5. Bangladesh Arrival and Urban 'Slum' Project Visit

The working week in Bangladesh starts on Sunday, an unfortunate way to start the friendship from my end given my delayed flight from Myanmar arriving in Dhaka airport at 1:30am Saturday night! Dhaka cut a cool eerie figure in the dead of night on Saturday night from the airport, with the air thick with pollution and obscured by the darkness of the poorly lit and poorly maintained roads.  This initial impression has been more than overcome however by the extreme warmth of welcome I’ve received and the incredible days I have spent with Habitat for Humanity (HFH) Bangladesh staff and the colour and fervour of the communities with which we are working, not to mention the excellent cuisine!  This country is absolutely buzzing the 8th most populated in the world, at the same time as being about the 150th 'largest'.

Did you know that Bangladesh was part of Pakistan until 1971, after the British departure, the separation of Hindus and Muslims and the creation of India and Pakistan just after World War II?  Despite both being Muslim majority countries, Bangladeshis speak Bangla, Pakistanis speak Urdu and they have highly distinct histories and culture.  Five students who demonstrated against the Pakistani attempts at the time to force the entire country to speak Urdu, were murdered in 1952 on 21 February, which is now International Mother Language Day, as a result. A 9 month war in 1971 with 3 million deaths heralded the birth of Bangladesh as a modern nation state.

I’ve hardly had a moment to myself with early starts and late nights working, the continuation of this blog looking shaky at times! After an extensive overview of the wide-ranging projects HFH Bangladesh are involved in throughout the country, with about 50 staff in total in 5 different offices, I have since been able to visit our Australian government supported project in the urban slum of Dhaka, called Duaripara.  The smiles, warmth and passion exuded by the community members, including leaders of community-led water/sanitation/hygiene committees, and beneficiaries of new public toilets and new bath houses is enough in itself to signify success. But the opportunity to ask pointed questions about gender participation and gender outcomes, disability inclusiveness, overall behaviour changes and health impacts reveals that HFH Bangladesh in collaboration with community leaders/members is making fantastic things happen.

I also had the chance to meet the Australian Ambassador to Bangladesh and Embassy officials to discuss our work in the country and coordinate with other NGOs also operating here such as World Vision, BRAC, Oxfam, Faith in Action and a number of others. We were able to share experiences and views on important matters such as gender diversity and disability inclusiveness in our various community development programs.  There are so many issues to consider before you start engaging with communities in international development!