Lalmonirhat, Geckos, Spiders and Immigration

We left Rangpur in the morning for Lalmonirhat. After such an amazing visit to Thakurgoan the week before, I was really looking forward to being out in the field again.

About an hour into the drive we pull into what I thought was our new guesthouse for a rest. I was surprised when I stepped out of the van to the RDRS Eye clinic, one of their more well-known programs. Here they provide eye exams, medications, glasses and simple surgical procedures at free to highly reduced prices. Adjacent to the building was a school for children who are either blind or of low vision. We sat in on one of the classes and the teacher and children showed us how they learned to read and write Braille. The school also offers vocational training to the children such as music, dance, fish cultivation, mat making, plant nurseries, bicycle repair and candle making. The teachers are currently encouraging students to further their education and pursue teaching as their own profession.

The better part of the rest of the week was medically oriented as well. We spent our second day traveling with a female doctor to a maternity clinic that she manages. Although we have visited a few maternity clinics before, this trip was unique due to our female host. This clinic also has a delivery room, a post-natal room and a guesthouse for those women who have to travel far distances. The clinic was very welcoming. In other clinics I’ve felt somewhat uneasy. I’ve come to the conclusion that this is because I expect medical centres to be well lit, have fresh paint, the smell of disinfectant and be well ventilated. Most of the places we’ve visited have none of these things. This clinic however, seemed to be more bright and soft somehow. Still, I can’t imagine these very pregnant women who spend their entire day traveling to the clinic, only to wait all day in a dark, hot and humid room with no fan. The actual check-up takes five minutes and then she must travel all the way home. I have to remind myself that it really is for critical medical care and that these women are being provided with vital medication and medical information that they wouldn’t normally have access to.

Another aspect to our time in Lalmonirhat was to learn more about the extensive training program RDRS offers. This is the only department in RDRS that is self-sufficient. Last year, they trained 19, 321 people. At any given time there are 515 people being trained by RDRS across their working district. The programs range from vocational training such as goat herding and mat making to organizational and human rights based training.

Our last full day in Lalmonirhat we spent visiting a federation that had received help from RDRS due to their climate change program. The people of the village had to constantly migrate due to raising rivers and natural disasters. RDRS provided them with raised homesteads and solar panels for electricity. The village also worked with RDRS to build sanitary latrines and start tree plantations on the roadside. We spent over an hour asking them questions about their lives and they in turn asked us some really good questions about Canada. I enjoyed spending some real time with people in the village. Often it is rushed or we have communication problems, but this time we were able to really relax and get to know who we were visiting.

On that note, today on our way back to Rangpur we met with a female advocate for RDRS. This visit was actually to her home which I loved. My favourite part about my visits is whether I get to see inside someone’s house. This might seem a little odd but for me it’s another way to learn about Bengali culture. We sat down in her living room and she presented us with a coffee table FULL of food. She told us how her job involves helping women that are subject to dowry, violence, early marriage and so on. She is currently trying to encourage more women to become advocates partly because many of her clients are women and they are only able to share their stories with other females. This can be a problem in a system that has 4 women advocates and 80 males. Halfway through our meeting her entire family and extended family came into the room, even her 100 year old mother in law! We all took turns taking pictures. I fell in love with that family. It made me wish that my family could all live together in one house and be happy like that. Maybe one day that will happen!

