Yes... it is still hot here...

Hi! Hi! Hi! Hi! Hi!

We are sure going to miss those greetings as we walk to school everyday... or just walk out our front door. Kids, adults, elders, friends, colleagues- always quick to say an excited hi! when we walk past- and our response is an equal excited Hi! Hi! back. We are nearing the end of our trip here, seems just as surreal to be ending as it did to be starting. For nearly a year we planned and waited in anticipation as the date of departure neared, and now it is nearly complete. Mixed emotions and reflective thoughts fill a lot of our time here; have we completed what we set out do to do? Have we contributed to this cause? Have we left an impression that will help future students? Future nurses? Have we... did we... could have... should have? These are questions that we ask but know the answers will not be immediately found... and that is okay.

But onto the interesting parts...

What have the last 2 weeks been like? Well first of all we should have added "cockroaches" to our blog title. Luckily Heidi has a killer instinct (I know who would have thought) and tackles those little- although not little- buggers. The other night Ricki was approaching the sink with her pitcher of water- however was stopped in mid stride when a GIANT cockroach (they must have HGH-human growth hormone readily available here) was coming out of the sink. Literally paralyzed with fear... there was also one coming out of the drain hole of the sink... she screamed for Heidi... "What am I supposed to do about it?" Heidi replied. "Well I don't really know...." Ricki answered in fear "...provide morale support I suppose". Needless to say, Heidi rescued Ricki and there was no toothbrushing, face washing, or trips to the bathroom that night... and the sink holes remain plugged with grocery bags just to be safe.

Despite our clinical being cancelled we have tried to be as involved as possible with our colleagues clinical placements. We are little followers that tag along and are able to revel in the teaching opportunities with their group of students. And what a group they are! This group of 9 students are what really displays the potential success of the this program, and the impact that it could have on this country. These are only the 9 we have seen in clinical- but we know that previous students and our students one day have or had this influence as well. Mostly we have spent our time at CWCH- Centre for Women and Child Health located about 30 mins away from the University- or 20 minutes if you're riding in an off-road Evil Knevil style CNG. Nancy completes her Maternal Child clinical here every Friday. We have been lucky to be able to spend our time in the Paediatric/NICU area with the assigned students- teaching baseline assessment techniques, fluid requirements, and paediatric specific skills. The students take it in like sponges- eager to learn and so grateful to have the ability to (too grateful sometimes- it's our job!). Our focus remains on the students during these days... we have often come home with emotional conversations afterwards. CWCH represents the screaming need of quality nurses and improved education. It demonstrates even further the importance of the IUBAT Nursing Program and the journey it has ahead.

Last week we were invited to tour a garment factory just outside of Uttara. Mohammed, one of the directors of this company- called Lusaka Group provided us with the tour- he also lives nearby and has become quite good friends with Jim. As previously posted before, garments are the primary export of Bangladesh. Mohammed estimated that 30-40 million Bangladeshi's work in the garment industry... nearly the entire population of Canada! The factory was pretty interesting to see- none of us had ever been in a 'factory' before, or had seen anything mass produced, and we did not really know what to expect- we've all heard the horror stories, ethical debates, and recently the devastating fires in Bangladesh. But, during our tour we were pleasantly surprised. It is hard to make an actual conclusion of the garment factory business here in Bangladesh- like everything else, this industry is a clear 'grey zone'.

So here is what we did see: the factory was spacious, clean, well-lit, full of windows, there was a doctor's office with a full time nurse (the doctor comes once a week), first aid kits on every floor, fire exits, a large canteen area, and from what we could tell good ventilation. The volume of product and people was stunning. Each floor of the building- 7 in total, were designated with specific purposes- one floor: cutting and initial sewing, the next: sweaters only, the next: finishing and packaging, the next: ironing and T-shirts and so on. What was really interesting was the amount of men that were employed- initially we had thought that it would be predominantly females doing the 'sewing and ironing', but there was what looked to be a good mix of women and men working alongside each other in these type of labour roles. However, in the fabric dying area- it was a clear majority of men. From what we could see, it looked like any factory that could exist in North America (understand that this is strictly from an observational standpoint and we are well aware of why garment factories exist in Bangladesh). We are also fully aware that 'tours' of garment factories can be a rare occurrence- and even more uncommon was our ability to take photos.

