocate and be a part of advancing gender equality here in Canada in tribute to them. Girls here aren't being tortured for dowry or trying to commit suicide in large numbers to escape arranged marriages and family pressure but there are still large inequalities and injustices that I think in trying to address for girls and women here is a way I can make a difference maybe in some small way, for the women of Bangladesh.

Coming Home

The last few days of the trip seemed to go by really slow because we were really looking forward to coming home. However, for me it also seemed bittersweet and I couldn't believe the five weeks had already went by. I was kinda surprised to realize I would miss Bangladesh quite a bit- the people we had made close connections with and a more relaxed way of life, where people live in the moment. I realized I would be coming home to a busy schedule where I actually had to be on time.
The last few days I really enjoyed and am glad we got to end the trip with such positive experiences. We drove to Dhaka University which was massive; we were told over 10 km and that it was government funded. While in Lalmonirhat, we visited a local college and I noticed there was a much larger male population attending and the different sexes never intermingled. But when comparing to a University in Rangpur and Dhaka University there seemed to be a more equal number of women compared to men and that they mingled together, which was nice to see because it demonstrates that society is slowly changing in regards to women's rights and their education. The liberation war museum was closed when we tried going so instead we asked to go to Sonargaon which was the original capital city of Bangladesh. We saw Panam City which was built in the late 19th century by rich Hindu cloth merchants during the british rule. The mansions were beautiful but it was tragic to see that they were crumbling and falling apart because they were not being looked after and preserved. Some threats to this sites preservation I found online include: flooding, vandalism, unauthorized occupation, illegal development, poor maintenance, and earthquakes. We also visited a palace that was built in 1901 and it was the first time I had seen renovations being done to preservative a historic site. There was also a nicely organized and well kept folk-art museum that had many ancient artifacts.
One of my favorite memories from the trip was when we visited a family that had a son who went to the University of Manitoba and knew one of the girls on the trip. The family was upper class and the Father worked as an UN peacekeeper. It was interesting to make the comparison of a family living in a rural village and a family living in Dhaka. This family was so friendly and excited to meet us. They prepared a fantastic meal and even gave us some to take back to the guesthouse. The Father kept telling us to come back and we could stay with them and they would take us around Bangladesh and India. This was a crazy offer and it shows the difference in culture; in Canada no one is that hospitable and friendly to guests. Coming as an international student to Canada would be a huge transition and everyone would seem cold and rude. After experiencing so much hospitality over the last five weeks, it has got me thinking about how I should be more inviting and welcome guests into my home. 
Going from Dhaka to Dubai was a pretty big transition. Everything in Dubai seemed very clean, shiny, and organized. It was nice for the first time in a long time to be able to eat anything without having to think of the consequences. Sadly, our jet lagged choice turned out to be over indulging in McDonald's which was later regretted when I woke up a few hours later with a McDonald's hangover.
Driving home from the airport in Winnipeg I couldn't get over the calmness in traffic and how organized everything was. I kept expecting a rickshaw to be driving on the side or a goat to jump into traffic.
 The next day was grad and when walking into the gym with people taking tons of photos I found myself getting overwhelmed and frustrated until I realized the photos were not because I was foreign but were of everyone because of the ceremony.
The last few days I find the little things have meant a lot such as: being able to put on a short sundress and walk around without people staring, being able to have a cold beer with a BBQ steak, taking a long hot bath (I realized probably most people in rural Bangladesh have never experienced a hot bath), being able to go into Wal Mart/ Superstore and find exactly what I needed, and eating in a food court without getting food poisoning. Right before we left I was talking with RDRS staff in Dhaka and I learned they pay for and eat lunch everyday at the office. They said the main reason was because the food was hygienic. Also, the family we visited said they hardly ever eat out because it's not safe.
I am really thankful I had this opportunity in Bangladesh and got to meet so many inspiring people and learn a lot about a different culture, way of life, international development, health care, and so many other areas. Specifically, as a pharmacy student I feel this trip has been eye opening for me because I had the opportunity to learn about pharmacy in another country. The pharmacy industry in Bangladesh is very different from Canada. The way medication is dispensed by local chemist shops makes me thankful for all the regulations and training that is available in Canada. The massive amount of antibiotic use was alarming, especially because antibiotics were the most common drug used there, they were not regulated, and anyone had access to them.  The overuse of antibiotics is an area I am interested in studying in the future. I would like to go back to Bangladesh and do more research in the pharmacy industry, specifically the overuse of the antibiotics. As a women in Bangladesh I would not have the opportunity to study pharmacy and work in this industry.  Pharmacy representatives told me their job was "too hard for a women". My pharmacy experiences that I learned in Bangladesh will be ones that I will be able to use in my future career and pass on to other students and colleagues.  I am glad I did this trip as I believe it has been a life changing experience and my perspectives and thoughts have been questioned and changed. Over the next few weeks I will have the opportunity to share my experiences and stories from Bangladesh and I am excited to tell people what a wonderful country it was and how friendly and hospitable the people were.

