Kurigram
Our Coordinator Susie went back to Canada this past week and we headed to Kurigram and the Chars region for another action packed week. Our days are filled with activities, meetings, sightseeing and some laughter and as they say in Bangladesh there is also time for "you take rest now". One of the clinics we visited this week was for malnourished children. It was set up so the mother would stay with them, while baby was in a feeding program to increase their weight.The nurses and doctors were kind enough to explain and demonstrate the process of mixing up a batch of formula and offering it to us to try.Tasty. We also stopped in at a Tuberculosis hospital and met with some NGOs who talked to us about how the hospital screened and checked people in the villages for TB and they also talked to us about a strain of TB that was a problem to them because it was resisting the drugs. We were given a tour of their hospital which was very clean and well organized .The hospital had a separate ward for men and a separate ward for women. It also had another area for pregnant moms waiting to have their babies.  We were also given permission by a pregnant mom to sit in on her monthly check up and to listen to her baby's heart beat. The doctor explained to us that once the mother had attended regular checkups at the clinic ,she was in the system and was given a 100 takas per visit(their $).The money was usually to pay for her transport home . When she had the baby in that hospital,mom would be given 2500 takas and baby 500 takas to start off. As our hospital visit was ending, the doctor told us that the hospital only had two doctors but had openings for 26 doctors! What do you say to that? It seems to be the norm for pretty much everything here in Bangladesh. After lunch we visited a Proteeva after school program. Here the kids met to get help with their school work three times a week for an hour.
One of the evenings in the week a bunch of pharmaceutical reps visited us to talk about drugs and the competition of exporting globally. We learned a lot because I could not understand how they made any money when literally every other business was a pharmacy on the same street.
In the next few days we went to Raumari, Radio Chilamire where before we knew it we were sing Canada's National Anthem on the radio, and we visited the Chars. I love the Chars. It maybe one of the poorest places in Bangladesh but it is also one of the most beautiful.Its poor because every year the people living there lose almost everything to floods and have to start again. In Canada the Chars would be considered prime real estate. Only problem is, unless you can figured out how to prevent your property from flooding, you would have to move to the mainland every year. Having goats, sheep or a cattle means that the women can establish some kind of livelihood for their families and get themselves out of poverty. Getting training in natural composting and in farming is another way that the women can increase their sustainability. Everyone has being kind, have taken the time to explain their projects to us , to tell us how it is changing their lives . Regardless of the extreme poverty that they may live in everyone has welcomed us, offering us a drink of water , a cup of tea , a smile and even an umbrella to to shade us from the sun. We are on the homeward stretch,and often at mealtimes words such as steaks, cold beers,pizzas,farmer's sausages,kraft dinner,cheese, lettuce,sushi and burger will be talked about with a smile.   I will not say that sweating pockets, random power outages, 35 plus temperatures even after 6 pm, being followed on the streets all the time or stared at, rice on the menu daily....................... these are not complaints but things that I am attempting to get used to while savouring the beauty that is Bangladesh.