The Lusaka Group produces sweaters, T-shirts (regular and collared), trousers, knitted tops, and other fabrics. Garment factories have the ability to produce certain types of clothing and companies seek them out to produce their designs and particular products. For instance- Disney and Roots (which we we saw there- kind of bizarre) hired Lusaka to produce their T-Shirts and placed their desired order- but if wanting to produce jackets would seek out a different factory. The garment business is expected to continue to increase in Bangladesh. Previously, China had been the 'go to' country, however with recent wage increases it is more expensive to produce there, and therefore the 'better business' is being sought out elsewhere. *Insert human rights and international regulations here* would be the continuation of this topic- something that you can refer back to the previous garment industry post.

As for the rest of the time we are wrapping up classes- actually held our last official class yesterday and we are preparing our final exams. We are very much addicted to cha- particularly condensed milk, in which we have recently added to our morning oatmeal (waistline look out!). And we are also continuing to finalize our Nepal and Malaysia details... more on this later.

More pictures to come. Love and miss you all so much.
Heidi and Ricki xo

Photo Blog

Best friends- the view from the side of our house.

Beatee! No need to say more.

The view from Mascot Plaza- the nearest big shopping center about 35 minutes walk from our place. 

One of our sweet patients at the Children's Hospital. Ricki made a paper airplane for him and it was instant love. 

Beatee and her mum.

Hand made Shiringa's for breakfast!

Favorite toy/ past time for the boys- they're so good at it!

Fighting to get front and center for the photo op!

Tongi Market

The view from our walk the other day.

So many naked kids! Their bellies are so cute!

Bishel and Robbie at our favorite tea stall

Kulsoms baby goats!

Beatee

Hello one and all!

As Heidi’s sister quite bluntly reminded us the other day, we’ve been slacking a little in the blog department as of late. Our apologies. Life has been a little “routine” and that leaves us feeling like, “what is there to write about”? Truthfully there’s lots. Tons of little moment that could be pondered and reflected on. But then again, it’s important to shut off a little when things get a little frustrating.

Like noted in an earlier blog, we’re literally feeling the days slip by. It’s hard in the middle because it’s SO HOT that the moments seem to linger forever as you feel the sweat dripping down your legs… but then the day’s over and a new one begins and we wonder where the times gone.

We are definitely going to miss this place. We just spent a glorious 30 minutes surrounded by gorgeous children and realized that we don’t know how to tell them that we’re leaving. One day we just won’t be there to meet them and chase them and tickle them and play patty cake. Sad thoughts. Our interactions with them are so raw, real and human. No pretention, no politics, no worrying about cultural sensitivity. It’s just us and them and smiles and pure unadulterated bliss. These are precious memories and we will hold them in our hearts forever.

Beatee is one we won’t easily forget. She’s 14 months old and perhaps one of the most delightful and beautiful children we’ve ever encountered. Her face is full of joy when she sees us, and equivocally when we see her. I’m sure we both look like our faces will rip in two from smiling so big! She’s clearly just recently got the walking thing down- she’s a real pro but still slightly hesitant. We have just fallen in love with her to the max. Over the last 3 months we’ve had a chance to develop such a sweet and innocent connection with her. She used to be unsure of us- clinging onto her mum, but now she runs at us clasping her little hands together. She laughs and lets us snuggle her and truly it is the very best part of our day. No matter how bad the previous hours have been, seeing her makes the world fall away and our hearts filled with love.  She’s like a drug actually and we’re kind of addicted to the rush of seeing her- Beatee: best coping mechanism ever!