Lalmonirhat

Last week we were in Lalmonirhat and I we had the opportunity to few different projects but for the most part they were similar to what we've seen in other RDRS working areas. 

One project really stood out for me. We went to the home of one of the girls who had finished the program at the Women's Rehabilitation centre in Rangpur. Now, She makes clothes in her village. She is a survivor of domestic violence as a result of dowry issues, and is now making her own money thanks to the training she received from RDRS. Although she hopes to get married again some point in her life, she expressed how happy she is to be in her father's house and being able to provide for herself and her family. As if that's not enough, she has been teaching other women in the village to makes clothes for all ages so that they too can make ends-meet. Her's is a success story. But that's not what stuck with me. 

After talking to her and hearing her story and how hard her life was; getting married at a young age, the abuse from her in laws etc,we also spoke to her father. Regardless of what his eldest daughter has been through, he told us that now he's thinking about marrying off his younger, 14yr old daughter because that would be one less mouth to feed. It truly made me sad to hear this, especially considering that this is probably the most successful outcome of the rehabilitation.

It got me thinking a lot about the type of rehabilitation offered and how important it is for RDRS to extend their program to the victim's family and community. Clearly it's not just about the individual but there is a deeper problem to be addressed here.

Our experiences from Lalmonirhat, the last district.

I can’t believe we have already completed our final destination of the trip, to the district of Lalmonirhat. This trip has been going by so quickly, and yet when I look back on the number of projects we have visited it is astounding. I found this week especially interesting given the majority of the programs we visited were healthcare oriented, my particular focus. The district is located about 1.5 hours northeast of Rangpur on a narrow strip of land bordering the India. The area is almost entirely rural with no large urban centres. This means the province lacks many vital services and was the poorest of the districts we have visited. People are often forced to travel hours if necessary to receive proper care in Rangpur. To see this level of disparity, even after visiting all the other districts was truely eye opening.

After making the 1.5 hour drive we arrived at our guesthouse, another sweet 4 storey building which is usually used by RDRS for training. The staff here are as friendly and welcoming as anywhere, but there was one slight let down, no A/C! I had managed this in my room in Kurigram and for a day visiting the chars, but never this long and with no common area for relief. I feel quite selfish complaining about this minor inconvenience when many people are living with no electricity at all. I’m sure we’ll have as enjoyable of a time here as all the other districts.

Once settled we go to visit the law courts and speak with 5 lawyers representing RDRS protecting many of the abused and victimized women. These cases can range from rape or assault to dowry disputes. The lawyers say they are currently working on 44 cases, but the legal system in Bangladesh is a slow process and there is little legislation protecting women. This makes it clear that changes have to be made at a constitutional level if progress for women rights is to be further improved. Another I found interesting, although 3 of the 5 lawyers we met were women, only approximately 5% of lawyers in Bangladesh are women. Many women are married and supporting a family at a young age and are not given the opportunity to persue such extensive education.

The next morning we were given the opportunity to join in on a meeting with a union federation discussing future developments for 2014/15. We all agreed we gained little knowledge from this, as it was difficult to comprehend the projected developments with such little knowledge of the area. In the afternoon we visited an eye-care clinic run by RDRS. This facility offered free care to the poor and ultra-poor with services such as optometry and treatment for different diseases such as cataracts or infections. Attached to the hospital is a rehabilitation centre for visually impaired youth. With children ranging in age from 5 to 18 years old. The centre provides educations along with training in ADLs (activities for daily living) and vocational training such as woodworking or tailoring. This facility was most impressive of what I have seen so far. All the children seemed very happy and were gaining skills vital to allow for independence upon returning to their community.

The other sites we visited while in Lalmonirhat included the main district’s hospital, The Sadar Hospital, and the TB and leprosy clinic run by RDRS. The Sadar hospital was extremely understaffed. For example the surgery ward of 50 beds was serviced by only one nurse and one nursing aid. The hospital has 33 positions for physicians with only 6 filled! They didn’t even have staff to operate the X-Ray machine or the sonogram. For a major hospital serving approximately 1,000,000 people this is shocking. I was informed that most of the doctors are trained in Rangpur and would rather practice there in private clinics then this public hospital. I feel the government needs to provide more incentives for working in these rural areas or reserve more spots in their medical schools for rural applicants, but both of these solutions take money and have their only disadvantages.

