This past week was another whirlwind but that's the new norm here and I can't say I mind. I've started to get thinking about the sentiment that my family and friends have expressed about this trip of "it will make you appreciate what you have at home". It's a simple enough statement and it does make sense. If you look at any stats you might say why of course I would choose comprehensive indoor plumbing and healthcare among other things available in Canada and not Bangladesh. So far this trip has been a lot of things and while it's true there are some things I am appreciating more now that I'm away, like the freedoms I have as a woman in Canada, but to think of this entire experience only in relation to my life in Canada limits what I learn on this trip. That was hands down the hardest part of being here was coming face to face with so many differences and trying to make sense of them with only a western background. I think recognizing the limitations of this thought process of comparing and contrasting is probably the most significant personal growth experience I've had while here. There's not an easy way to undo or alter a lifetime of thinking and perceiving one way, but the longer I'm here the more I find myself having less inner tension about all the differences, all the things that make this place "worse" or Canada "better". I find myself sitting stuffed in a rickshaw in an unorganized maze of traffic and horns, sweating in a way I didn't know was possible, with people staring at us but noticing the order and the patterns I couldn't see before. Appreciating the experience for what it is, not for how it would never happen like this in Canada. There's something really beautiful about how different Bangladesh has been and how it's changed the way I think and perceive things.
Onwards to to how the week actually went, Kurigram was really interesting. Getting to meet some of the people that lived on various chars was great. Despite what seems like a hopeless situation (regular floods, chars only existing for a finite amount of time) we received a very warm welcome and tour of the homes that had been raised by the community above flood level and reinforced against monsoons. All of the projects we have gotten to see are clearly making a difference in peoples lives but this one was just in a more visual way with trees being planted to minimize erosion and the people of the chars happy and hopeful.
Probably my favourite part of the week by far was a visit to another government upazilla (district) hospital. So much tends to get lost in translation and it can be difficult to understand not just the ways programs are succeeding but where they are struggling. The doctor we met and who was gracious enough to give us a tour spoke openly of the struggles of running a hospital that services so many and the limitations. It was clear how much he and I'm sure many others had invested in doing their best to provide quality healthcare despite how much social and political obstacles like child marriage, dowry disputes, political unrest and corruption making it difficult. We also had the opportunity to visit another NGO of the region, Terre des Hommes malnutrition unit for children. While originally I was apprehensive about how difficult it would be to see malnourished children I was pleasantly surprised. Two children and their mothers went home in the afternoon we were there.
It was another great week here in Bangladesh and it's crazy to think we're more than halfway done already. I'm really looking forward to the week in Lalmonirhat with a strong focus on healthcare, eyecare in particular.
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