Mirza in Dhaka

im off

2007-12-07T06:36:00.000+06:00

im going bak on the 31st dec.. gotta help my people with my own hands

last day in dhaka and last blog entry

2007-05-11T12:46:00.000+06:00

so, i woke up today after a really nice night out

i took the friends i had made over here all out for dinner at this authentic chinese restaurant called 'Cathay' which is on rd 133, gul-1.

mike, the canadian/chinese VSO worker ordered for us all. none of us minded this cause hey, he knows what the food is all we know are the descriptions. it was a nice collection of friends i had made. two of the were english VSO workers, of whom was is a guy called tom who actually lives in the same town i am going to be working in. and then i also had the bangali friends who i had made. in all there were nine of us. and like typical bangalis, we were all late for the 8.30 booking. but that doesnt matter, what matters is that it happened and now when look back on this amazing 12 weeks i feel nothing but a fist of despondency against my cheek.

3months ago, i hardly knew how to speak bangla, i didnt know anything about dhaka, and to be honest, i had no friends either. but i didnt allow this to get me upset, i am here because i am a bangali and i want to be involved in the creation of a better bangladesh.

for the past 4 weeks, since india, i had been working at square hospitals in west panthapath. i chose to work in a private hospital because i wanted to get back into swing of things in terms of hospital medicine. i agree i would have seen much more in dhaka medical, but the reality is, i wanted my last 4 weeks to be relaxed and jungle fever that is dhaka medical, doesnt really appeal to me.

my tutor is a doctor who used to work in london. in fact it was his old boss that put me in contact with him and then via a few exchanges of emails, i was at Square. square, is the most modern hospital in bangladesh. its posh, clean and most of the staff have worked abroad so they deploy a foreign work ethic, something to which i am much more familiar about and comfortable in.

square was a good experience, i saw patients with signs and met lots of nice doctors and on wednesday, i did a short presentation for them about what i have learnt which everyone said was really good, but i think it might be because i put loadsa photos into it. lol

today i am off to the aparajeyo safehouse to see the kids again for the last time in goodness how long. i dont know how i am going to react, i have a sneaky suspicion that i am going to be in tears, there is about 300 kids with so much potential and talent, but sadly, bangladesh can not accomadate them in its society and so its left for Aparajeyo to do the best they can. i am going to be going with a friend of mine who is a barrister. she specialises in human rights and she has an interest in these children as well. this is the 1st time she is going to see this part of society, i am just curious as to how she is going to react. but i guess i will know in a few hours time.

the weather in dhaka is getting warmer, the frequency of storms is more common and the fruit ripening season is looming. all these ingredients mean monsoon is on the horizon. im sad im not here for that but in a way i am glad i am. i dont like getting caught up in the storm, and since i public transport everywhere, getting wet is a consequence of it.

however, i must admit i have grown an affinity for dhaka. i know my region of bangladesh is sylhet, but like london, i really like dhaka. i am a stokie who loves london and i am also a syhletty who loves dhaka. i really hope that my plan to come back here someday as a this great doctor will be a reality. i want to invest so much into this city and country and to help right many of the wrongs that exist. this is a lengthy process, and i shall be on the ladder a junior doctor from august.

i will try to visit bangladesh every year, and i will make sure i stay in dhaka a few days at a time aswell. the only sad thing i have not done is go to the village and see my relatives. selfish i know, but i honestly didnt want to see them. i feel as though my independance would have been compromised as i know many of them would have reacted to me as somebody who has no idea about bangladesh, but to be honest i have surprised myself as to how easy i have fitted into this city. crazy shit eh?

my flights tomorrow morning, need to check in for 8am. i will be back in london and back in halls for around 11pm uk time. i get a suspicion that UK is going to be so mundane, and that all the problems people have are just so petty. bangladesh has really put things into such a good perspective for myself and i shall not see things in the same context as i used to before.

as a parting wish for bangladesh, i wish for more british bengalis, like myself, not necessarily doctors will come to bangladesh to get more than a snapshot about the reality here. the country needs the university graduates like myself to help in making the place better. for those who dont know, the country has no official government, and sadly, corruption is so popular, you can not live without it. thats why this country needs us foreign bangladeshis who have grown in systems where corruption literally doesnt exist. i dont want to sound naive and pretend that living in the UK that all is flowers and green grass, but at least, social class, and corruption are issues that are not holding back the people.

so my point is, if you are a british bangali, come to bangladesh for a few months or even a gap year and see what the country your parents left is really like and use the gift what god gave to you to share with those who need it.

shuwaib

crazy india

2007-04-13T11:38:00.000+06:00

just come back from a crazy fortnight in india..

the place is vast with many treasures. i met with matt, raj and prit and celebrated life and becoming doctors.

lots of fun and frolics

i think im getting blog exhaustion. i cant be arsed anymore now to update.. ill try to again. i feel refreshed now and will start again to do write stuff

peace out

i went to a wedding, but i dont know who's!