After seeing all of these health programs I can really see how difficult it is to provide accessible primary healthcare to the poor and rural areas of the country. One strategy that does seem to be improving this disparity is an increase in field workers. This strategy is especially effective in providing family planning education in more remote areas and is one of the main reasons for the recent decrease in family size.

We are now back in Rangpur to relax and prepare a presentation and report for RDRS. We’ve also scheduled in another visit to the women’s rehabilitation clinic, Rangpur Medical College and a Prostitution Support Clinic. I am looking forward to these last three programs before coming home after such a life changing experience.

In conclusion............


As we enjoy our last few days and reflect on our weeks here in Bangladesh,  it is somewhat bitter sweet.To say that this experience was totally amazing would be putting it mildly, but I know I would do this trip again.One of the most difficult things we faced was to try and not make comparisons with things here and things in Canada. But how could you not make daily comparisons with life in Canada? I think this was something we were all guilty of at some point or another. In making the comparison , it was not to say that we were better but to be thankful- simply thankful for things such as our health care,air conditioning, running water, a toilet with a seat .....or simply feeling, believing and knowing that you had a world of choices and possibilities ahead of you ,instead of simply marriage,field work or child rearing.We are thankful for the fact that when we go to the doctor ,even though we may have to wait to see a specialist, we knew that we would eventually see one. That in our city, we have a choice of hospitals, doctors or clinics to go to.We were thankful for our dental and eye care and other health benefits that we took for granted and expect to receive in a sanitized facility that thousand of people in developing countries don't receive.
Our group got a first hand look at what its like to receive emergency care, maternity care and family planning at some of the rural hospitals.
This trip has  given me a new awareness of health care issues, race issues, gender issues, cultural  issues, poverty, environmental as well as economical issues.The positives are in knowing that the numbers are increasing in women who come forward and talk about abuse, and violence against them. Women who use the hospital for monthly check ups when they are pregnant and actually have their baby at the hospital instead of home births.Or those women who have taken micro loans to help improve the quality of their lives and their family's economic situation.
For me, being here has being a most exhilarating experience.Words can't begin to describe it.The people have been kind and very generous, always willing to open up their homes, to provide us with snacks, welcome us in for tea or coffee and a smile. The many schools we visited,treated us to a dance or a song or both. Any meetings, hospital tours, farms or clinic visits always ended with snacks, photos, handshakes and smiles . The colourful roadside markets, curried dishes, many lychees, abundance of jackfruit,power outages, and the generosity of the friendlyBengali  people has made this experience a very informative and an exceptional educational experience.

My week in Lalmonirhat

This past few weeks I had the opportunity to hear many Bangladeshi women’s stories and also personally experience what it is like being a women here. However, it must be considered my experiences are vastly different than local women because I am foreign and tend to get treated differently.

While in Thakuragon, we had the opportunity to meet with an indigenous women’s forum. When asking these women if they wanted any other kind of support from RDRS they stated they wanted help with their kids school supplies and also wanted to learn income generating activities to help support their families. Their response surprised me because it was a selfless request; they wanted to work to help provide a better future for their family. Instead of feeling helpless about a future faced with poverty they had pride for the forum they were part of, and hope and plans for the future.

Another interesting experience stuck in my mind when visiting a government hospital. When visiting a female patient who had taken a drug to have an abortion the doctor said we wouldn't know about anti-abortive drugs because we were not married.  Every female patient in this hospital we visited was “18 and married”. The legal age for marriage here is 18 but in rural areas girls are often married as young as 12 years old. At a hospital in a different district the doctor told us what he guessed was the true age of the women, they often say they are older, and it was shocking. We met a young woman who at 18 already had two babies.

While in Kurigram, I met with about ten male pharmaceutical representatives and I asked about opportunities for females in the pharmacy profession. I was told that the job would be too hard for a woman because they work long hard hours and they did not have female colleagues. However, they said some women work in the pharmacy industry in Dhaka.

This past week in Lalmonirhat, we visited the home of a young woman who had been part of the rehabilitation program. At 12 years old her father married her off but her husbands family started pressuring her family for a larger dowry and abused her when they did not receive it. She was part of a women’s forum so she knew to contact RDRS to get help. When RDRS took her husband to court he disappeared and has not been charged and the divorce has not been finalized years later. With her training at the center she was able to start a business sewing to help support her family, she has even trained five other girls in the village to sew. Her father told us he was worried she would not marry again and was planning on marrying off his other daughter who was only 14. I found this super frustrating and upsetting. He witnessed problems when his older daughter got married at 12 years old but he was willing to repeat this with his younger daughter. When asking members of the village about arranged marriages we were told that only 3% of their marriages are love marriages. Our translator told us the story of her love marriage, which she is very proud of because she had to work hard to marry the man she wanted. Before coming here I was not aware that arranged marriages were so common and that dowry abuse was a problem.

