Weekend in Old Dhaka

Vanessa and I went to Old Dhaka this weekend, which is, as its name suggests, the oldest part of the city.  It is crowded and chaotic with narrow streets that are only passable by rickshaw and bicycle, so our car and driver had to wait at the entrance to the market.  Old Dhaka is also where many of the city’s Hindus live.  We entered a small shop selling Shakha, which are white bracelets carved from conch shells.  Hindu women wear a pair of these bracelets, one on each wrist when they get married.  They symbolize the husband and wife.  The shopkeeper was the 5^th generation owner of his business.  He showed us the conch shells and how he carved the beautiful bracelets.  He was very sweet and asked us to share tea with him.  When we told him where we were headed next, he arranged a rickshaw to take us there.

Artist showing how he carves shakha from conch shells

Old Dhaka from a rickshaw

Next we went to the Armenian Church!  An Indian Hindu gave us a special tour even though the church was closed.  He showed us all over the church and its grounds, where several Armenians are buried.  Although there used to be more, there are only 9 Armenian families left in Bangladesh (that our guide new about, at least).  The church does not have regular services, but does have holiday services on Easter and Christmas.  The church was beautiful, and the grounds were like a peaceful oasis in the middle of busy Dhaka.  The groundskeeper introduced us to his wife and showed us pictures of his daughter who lives and works in Greece.  He insisted that we return soon to have dinner with him and his wife and his boss’s family.  Rumor has it, his wife makes an excellent mutton curry.

The gate to the Armenian Church

Armenian Church from inside the gate

From the second story inside the church

With our guide Shankar

Next we wanted to go to a famous mosque, but we had quite a hard time finding it or anyone who recognized its name, Sitara Mosque.  Finally while taking a break to drink some fresh coconut water straight from the coconut, we met a man who understood where we were trying to go and even escorted us to the mosque to ensure we would not get lost.  We couldn’t go in because the men were praying, but the mosque was beautiful, and now we know where to find it when we return.

Sitara Mosque

After working up quite an appetite, we went to a restaurant recommended by Lonely Planet.  They didn’t have menus because the only thing they served was chicken biryani, but it was excellent.  Two large plates of chicken biryani and a large water bottle cost us 250 bdt- just over $3.

We also saw some monkeys! Children were throwing them tomatoes.

After getting ridiculously lost on a rickshaw and asking half the town for directions, we finally found our way back to the market entrance where we had left our driver and headed home.  That night we met up with Kim at the American club for a beer in celebration of St. Patrick’s day.  For the first time since I’ve been here, it rained.  A torrential downpour soaked us in the short walk from the restaurant to the gate and transformed the roads home into small rivers.  It was just a glimpse into what the rainy season might look like.

Other highlights from the last week or two since I’ve posted include going to dinner at an excellent Korean restaurant with wonderful company, starting a Facebook page with the Government Unit I work with, and meeting several new people who are doing great work in health, nutrition, education, and research.  We are already starting to think about our next field visit as we start to plan more for our project.

Keep in touch!
Cassie

Field Trip to Gaibandha

Happy International Women’s Day!  Women’s health and women’s rights are so important to me, and I hope you enjoy reading about a couple programs that specifically focus on women.

Last weekend my colleagues and I went to rural Gaibandha in northern Bangladesh to observe two eHealth programs in action so that we could learn from their experiences and explore ways in which we can collaborate. 

The trip took about 8 hours on a long two-lane road in which our driver seemed to play “chicken” more times than I could count with oncoming buses and trucks so that we could pass any vehicle ahead of us.  It was a little nerve-wracking, but I am learning that that’s just how everyone drives here.  There were also some pretty interesting vehicles to watch that almost seemed to defy physics (also note that we are on the wrong side of the road here).

Gaibandha is absolutely beautiful.  There are rice fields as far as you can see on both sides of almost every road.  At this time of year, farmers have just planted and are now aggressively irrigating their fields.  Most fields actually have about an inch of water over the soil with vibrant green plants springing up.  

The vast majority of people in the area are farmers.  We saw a couple fields of wheat, corn, bananas, and hot chilies, but rice is the primary crop.  After the rice is harvested, it is heated over fire and then dried out on large tarps before being husked.  Planting, harvesting, and drying are done primarily by hand in Bangladesh, so the process is very labor intensive.

One program that we visited was the Mobile Alliance for Maternal Action (MAMA) initiative.  This program provides informational SMS and voice messages in Bangla to pregnant women and new moms, as well as their husbands, mothers-in-law and other decision makers in the family.  They receive one to two messages a week that are tailored to the week of pregnancy or the age of the child.  Messages remind moms and their families about what to expect during pregnancy, warning signs of complications, preparation for childbirth including where to go to deliver, healthy nutrition for mom and baby, breastfeeding, and other issues.  The program sends regular health information to families who may have limited access to clinics and providers.  Moms (like the one to the right) were able to recall messages they had heard and tell us about the resulting changes they made in their diet to improve nutrition.

The MAMA initiative is a great example of how mobile phones can help families stay healthy and be more prepared for pregnancy, childbirth, and caring for young children.  Below, a health worker registers an expecting couple for the MAMA messages. 

The other program that we visited was called Info Lady.  This program selects ambitious young women in their community and provides them with a laptop, Internet connection, speakers, a camera, some basic medical equipment, and a bicycle.  After a comprehensive training program, the women are prepared to go out into their community offering a variety of services.  They organize discussion groups with couples, mothers, adolescents, farmers, and other groups where the Info Ladies show relevant videos about health, agriculture, and other topics and then discuss and answer questions.  They can test for diabetes, monitor blood pressure and provide basic medical and emergency services. 

Info Ladies can also connect people in the community to physicians or other experts via webcam.  Info Ladies charge a fee for some of their services, so they are able to make a respectable salary, and the community is able to access useful information from the Info Lady herself and using her technology.

It was inspiring to meet several Info Ladies and observe their discussion groups in action.  One group was discussing and watching videos about safe motherhood and breastfeeding, and another was a group of young girls discussing adolescent health and HIV/AIDS. 

 

The benefits of this project are multifaceted.  The community is able to learn and discuss a variety of issues with a trained Info Lady, and they can also reach out beyond their community to learn from experts.  The Info Ladies themselves also benefit immensely.  They earn a good salary (the father of a young Info Lady confessed that his daughter made more money that he did), and they also gain invaluable skills in health, education, communication, and community mobilization, that will benefit their future careers.  All the Info Ladies we met were confident, empowered, and independent young women.  The program provides these impressive women with leadership experience and new opportunities, and they become great role models for other young women in their community.

Overall, it was a great trip.  Seeing programs in action and talking to the people who benefit from them reminds me why I’m here and why I have chosen this field.