I had been warned that I would be amazed everywhere I looked. And, from the lavish rickshaw decorations to the beauty and uniqueness of women’s salwar khamezes, I have not been disappointed. Discovering a new city, a new place, always comes with anticipation and excitement. As most people in Dhaka live in apartment buildings less than a dozen stories high, the rooftops, as opposed to the streets, serve as children’s playgrounds. Rooftops are often scattered with various plants and vegetables; though people may live in Dhaka, I’ve been told, Bangladeshis are farmers at heart. On a roof like this, I watched the sun set to the sound of the call to prayer from mosques all over the neighbourhood.

My fellow SFD intern, Mika, and I have been so wonderfully welcomed everywhere we’ve been so far. One of our cute intercultural experiences has to do with our breakfast. Since our arrival, every few days, we eat eggs for breakfast. The cook and the man in charge of the dormitories called it fried egg. It looked more like an omelette to us, with onions and hot peppers (there are hot peppers in everything). So, after supper one evening, the dormitory man offered us an omelette for breakfast the following morning. In our attempt to clarify what more would be in an omelette than our usual “fried egg,” we were invited down to the kitchen where the cook proceeded to fry an egg, sunny-side up, calling it an omelette.

As Bangladesh is one of the world’s most densely populated countries, I had braced myself for being overwhelmed in the mega-city that is Dhaka. Yet, I was surprised that this density was also visible on our seven hour bus trip to the north-western part of the country; even on back-roads, there are people, and fields as far as the eye can see. On this visit, it was easy see why more than 70% of the Bangladeshi diet consists of rice; apart from a few corn fields and litchi gardens, all we saw was rice paddies! Everywhere Mika and I have had a meal we are told that we don’t eat nearly enough rice.

It is often easy for students wrapped up in development theory to, while acknowledging their importance, often underestimate the capability of local innovations to solve local problems. I have had the exciting and humbling experience of being placed with an organization whose professionalism and range of programs would be considered exceptional by any standard. Padakhep has dedicated itself to “sustained human development”. The breadth of this mandate is reflected in their operations which includes, but is not exclusive to, projects relating to HIV prevention, street children rehabilitation, female literacy, micro-financing and agricultural productivity.

No doubt most internships begin with an adjustment period of re-evaluating expectations. My circumstances are no exception. As Padakhep is such a professional organization, I have realized that the original research I had thought I would be doing, is being done by more experienced staff who speak Bangla. I am lucky to be working with a team that I can easily talk to about readjusting my internship. Still, within the context of learning about food security in Bangladesh, I will be writing a paper on the effectiveness and viability of Pahakhep’s strategies to increase food security in Bangladesh. Setting out for an exciting summer internship, it was important for me to be open to these changes. Although I am a little disappointed that I won’t be doing field research, I am relieved that it is being done by someone more qualified.

Category: Bangladesh, On location // 2 Comments »