It was also an interesting week because both the district coordinator and community health program coordinator treated the women on the trip very different than the one male. We were introduced as Evan and team and all questions and concerns were directed to Evan and they expected him to make all the decisions. When they wanted to take a picture, it was of Evan at the project site. The situation was so foreign that I found it more funny than anything because poor Evan was the focus of so much attention. However, these men are educated and hold high positions in an organization that focuses on empowering women. I believe trying to have a successful career here is a lot more challenging and I have a renewed respect for the women who have careers and especially those who have influential positions.

Yesterday we visited a college in the Lalmonirhat district. We were told that woman’s tuition was free but 60% of students were male and 40% were female. I began talking with one of the staff members and he told me about how girls were allowed to rides bikes 15-20 kms to get to the college. He seemed to have an interest in empowering women and when saying goodbye I was surprised when he shook all of our hands, he was the only man in the room to do so.

The last four weeks I have had the opportunity to meet so many new people and share stories and experiences with them. The women I have met have all been very sincere, proud, and friendly and I feel so privileged to have heard their stories- both the sad and happy ones.

Lalmonirhat and Rangpur

Week three of service learning found us in the district of Lalmonirhat for what was originally supposed to be a whole week. It was here that we would be able to see the RDRS run eye care clinic and school for blind children as well as get to meet a girl who had been through the women's rehabilitation program and had returned home to her village among other things. Unfortunately for myself I finally had my streak of relatively good health on the trip come to an end. I don't know what exactly it was that did me in but it good me good and I was out of commission for the visits to the eye care clinic and school for blind children which was really disappointing. As a group we weren't doing so well between the lack of power at the accommodations at night (imagine sleep at 40 degrees with no ac or even fans) and the majority of us having some sort of stomach trouble, so we ended up returning to Rangpur earlier than expected. We managed to get all the scheduled programming done faster than expected and I think it was good to recognize our limits and get some rest even though it cut our stay short. However it was still a memorable few days and I enjoyed being able to see Lalmonirhat.

We had been warned before departure that there would be times that things would just be deferred to Evan due to him being male and that was all well and good, nothing to worry much about. Up until Lalmonirhat I hadn't really noticed it but that really changed during the time we spent there. We were addressed on more than a few occasions as "Evan and others" and a cycle of started to develop of most attention being directed only at Evan, which prompted me to not want to ask as many questions and keep quiet which in turn meant that more attention was directed at Evan. This really made me question RDRS gender equality programming and think more about what gender equality in the context of Bangladesh means. We've heard how hard it is from project managers, doctors and teachers to keep girls in school and to give them the same opportunities as boys. Having girls being able to ride bikes, go to school and be out of the home is regarded by many here that we have met as gender equality and while those are certainly achievements I hadn't expected my personal vision of gender equality and RDRS to be misaligned as much as they were. Clearly with many aspects of women's lives here still being controlled by the men in their lives, there is a long way to go between the sexes but I can't help but wonder if there was some miracle way to speed that process up. Logically I know how naive that is to think but there's something about meeting girls who were married at 12 that makes me wish it was that easy. Having had a short and rather unpleasant experience being unheard, I can only imagine how a lifetime would feel. On the opposite end of the spectrum I am that much more in awe of the bravery of the girls we've met who defy societies standards and continue with their education against staggering odds.

Meeting the girl who had completed the training of the rehabilitation center and returned to her village after surviving dowry torture was pretty eye-opening. She had been married off at 12, the daughter of a day labourer who made 200-300 taka/day (2.56-3.85$ US) to a husband whose parents were also day labourers. We learned that it is common practice for the husband and family to attempt to extract dowry to fund the creation of a family business as a dowry comes with a much nicer repayment policy than a microfinance loan and that had been the case here. The husband and his family had demanded 50 000 taka and the girls father had only been able to provide 25 000 and so the community women's forum had referred the girl to the rehabilitation center where she could escape the abuse, begin court proceedings for divorce and criminal charges  and learn new trades to be self-sufficient for the return to her family. Her in laws had been sentenced to 6 days in prison however her soon to be ex-husband had disappeared and thus faced no consequences. Until he reappears the case will be ongoing. Despite her ordeal she hopes to one day remarry and was glad that she got to live with her family and now contribute 50% of her earnings from tailoring to her family. What was the most surprising and also sad about this visit was that the girls father had no qualms about marrying off his other daughter who we had the chance to also meet. She was only 14 and looked more a child than a woman who could manage a household and bear children. Clearly there are very deep-rooted traditions and people are willing to defy the law and logic to go along with them. I hope within my lifetime these can be changed because these girls deserve nothing less than equality and the chance to make their own choices.