Giving...

I'm watching two teams battle it out on the court, hustling for every loose ball, running for every possession, taking every chance and following every play... Their teammates stand, not sit, on the baseline, screaming and cheering and following the action like eagles follow their prey... The exact same scene will follow once this game is finished, with another two teams to face each other... The same scene has already been played out twice this morning... I'm at the Home of Hope, with my Big Bangs brothers, coaching a Basketball Clinic for 50 boys and 50 girls. All Orphans. They are all wearing the t-shirts we custom-made for them, in different colours for different teams, from the proceeds we raised by running basketball tournaments in Dhaka. They are all smiling and laughing and just being kids ... How can this not be the most important thing on Earth...

There has been a lot of self-confrontation happening in my neck of the woods... is this the elusive "growing up" I hear so much about? I went home for 1 week and a half to a wonderful house, an incredible family, and a huge TV... what more could a man want?... How about some familiarity... not easy to see just how far you can stray from your circle of friends in such a short time... how quickly and dramatically your priorities can change, despite an assured sense that in reality, you yourself have changed very little, that you were always in the same frame of mind... though not particularly sad, it hardly serves as a cause for celebration... places where I felt "normal", for severe want of a better word, no longer feel as such... they may be comfortable, but there is an underlying sense that this is distinctly different from before... maybe I am different from before... either way it doesn't quite fit... Ok so it is a little sad to think that I don't fit in ...

It’s been a while since I’ve taken the time to write something, so excuse both my tardiness and my recuperating diction. The last month has been a test of resilience; organizing the South Asia Leadership Conference, and thereby dealing with its associated stresses… preparing for and taking exams which seemed trivial at best and insulting at worst… flying to Australia , losing 4 kilos during the transit due to the worst fever I have ever experienced… spending only a week with my mother and uncles, who had flown in from the US… arriving back in Dhaka at 1 in the morning, only to begin the Conference at 7.30am… lasting 3 days (barely) then running the Dhaka All-Star Basketball Game… followed by the Big Bangs Basketball Camp at the Home of Hope Orphanage the very next day… Needless to say, I’m exhausted… My departmental colleagues have taken to reading the newspaper and sitting in the reception lounges… not helping my lagging energy levels today… It's a strange and unwelcome feeling to...

With Habitat for Humanity International CEO, Jonathan Reckford. After all the pressure and demands and frustrations and events of the South Asia Leadership Conference, a conference mind you that has taken up a solid month and a half of my life and sanity, I finally met Mr Reckford. His biography is incredible; his work and dedication have been quite inspiring. Yet on this occasion, the topic of conversation seemed pre-destined... Mr Reckford is a baller. I am a baller. End of story.