The last few weeks have been pretty routine with lots of hartals which we are no longer shocked by in the least. Run of the mill really and our students have gotten used to being “on call” so that we can sneak in a make up class at any last minute we can get our hands on.  We’re really close to the end now. In Medical Surgical class we’ve got Diabetes, the Renal system, and the Digestive system to cover and in Pharmacology we taught Central Nervous System Drugs today followed by Autonomic Nervous System Drugs and Chemotherapy Agents. The last few lectures! Hard to believe! We’re running a little low on motivation as the semester ends, but keeping up our enthusiasm as the review is SO good for us. The Liver is SO cool!!!

We’ve had some struggles with our students which has been challenging but at every turn there’s something to learn right? We’ve had some time to really try to get inside the minds of our students and understand what those basic drives to learn are and how to switch them on. Harder than we thought. Desire to learn, internal motivation and drive, discipline and work ethic are interconnected and necessary for the learner to succeed. We’re doing our best to empower them with “life skills” so that they can make it through this difficult and busy program. Our students have a fair bit of growing up to do, but that’s pretty normal for newbee’s, even in Canada. We’re focusing on teaching them how to take responsibility, how to be disciplined, how to manage their time, and how to be one time J Simple things but the foundation of being a good student.

Our time her with our students hasn’t been what we expected but that’s just it- OUR EXPECTATIONS. We’ve learned a great deal about letting go and letting what is be. We’ve learned to be more patient than we ever thought possible, and have learned to be utterly flexible in this very surprising and unpredictable world. We’re not speaking in code-true, things have been really hard some days. But, we can’t stop believing in them and maintaining hope that they’ll make it. We want to respect them and have even this blog be an encouragement for them even though they’ll never read it.

 We’ve also had lots of opportunity to build our cultural sensitivity/ competency and awareness. The other day as we sat in a restaurant shack having breakfast, we discussed how our feelings about culture have shifted since being here. We both spoke about how glad we are that this experience will help the “cultural” part of us grow stronger.  This sensitivity has many faucets and we’ve only tapped into a few (pardon the pun).  

One experience we had last week sorta surprised us. We’ve only a few times headed out of Uttar and into the “big city”. Gulshan is the “expat district” where all the foreign clubs are. The Canadian embassy has a club, the Brits have a club, there’s the Nordic club. We went down last week for a swim (which we never thought possible while here in Bangladesh) and a non-rice meal. After our swim, we threw on pants and a tee shirt and thought nothing of it since we were inside the walls of the foreigners club. Later that night when we were ready to head home, one of our new friends dropped us off outside of one of the big hotels in the area. We literally had to walk not more than 100 meters to the awaiting taxies. Totally forgetting that we were wearing “western clothes” we walked over to flag a taxi down. Immediately the reaction of the people startled us and we looked down realizing to our horror that we weren’t wearing our Ornas (scarfs). We climbed into the taxi and quickly pulled them out draping them around our necks.

This may seem funny to you- like, “what’s the big deal”. The big deal was that we felt naked without them, that we felt totally disrespectful in our western clothes in THEIR world. And in reflection, we were glad that we had such a visceral reaction. It means that we actually care about being culturally appropriate, that we care about dressing in a way that’s modest and appropriate for the culture, and that we care about helping undo the poor reputation westerners have in this culture.

Being out of Uttara only a hand full of times, we haven’t seen many other foreigners. But being in Gulshan we were shocked to see foreigners traipsing around in their mini skirts and tight tank tops. It’s SO inappropriate to dress that way, even if you’re not Bangladeshi! It just spoke volumes to us about how we wanted to be perceived and how our dress sends a message about respect. No judgment intended, but we wouldn’t be caught dead dressing like that here knowing how conservative this culture is. 