This week I almost reached my breaking point. I had a cold and was having trouble eating the food for a few days. Every night the power was going out in the evening so we spent most of our time in the dark and the intense heat. Then it happened. We were all having dinner in the dark and I noticed one of the small nocturnal night geckos (called Tik-tikkas because of the sound they make) scurry across the floor. Usually they stick to the walls and ceilings and since they are small and eat bugs I actually kind of like them. I remember thinking to myself “that’s weird it’s on the floor, imagine if it crawled up someone’s leg”. When we were almost done our meal I felt it run across my feet and I immediately jumped and crossed my legs instead of keeping them on the ground. A minute later I asked if Kailey could please stop touching my knee because it was freaking me out. Unfortunately, Kailey said it wasn’t her. I touch my knee and under my pants I feel a lump. I tell myself that it’s just fabric bunching but I pinch the lump and stand up. This lump is soft and at my knee. I stay in as much denial so I also stay sane. I start walking in circles trying to figure out what to do. Still in denial and holding the soft lump I gently roll up my pant leg. I asked Kailey to help me but the look of dread on her face told me that she was no good to me. Pants in Bangladesh taper at the bottom so trying to stay calm and collected while getting my pants up was very difficult. When I see the tail peeking out of my pants I tell myself its just a piece of string. Finally I frantically push the Tik-tikka out of my pants and it flops onto the floor and runs away. Outside I’m laughing but inside I am FREAKING OUT. Everyone keeps laughing and I feel like I have Tik-tikkas all over me! Rita, our cook laughs hard when I tell her what happened. Still feeling all the adrenaline in my system we leave the kitchen to go to bed. On top of everything I see THE BIGGEST SPIDER I HAVE EVER SEEN IN REAL LIFE. I’m arachnophobic so this came at the absolute worst possible time. I didn’t want to upset any of the other members to I sat on the bed while they played cards for twenty minutes before I came back to the land of the living. Now looking back on it, I laugh pretty hard. A Tik-tikkas went up my pants. That doesn’t happen to everyone. I’ll always remember it’s squishiness and the sound it made when it hit the floor. Gross.


As you can read, this week was pretty much to the point. There were only two points of discussion that I want to share with you.

First, this week has only proven to me further the immensity and necessity of RDRS in Bangladesh. I decided to go on this experience to see for myself how development programs are implemented, I wasn’t sure whether I agreed with all the aspects. There are a few things that have helped make my decision. The first is the absolute lack of any foreign staff in RDRS. This organization is Bangladeshi run, it is through their culture and country that programs are designed and implemented. One of the reasons RDRS has been so successful is because it works in collaboration with the main organizational unit in Bangladesh, the community. It has tapped into this strength to discuss with the villages their major problems and how they villagers themselves would like to work towards a goal. RDRS makes it a priority that the isolated areas have access to legal information about the country, so that they are able to contribute at a national level should they choose to. I am also in agreement the ultimate goal for RDRS is that each community be self-sufficient and no longer require RDRS. I was initially worried that the NGO would be pressuring income generating activites and imposing western values and ideals onto them. This has not been my experience in any way. RDRS does provide training on income generating activities but it is at the discretion of the villagers and because this organization is Bangladeshi run there are not western goals in mind. The staff are incredibly respectful to the people they work with and vice versa. It has just been an amazing experience watching people who are working towards improved quality of life and basic human rights.

My second point of discussion comes from a conversation we had with a young RDRS entry level employee I will call Aamir for privacy purposes. He met with us every meal and made sure we were on time for all our visits. At first we weren’t quite sure why he was hovering over us during our meals, whether it was interest or part of his job description. His English was very limited so it took me until our second day to realize that it was his responsibility to attend to us. Over the course of the week I found out that he was 31, had just completed his Masters in Political Science and came from a family of seven brothers and sisters. We nicknamed him “our liason”. However, during our last dinner in Lalmonirhat his conversation turned dark, referring to the recent sudden death of his father and his dream of leaving Bangladesh. He said that he wanted to move to a western country for a better life but because of immigration laws he had no hope of ever doing so. None of us knew how to react, I’m ashamed to say at one point I may have even giggled slightly because I thought for sure this conversation was having a severe communication barrier. After telling us all these things he passed out gifts of notebooks and pens he had bought for us. Inside was his neatly printed e-mail address.

After dinner we all left Amir and went upstairs to talk about the situation. Many of the higher educate professionals we’ve met have talked about wanting to leave the country. This young adult has his Masters in Political Science and is trying everyday to improve his English on the slim to none chance of the opportunity to leave the country. This is the first time I’ve encountered people who don’t have that opportunity, who feel trapped in their own country like a prison. I found it impossible to imagine what it would be like if I were in the same position and unable to leave Bangladesh or even Canada. This is something that has never crossed my mind. Then I thought if it were easier to leave Bangladesh, they would most likely loose many of their educated professors, lawyers, teachers, doctors and businessmen. So is the small, very small, minutely small positive aspect of this situation the retaining and building of a country? Even so, I don’t think I can even begin to wrap my head around the complicated situation of keeping people in the country, or conversely, allowing a large flow of people into Canada. What are your thoughts?

I think I’ll keep this blog shorter this week. I am anxious to get to the Chars next week and I hope that my last week in Bangladesh goes well.

Yours Truly,

Celia