Update from the ‘Desh (MATT)

BAD NEWS: I’ve been terrible about updating the blog. Sorry.

GOOD NEWS: Val arrives in just four days and will surely jumpstart things. (It’s also just awesome that she’s coming to be with me for my final two months in Asia!!)

Okay, how about a few random stories?

1. Daylight Savings: Last weekend Bangladesh moved the clocks forward 1 hour for the first time ever ... with hilarious results. Bangladeshis simply do not understand the concept. People have “adjusted” by moving activities back by an hour, in effect “undoing” daylight savings. If people normally ate lunch at 1pm, they are now eating at 2pm. If shops used to stay open till 7pm, they now close at 8pm. On top of that, the newspaper guys have the nerve to write articles saying that “daylight savings isn’t working,” as they somehow expected this small change would alleviate all of the major power shortages. (I’m just glad the sun is no longer peaking in my window at 5am, instead waking me up at 6am!)

2. Point-and-Shoot: Digital cameras are available here, but they aren’t as common as in the US and many people in the villages have never seen a digital representation of themselves. (This can create hours of endless fun, as kids erupt in giddy laughter when they see themselves on the screen.) In the city, a $220 Canon PowerShot (like I have) isn’t some freak technology, but is still rare, as it costs a full month’s salary for a middle class worker. Anyway, I recently asked a lady to take a photo of me and some friends, first turning on the camera so that all she’d have to do was point-and-shoot. Once we were all set, we looked up to see her giant magnified eyeball bobbing around on the 3” screen on the backside of the camera, as she was trying to take a picture by looking through the lens the wrong way! This may be a you-had-to-be-there story, but it was pretty entertaining...

3. Bihari refugees: I didn’t plan this intentionally, but I toured the Bihari refugee camps on what happened to be UN World Refugee Day (June 20th). I met a guy that is here on a Fulbright Fellowship conducting public health research (specifically on the refugees) and he invited me to accompany him and some Bangladeshi master’s students on a field visit. During the liberation war in 1971, in which Bangladesh – known at the time as “East Pakistan” – fought for its freedom from “West Pakistan” (nowadays just Pakistan), this group of people backed the “wrong” side and refused to fight. After the war, neither country (Pakistan nor the newly established Bangladesh) would accept them as citizens. As generations have passed over almost 40 years, this group has expanded to ~300k people all contained within tiny “camps” spread across Dhaka. To give you some sense of living conditions, one camp had 5 toilets for 3,000 people, with lines over 20 minutes even in the middle of the night. Although these people have just started to get some rights (I met the 20-something year old that argued their case in front of the Supreme Court last year – inspiring dude), they can’t get passports, have trouble enrolling their kids in school, and are generally discriminated against on the streets.

4. Team USA: I met the US Ambassador to Bangladesh a few weeks back at the American Club. We’ve since had several nice chats; I’ve told him all about my work at Pfizer and our partnership with Grameen, and he’s described his amazing diplomatic career with postings in Nepal, China, Taiwan, Pakistan, Morocco, etc. (Talk about an interesting life.!.) At any rate, after he and I teamed up for some 2-on-2 pick-up basketball games, he invited me a couple weeks ago to join the official US Embassy team in a formal league. We play on an outdoor court against other embassy teams, as well as a few local teams, including the Bangladeshi National Team, which I’d equate to Class 3A Denver high school team. First thing I realized was that I’m out of shape – man, oh man!! Second thing I realized – wow, we’re playing basketball with six armed guards surrounding the court! Our next game is Friday – hopefully I’ll be able to help keep the winning streak alive! ;-)

5. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: Amazing; just what the doctor ordered. After completing an especially hectic work phase, I went with a colleague/friend to Kuala Lumpur (KL) for four days to “recharge my battery,” as mom would say. With round trip flights for $160 and no visas needed, it was the perfect weekend escape. Relative to the massively congested, dirty, and polluted streets of Dhaka, the pristine KL avenues lined with luxury shops were a great change of pace. The buildings are amazing (including the Petronas Towers, which we toured), as are the shopping malls and movie theatres. Best yet though were probably the outdoor restaurants, where you could seemingly order one of everything and still walk away paying less than $5. The food was incredible – Malaysian, Indonesian, Chinese, Thai, and Indian – sometimes alone, other times fused together. Incredible. Another fusion I liked was that of diverse cultures and religions, as I often saw devout Muslim women with headscarves standing side-by-side with scantily clad non-Muslims, neither seeming to be in the majority nor overly judgmental of the other. Great city – great escape.

6. Work research: Some of you have pointed out that I haven’t talked much (if at all) about my work here in Bangladesh. Part of this is intentional, as I decided right off that bat that I’d focus my blog more on personal anecdotes. However, another part of this is that I just wanted to wait until I completed the first phase of research, which I recently have done. I’ve visited about 15 health clinics so far, leading a team of researchers that has conducted about 200 interviews with patients, healthcare providers, and community leaders - all with the goal of finding ways to improve healthcare in rural Bangladesh. I’ve traveled to five different regions of the country, getting to know the amazing people, hit-or-miss foods, (always unsafe) transportation options, and often sketchy “hotels.” As soon as I have some time to put together my pictures, I’ll dedicate a long blog posting to my work experiences thus far.

7. Social scene: In the last few weeks, I’ve made several new friends and realized that there is quite a social scene here in Dhaka – albeit a bit “underground.” There are some really fascinating ex-pats here, as you have to be a bit crazy or really devoted to your cause (or both) to willingly move to what is one of “The World’s 10 Most Unlivable Cities.” At any rate, in addition to basketball games on Friday, I’m playing volleyball on Saturdays and Tuesdays, and poker on Thursdays. I’ve had dinner invites every night for probably the last two weeks, with my new friends helping me realize that good sushi, Italian, steak, and even Mexican food can be found if you know where to look! There’s also an authentic homemade gelato shop, as well as a couple of “warehouses” that can legally sell alcohol to foreigners. This past weekend I was invited to a traffic light party (you wear GREEN if you're single, RED if you're in a committed relationship, and YELLOW if you're somewhere in between), a pool party, and a gay party. Go figure!!

This country never ceases to amaze me…