We also have had a very hard time wrestling with the sad beggars and children we see on the street. Westerners are often seen as pure gold- literally just $$$. This is hard for us, but also continues to solidify this terribly disempowering and unhelpful attitude about poor vs rich. Dependency on the “white man” has kept so many countries suppressed and stagnant. These big issues trickle down into the real life ones- like we know that many if not all of the beggars we see are run by big “mafia” type organizations. If you’ve seen Slumdog Millionaire, you know what we’re talking about. We’ve heard many stories first hand by people who have been here long enough to know the truth. It’s such a sad reality, children maimed on purpose for the end result of looking just that much more pathetic so that people will be just that much more likely to give.  Or this write up about children being literally drugged with alcohol or heroin to keep quiet or look sick in their mothers arms.

http://babiniec-cafe.pl/viewtopic.php?p=2026990&sid=8e80ad4531313512574b20139a6e7f5c

Ricki has been reading a great book by Samantha Nutt called, Damned Nations. It’s fascinating and highlights a lot of the struggles both big and small with foreign and developmental aid.  After experiencing life here for the last 3+ months and watching a few documentaries, we’ve realized that there is a huge grey area that governs how we should respond to the needs of the world. It’s so tricky and not at all straightforward. One person may find themselves on one end of the spectrum and another person many find themselves on the other. But wherever you do find yourself, there is a responsibility to know the outcome of your actions. So often our “giving” is so egocentric and egotistical- it’s about how good “I” feel when “I” give. Well, it sure ain’t about us and the sooner we can stop thinking about ourselves in all of this the better.

Samantha gives the example of going to a poor country to build a school. And it begs the question could it have been done in a better way? When developmental aid stops focusing on empowerment, autonomy of the people, capacity building, and sustainability it fails. So you gather a group of people together to build a school. Each person pays 3000$ to fly to that country. The school gets built, everyone’s happy and you come home.

But it begs many questions. Did the community need a school? Did they ask you to come build a school? Do they have teachers for the school? Do they have electricity and books and supplies for the school? Were there builders there who could have been employed to build the school? Could you have trained locals in the art of building? Guaranteed they could have used the employment and the money! How were the locals involved in the project? Were they treated as equals or treated with pity like “ those poor people needed a school and so we came to the rescue to build one for them”. Was there a “poor vs rich” attitude? Did it make us feel good?

What if we gave money, but were never there to get a pat on the back? What if what we actually needed for our growth was to learn to be humble, to not get any credit or acknowledgment but to let the right thing happen. What if we took the time to train locals to build that school? We wouldn’t be there to see it get done, but we would know that those men and women were getting a wage to take home to their families and were taking ownership of this school that their children would be attending. Isn’t that more important than our short term satisfaction? We operate on such a short term, immediate gratification sort of scale in society that it’s no wonder we translate this same attitude to our giving. Big aid groups do it to- donors give money and expect quick, measurable results even if this is not what the country needs.

So once again, no real cut and dry answers. Just thoughts and musings about the world and the things we wrestle with every day here in the developing world.

 Love Ricki and Heidi

Pictures from the Markets

 Tongi Market:

We spent a great portion of the day buying spices from this booth. It took a good portion of the day because we spoke no Bengal and he no English.

Chiles anyone?

Working hard or hardly working?

Nancy, Heidi, and Simon (Nancy's son)

Found this gem of a place after a day of shopping- a new Arabic restaurant that serves delicious Mocha's.

Jim and Ricki

This is one of the antique shops we visited during our first Gulshan visit. There was at least 10 of these antique shops in a somewhat 'strip mall' fashion. We visited nearly every one. 

Pearls are an amazing production here; they are unfortunately farmed but you can buy them almost anywhere. At these stores you pick the type and strand length and they make them for you. The pearls are natural in their many colours- different color of foods are fed to the oysters to produce the magnificent shades.

