Get Up...

I'm not sure if it's the frail old women trying in vain to cross the street...

It could be the children who lead their blind fathers, brothers, uncles between traffic jams, begging for money...

It could be the tiny children roaming the streets with a cement bag filled with plastic on their backs, looking to fill it even more...

It could be the family that lives across the street from my office... not in a house, not in an apartment, but in a poorly constructed tin shed on an empty, weed-infested block no bigger than the average bathroom... right across from Habitat for Humanity, anyone think our job is done yet?

It could be the little kid I play with on my way to coaching every now and again... he's too shy to speak to me, but the little giggles let me know that for those brief moments, he's having fun instead of dodging cars and trucks and rickshaws while scampering across Gulshan Avenue, trying to hustle money out of foreigners...

It could be figures I deal with every day... over 1,000,000 families without adequate shelter in just 1 District... 20,000,000 people in inadequate housing in Dhaka...

It could be the scene I witnessed last night, a few kids getting beaten senseless by local shopkeepers, tears and screams mixed with the sound of the stick connecting with flesh and bone...

It could be the old man laying in front of Gulshan Mosque, both legs poorly amputated, face down but hand up, waiting for alms from the exiting congregation, in obvious pain with every movement...

It could be the story I read on Rich's Newspaper Clipping wall, where a rickshaw driver was beaten to death because he wanted 8 taka instead of the 5 his passengers gave him... that's a murder over less than 5 cents...

It could be anything at all; last night I felt overwhelmed...

Anyway...

I don't mean to give the impression that my days are filled with sadness, far from it.  The successes at work, my coaching, playing ball in the evenings, parties, Aussie club get-togethers, Hash Harrier Runs, and general socializing are all  major parts of my life in  Bangladesh...

I just can't help feeling like I could be doing more... I'm sick, I know...

Blogged with Flock

Comments

Carly said…
Pierre, your blog is always inspirational...alas, after reading, I always feel a bit guilty about not really posting about the deep and heavy side of life in Bangladesh on my blog!
January 31, 2008 at 9:29 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Dealing with it...

It’s raining today. Sometimes heavily, sometimes just drizzle, but quite constant. I came home this afternoon to more work; our monthly services account was due… and we’ve only been here for 2 days… The gas no longer works… after 1 day… The washing machine… what a nightmare… an hour to fix the tap… The internet service they are offering is awful… and very very expensive. So I asked the building manager, who doesn’t speak English, to refund our deposit and not bother… he then informs me that the 6000 taka we gave has been divided between him and the “house agent”, so he can’t refund it all until the agent gets back to town after Eid… To top it all off, I’m going to have to pull an all-nighter because of all the work I have to do in a very short period of time… And yet, I’m still happy to be here. So far. Update, 9pm. It’s torrential now. The streets here flood after only 5 minutes of rain; the effect of these last 2 hours of rain is starting to worry us… We’ll see what the morning bri...
Read more

Speech to Campbell High Year 10 Graduation...

I've re-written this speech 100 times this week... I struggled with what to tell you, what to impart... let's start with what I won't tell you. I won’t tell you what to do with your life.   While the specifics are always interesting, there is never just one right path or option. I won’t tell you what your profession should be.   What you choose to do in life is never a matter for anyone else to judge or dictate. I won’t tell you what your opinions should be.   Where you end up philosophically is a matter for you and no one else.   I won’t tell you what you should do, what you should think, what you should feel, how you should speak. I won’t tell you to have the next few years of your life figured out.   I certainly didn’t at your age. I won’t tell you to go to university or not, to become a doctor or a mechanic, a teacher or a musician.   I won’t tell you to travel the world or never leave this town. I won’t talk to you about ob...
Read more

Wii...

Almost forgot.  I had dinner at my neighbour's house last night.  He's a great guy named Duane, runs a few fantastic programs around the country, including schools and orphanages.  He's on my softball team, the might Grace Royals, and I teach his kids basketball on Saturdays. He also conveniently lives on the floor above me. Last night he invited me over for chicken parmegiana and apple cobbler, the Bangladeshi version, as well as some NINTENDO WII... Nothing like video games with kids to really brighten your day... Another surreal moment in Dhaka. Blogged with Flock
Read more