First week and first accomplishments

Salaam alaikum!

This is my first full week in Bangladesh, and already it is very busy.

I really enjoy going to the DGFP IEM Unit to work.  I have a large office with lots of natural light, and the people are welcoming and hardworking.  I have learned in my short time there that ceremony is very important in the workplace.  Every morning when I arrive, I am expected put my belongings in my office and promptly visit the director of the unit in his office.  Most mornings he will instruct his assistant to bring tea and biscuits or sweets, and we will sit and chat as people are constantly flowing in an out of the office, having conversations in both Bangla and English.  Although these casual meetings sometimes feel like they take away from the work we need to do, I also know they are important for getting to know one another, building trust, and showing respect for the local customs.

On Saturday morning, the director and several officers were excited to show me pictures from their recent trip to India.  When I left Bangladesh after my previous visit, they had been frantically struggling to get visas to go for a conference, but it is very difficult for Bangladeshis to acquire Indian visas, due to a very high demand.  At the last minute, everyone was able to get visas and travel together.  It was clearly a very special opportunity for them.

According to our project, we are to provide “technical assistance” to the government of Bangladesh; I am learning that that assistance may be a bit broader than I previously thought.  One morning this week, the director brought in his brand new iPad and asked me to help him set up a wireless network from his laptop and USB modem and connect the iPad to the new network.  It was a fun and challenging task, even if it was a bit outside of my official job description, and, after a few Youtube videos and trials and errors, I got everything working.  I felt very technologically skilled.

My major task for this week was working with my unit to publish this month's eNewsletter.  There is a big effort to move towards a “Digital Bangladesh” and now that family planning officers around the country have access to email, we are able to publish an online newsletter to share the activities, accomplishments, and lessons learned from DGFP projects across the country.  With each edition of the newsletter, staff at DGFP take more responsibility and need less help from Kim and me.  

On Tuesday, I spent a couple hours working with two employees.  I taught them how to take the newsletter stories listed in a word document and copy and paste the text into an online template.  These employees had minimal experience with computers, so we started with how to highlight text and then copy and paste.  However, after only an hour or two, they were not only growing much more confident, but they also wanted to know more about how the newsletter template and client worked.  The editor has a series of buttons on top similar to Microsoft Office to format text, such as bullets, bold, italics, and even inserting pictures and text anchors.  They wanted to know what every single button did, even if they knew they wouldn't need to use it for the task at hand.  They seemed to really enjoy the lesson and said they wanted to learn and help more.  That was by far the highlight of my week.  By orienting these young employees to basic computer functions, I hope that I am genuinely building their capacity and increasing their potential and confidence.

I am very excited for this weekend because we are going on a field visit.  Although it seems I am already “in the field,” we will be leaving the capital city and going to Gaibandha District in northern Bangladesh.  We will see two projects operating in rural areas and spend some time with community health workers who work directly with families.  My next post will talk more about our field visit and hopefully include some more interesting photos.  

Currently I am in a very urban area.  This picture below shows the very commercial area of Gulshan-2 with huge buildings and copious advertisements.  That said, it is still not uncommon to see goats, sheep, and cows grazing on the side of large busy roads or in the middle of cricket fields between games.  Both pictures were taken within walking distance of my apartment.

I hope all is well with everyone at home.  Contact me via Skype at cassie.mickish.

First Days

It is my third day in Bangladesh, and I am finally sitting down to write a blog post. I have already been very busy, but today is the weekend, so I can relax a little bit. I arrived Wednesday morning at 4am, and Vanessa, a friend and colleague, picked me up at the Dhaka airport. I moved through customs with no problems since I had already gotten a visa, and waited nervously for my bags for about an hour, while swatting mosquitoes and chatting with a friendly Bangladeshi Canadian. Finally everything arrived, and we left for my new flat with our personal driver. Having your own driver is common and almost a necessity in Dhaka because the traffic is so crazy. It often takes almost an hour to go only a few kilometers, and the drivers are so aggressive. Rickshaws, auto-rickshaws (CNGs), motorcycles, and cars all battle for space amidst a sea of horns.

During my first two days at work, I went to several meetings and got to see several people whom I had met during my last visit in October. The people at the Information, Education and Motivation (IEM) Unit of the Directorate General of Family Planning, where I’ll be working most of the time, are particularly friendly and hard working people. In my experience so far, all Bangladeshis have been so caring and hospitable towards me and other foreign guests. They are always ready to help, whether recommending a place to buy forgotten necessities or giving you an all out tour of the city. Their hospitality definitely makes me think about the way we treat foreign visitors in the US.

We also met with a couple people working on a Hopkins research project in rural Bangladesh, one of whom was a former classmate of mine at JHSPH! They shared their research about the barriers to accessing medical care during obstetric emergencies with us and several members of government. It was very interesting to learn that in Bangladesh there is a belief that strong women are able to endure the pain of childbirth and deliver in their home with their relatives; seeking care at a hospital or from a trained nurse or doctor is seen as weak and shameful. Although the number of women delivering with a professionally trained birth attendant has increased over the past few years, about 85% of women still deliver at home in rural areas. It is important to consider that providing additional services and doctors may not be enough to encourage women and their families to go to a hospital for delivery; there also must be a change in the social and cultural norms.

I’ve been having a lot of fun here already. I’m living with Vanessa until we find another apartment, but it’s been great having someone to laugh and hang out with while I’m still adjusting. Since there was no work today, we decided to do some shopping and exploring. Vanessa introduced me to a store with beautiful clothing made with natural dyes and modern, unique decorations. I think I might be spending a lot of money there! These pictures are from the store:

We got groceries, passport photos, and a new hair dryer because I managed to simultaneously destroy a Bangladeshi outlet and an American hairdryer on my second day. We also stopped by the pearl shop I went to during my last trip, and the same jeweler remembered me. I think Nazrul and I will always be friends.


In the same area a young boy was selling parrots, rabbits, and puppies on a rickshaw cart. We saw an adorable puppy that Vanessa wanted to bring home. It looked like it needed a loving family.

  

After a delicious (and very spicy) lunch of daal and chicken tikka, we headed back home. Tonight, we’ll be meeting Kim for Thai food.  I am having a wonderful time so far.  I love the people and the food and the work that I’ll be doing. I’ll continue to take pictures and write more soon.