Kolsum's Farm

     We've met so many interesting, curious and delightful people during our time here so far. It's hard to believe it's quickly coming to a close. We arrived January 3rd and it's already the middle of March- hard to comprehend that our "Bangladesh" chapter will soon be over. A little sad actually, although we are very much looking forward to Nepal- we've heard amazing things!

    But before we go, we want to tell you about a few of the familiar faces we encounter on a daily basis- one of whom is Kolsum. Can't recall if we've mentioned her already once before. Regardless, we'll speak of her again. About a stones thought out out front door and around the corner lives Kolsum.

 She occupies a small plot of land which boarders a newly build appartement building on the left, and a high wall of sheet metal on the right. But in between is a little paradise- depending on how you look at it. She's essentially a squatter but that's such a yucky term and we've never thought of her that way. She's built a little tin sheeted lean to out of bamboo with a little oven inside (that people have repeatedly told her should be outside due to all the smoke she breaths in but to no avail).

We like to refer to it as "Kolsum's Farm" due to the plethora of animals she shares her small plot with. It's beautiful to see her with them- truly her children, she even sleeps with them in her house at night!! She has a large (spirited but beautiful) cow and her calf, a few chickens- one of whom just hatched 6 chicks. This good mumma is delightful to watch as she teaches her babies how to scratch through the dirt for food. Kolsum also has numerous goats, one of which just had a baby! It's tiny- not much bigger than the white cat that lives there too. It's the cutest thing in the world! And hilarious because it thinks Kolsum is it's mum and follows her around like a little puppy! We got to sneak in some snuggles the other day which was fun.

  We've learned a little about Kolsum over the last few months- some good, some- well, different :) Not sure how old she is, most people in Bangladesh don't really know for certain. She shares her space with her mother who herself is elderly and unwell with numerous ailments we've deciphered from Kolsum's Bangla stories and hand motions. She's never been married, and from the sounds of it never intends to. She was once quoted saying, " Why would I get married? Just so that some man can take my money and have control of me? Where then would be my freedom"!? True story! She definitely has her freedom which from noting her personality is essential. She calls the shots, she controls her affairs, she spends her money as she pleases, and doesn't have to answer to anyone... including Karen.

Numerous times, Karen has tried to hire her to work here at the flat but to no avail. It never works out, simply because Kolsum just can't answer to anyone but herself. Each time ends a little sadly, but the relationship is never in total disrepair and feelings are quickly mended. So, she just lives 100 meters away on her farm :)

 She is a very strong, very spirited woman and reminds Heidi of her grandmother- in love with her animals and unwilling to take orders from anyone. Admirable to see that sort of strength in a sense.

  We're amazed at how a little bond has formed between us despite not speaking each others language. Hand gestures and smiles are truly all you need.

  The people here in Bangladesh are truly lovely (minus the few odd run ins for sure ). We're thankful for these people who have become constants in our daily life here and for their friendship. We'll miss her :)

  Love Heidi and Ricki

Life in the Slow Lane...

Life has certainly not been on the highway for us over these last few days. 3 days of Hartal in a row, Sunday to Tuesday... plus the previous Thursday which cancelled our first scheduled clinical day. During our time we have had PLENTY of moments to ponder over our life AND because we are so generous we have shared the wealth and pondered over every other person's life as well. During our Sector 10, Road 9, House 2 team talks we have managed to solve word hunger; end all wars and create the blueprint for sustainable peace laws; we have re-established the Canadian-USA country border (We get the entire West Coast), and we have pin pointed the primary corruption that exists in nearly all countries of the world. But.... hartals are not just only used for exciting world changing discussions! We've also learned some real practical skills during the last 4 days: how to french braid your own hair, how to master being your own gym, and the top best friend handshakes- theory AND practical experience. It's all about REAL LIFE examples (that one's for you Nancy and Jim). For the right price we're sure that we could probably solve your problems too during the next hartal stint.

