I haven’t written in a long while! Much has happened here and most has been really awesome. I will write more about all that later but I have a few things I need to get off my chest. I just got back form an amazing vacation in the Bondarabans or the chittagong hill tracts. It was an amazing place and trip!It was great to get away and difficult to return. That’s not to say that I don’t like living in Dhaka because I do. There are just some things… well, many things you deal with here that you would anywhere else.,,
For instance the military seized some land from villagers to build some housing for retired officers. They allegedly offered about 33% of what the land is worth. In the US the government can seize the land for the common good but they need to give a fair price for the land. The papers make it sound like the deal wasn’t approved through official channels. Here statements are made in numbers. Read the “story” here:
http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=159753On one end you see the police, RAB and military officials trying to defend themselves from angry villagers, some of them simply doing their job. On the other side you see the injustice of having your land taken away and given a terrible price for it. I’m not saying rioting is the way to go but it’s frustrating. Apparently the army brought in tanks and set up roadblocks to restore order or that is the rumor. Also several people are missing. The RAB supposedly shot put some bodies in the back of their trucks and drove away. You hear the story and it is just crazy this kind of thing happens.
Another struggle is, as a foreigner, people expect you to have a lot of money. By Bd standards I do and God has given me everything I need and more. Not a day goes by here where someone doesn’t ask me for money. It could be a beggar on the corner, a random rickshaw driver, or someone I know. One day I was walking out of my apartment and a random number called. I answered and a Bangladeshi man was on the phone. “Fiona?” he said. I kindly told him Fiona was back and England and I had her old SIM card. “Where are you now?” he said. I told him where I lived and suddenly there’s a dude on a rickshaw waving at me. He happened to be on the same road. Crazy. Anyway the person who lived in my apartment before (also from Grand Rapids… weird) had taught him English and used him as his rickshaw driver. He seems like a good guy for the most part. A few weeks ago he hurt his back and can’t drive a rickshaw anymore. After 18 years of driving one his body can no longer do it. He came to me before I had break and asked if I could fund him selling vegetables off of his head. We talked for a bit and discussed different ways he could do it, what kinds of vegetables, the possibility of using a flatbed rickshaw to sell off of, ect. I told him I’d think about it. Yesterday I decided I would help him with some capital to sell the vegetables off his head. However, he thinks it would be better to have a small stand in the market. He would rent the spot and sell vegetables there. If he had to close his business he would get a deposit back for the space. In talking about it I feel that he should take ownership of his own business and we discussed the possibility of paying some or all of the loan back, or some in vegetables and some in cash. It’s quite a bit of money he needs and it’s hard to say yes to because there are so many unknowns here. I’m going to take a Bengali friend and talk to people at the market to have an idea on the startup costs they face. I don’t want him to have to rely on foreigners to sustain him and his family. That’s not right. Should he start small and work his way up? Can he support his family in doing that? Every time I come back and my guard knows I’ve been with him he says no good in Bangla, saying the man is always asking for money. However he is a hardworking man and many people have vouched for him.
There is another rickshaw driver I know that doesn’t know how to ask for money. He said to me one day, “you give me 500 taka or you give me rickshaw” I said eh, no! He also isn’t very reliable/trustworthy in terms of being there when he says he will. For these reasons most teachers don’t use him anymore. It’s tough because I am trying my best to explain proper things to say and the importance of being honest, and he doesn’t quite get it. He told me today he’d pick me up at 4 after I’m done tutoring but he took someone else to DOHS (where I live) and couldn’t make it in time. I could tell on the phone he knew he messed up. I realize he’s just taking whatever people he can find to sustain himself. However, the choices he makes affects the amount of money he brings in because of these things. I wouldn’t want to drive a rickshaw for a living. It’s a really hard life. I want what is best for these people but who am I to decide it?
I went to first school after school today so I could walk to tutoring. I found this:
This was a tea cart that the police came and knocked down for being in the road illegally. But seriously why don’t they knock down the trees for growing in the road? They can come destroy people’s stuff but can’t take the trees out of the road that take up the same amount of space? There is a younger guy that runs a stand right near school. He looks like he’s 17. You could see the hurt in his eyes. I’ve never bought tea there but every time he sees me he says, “Hello Joshua,” with a great big smile and asks me how I am. Not many people smile a lot in Dhaka but he is one of them. He’s probably going to rebuild a stand somewhere else and I wasn’t sure if I would see him again so on the way back from tutoring I wrapped some money in a 10tk note and stuck it in his shirt pocket (a place many people keep their money), hoping he wouldn’t open it right away. I didn’t want anyone to know, just in case they try to take it or whatever.
Then today I got home and my housekeeper asked for a loan (which I approve of) for electricity in his house. He’ll have the loan paid off to Sam and I (if we agree) in 10 months. I come home every day and sit under a fan with my AC blasting to work on school, while his home in the village doesn’t have electricity. Is it a necessary need? Probably not… Does it improve his quality of life? Certainly. It’s different having a housekeeper. I mean it’d certainly be very difficult to do everything I do plus washing and hanging up my laundry, cooking, and cleaning everyday. I don’t sleep much as it is, but I feel weird having another man do these things for me. At the same time he has a decent paying job, which sustains him.
There are so many simple issues to deal with here. From, becoming terribly carsick and being knocked out for half a day, to the toxic air being produced from people repairing the road:
From missing home, to simply trying to communicate with people. But God is good and God is in control through all of these things. This is just another week living in Dhaka. It has been a particularly difficult week with a few other things that happened/going to happen. My intent is not to complain about these things but to ask for prayer for discernment in these situations. I love life here. I know that God is working in me and changing me for the better. I know that it’s better I care and want to change things rather then ignoring the issues and continuing my life like they don’t exist. I am so blessed and I know that this is where I’m supposed to be.