We did spend a wonderful day at the Spa last Saturday, the two of us and Nancy. And by day we mean it was actually very close to an entire day. Hartal got you down? Try a three hour spa package for 65$. It was an easy sell. And it was worth every penny! For all you folks at home this might be the only post you feel truly jealous of us: foot soak in flower petals, one hour sea salt body scrub, HOT STEAM shower (we all agreed we would have paid 65$ just for the shower- we have no hot water in our house), one hour hot oil massage, and then finished off with a facial. Now you may be wondering... all that for 65$... was it legit? Fair question. Our answer is one word: dynamite. We can guarantee that we have never been so clean and smelling so lovely after those three hours in heaven. I even took a second shower when it was all done. No way are we passing up opportunities like that! 

But we should at least take one moment to remember that we are still in Bangladesh... there were still a moment of nervous confusion. How was this going to work?!?! We know it's a spa.... we know we signed up for the full body scrub and massage, but do the same rules apply inside these walls? Nope they sure don't. Women here know how to do it up right. We wish we could say that we are "rough'n tough enough" for a spa day not make a long lasting impact on our quality of life here, but let's face it, those moment were bliss. In fact, half way through this blog we actually went to the spa for a second time. Yup, hartal's got us reeeaaallll down. We got a pedicure and threading of the eyebrows. For those who are not familiar with threading; its like plucking in bulk with two pieces of thread. Not exactly fitting with the rest of the spa relaxation but my eyebrows have never looked so good. We are hoping they have some sort of frequent flyer program.

The spa was great but in reality this last week has been an interesting week for us. It is actually really easy to get a bit down in the dumps when you try so hard to get a head and are completely deflated with a hartal. We had no idea that one of our biggest challenges here would just be getting into the classroom. We could not have been prepared for this level of adaptability required. Language skills, study techniques, course material (the list could go on) only mean so much if there is no classroom to teach them in. We have had to shifts our expectations of any sort of schedule and accept the limitations. Despite this we actually do consider ourselves lucky to be here during this time. Although we are not teaching on the allotted time given and our classes are more often cancelled than not, it has forced us to live true life here. We have stepped out of our comfort zone and have prioritized our goals: what is the most important information we need to teach and how will we teach it in the most effective way, because time is limited. We have maintained our expectations of the students and are working hard to help them achieve them. Fridays and Saturdays are just as good of days to teach.

It is clear that with adequate education will come better problem solving skills and real life thinking; knowledge that can be applied to make decisions and confront obstacles with an intellectual strategy, not aggression. More than ever we see the true power of education here and have fully embraced the task of creating a strong foundation for our students.

We've had some great cups of tea, lot's of laughter, and fun moments with the kids. Here's some photos that capture our last week:

It's just like tobogganing! 

This little sweetheart spends most of her time wrapped around her big sister. She's just started to venture out and shake our hands.

Rocks and gravel do not exist here for concrete making. They break bricks to make their own gravel.

This little guy is consistently doing two things every time we see him: grinning ear to ear and eating. We'll take it!

These 2 photos above are from our breakfast joint. Chili's cooking in a pot in the back room, and directly above the delicious pratta in the making. 

Here is one of our good friends Robbie. Himself, his older brother Bischal and father live together in a small shack where they serve tea, other snacks, and also have pigeons. We visit the often and have developed a very warming relationship. 

The father made this one day. Before it was all dirt.

One is hot water to rinse the glasses, the other full of delicious cha.

Hello cute boy and baby goat.  We don't think we have ever seen such a proud young boy before. It is unlikely this goat touched the ground after being born.

We cross our fingers every day when we turn the corner: hoping that this chubby baby will be there. Heidi made her giggle and smile the other day; which then of course made our day as we giggled and smiled.

Mum's might want to look away and not focus too much on this photo. The 'adventure' route we take to the market.

Further down our path.

Heidi with Shoriff and friend. They have developed a special bond. He is a very interesting boy and we can see at his age probably going through some tough realizations. 

More to come. We miss you all and love you all.

Ricki and Heidi xoxo