2007-03-18T22:48:00.000+06:00

hey guys

my boss asked me to go to a wedding reception tonight. i asked what should i wear and she said, a panjabi. turns out i was the ONLY person wearing one and it was bright royal blue! ahh well, at least i made my entrance...

the food was shit but i met some nice people.

enjoy

the two women i am with are my boss and the lady with the red bindi is laila auntie. laila auntie is really cool, her dress sense at times is weird, but she has been like an auntie to me, and making sure i am ok all the time. lovely woman, i should get her a sari or something as a present..

shuw

i am still alive

2007-03-17T21:15:00.000+06:00

the blog has been a bit dead this past week which i am sorry for, ive been tied up this week with stuff and planning my india trip. but i shall try to update this thing and let you readers know whats happening...

if you do read this, please leave a lil message, i want to know how many people read this blog.

thanks

shuwaib

from Womb to Tomb

2007-03-10T14:39:00.000+06:00

on my second visit to a healthcare organisation in dhaka, my boss at FPAB sent me to another NGO organisation called Bangladesh Women's Health Coalition.

in the morning, i took the ritual of a CNG taxi to mohammedpur, the west part of central dhaka, the journey itself in the morning is pleasant. the road takes one past the parliament building which i have yet to snap and also the impressive structure of bangladesh's astronomy centre. regarding the stars, bangladesh spent a whopping 120M USD on building this? its strange why education like this takes prioty when that money could have been utilised in an appropiate channel eg the poor people!! or rurual education!!! lions led by donkeys...

so i reached the head office of BWHC a little early and i met the good friend of my boss, Dr Julia Ahmed. the striking thing about her is that she is relatively young to be head of an NGO. i would say she is early forties and is in good health. i was in her office for about half an hour discussing my reason for being in bangladesh and my reason why i have chosen in essence reproductive health when i could have chosen any speciality and any destination in the world.

i told her honestly that the idea of seeing the world is a desire of mine, and i would love to be where chewee/tony are or even where raj is but this opportunity to return to the homeland and to not be a tourist but someone who has a more grounded understanding and dare i say it, maturity is a chance that i couldnt pass. i admit frankly now, that dhaka is not the best place in the world especially for a social life or having fun, but i have london for that and i have my friends and also a certain special someone in manor park that i can have fun with.

anyways, Dr ahmed, explained what BWHC was about and the moto they have is, healthcare from the womb to the tomb. today, i was in for a treat, i would be sent by the company car (luxury or what) to see all the clinics they have in their urban programmes, they do rural programmes, but me being the city boy i am is finding it difficult being in the countryside. i think i get nightmares about the rural clinics of health care because i hate bangladesh countryside, for some, its natural beauty, for me it is a symbol of boredom. (no offence to the lovers of bdesh countryside)

the first clinic i was sent to was about 3miles away from the supreme court. the supreme court is this strikingly whilte building in the heart of the city and it is where all the legal things are fought about, i dont know whether or not the place is an honest place to be involved in as a lawyer but one thing which i know about bangladesh, is that, never trust the government, even if they are involved in a massive crackdown at the moment. this is a country with people with hidden agendas and a lust for money and social status.

so i arrived at the first clinc. there was a loss in the translation, i thought i was going to spend the whole day there but this was purely a visit. this centre was a maternity centre, it was a building situated right in the heart of one of dhaka's most poorest populations, and it served the people not just as a maternity centre but also as a health care clinic. the building was four floors. the ground floor was the reception and pharmacy, the second was the GP clinic, the third was the obs/gynae section and the top was the office. the lady who recieved me here was dr rebekah. she was a wonderful women, explaing what the centre does and who it serves and all the history and any answered any of my curiousities. people have been treating me with very warmly here, i wish people could be a bit more like this in england, especially at the hospitals.

so, i was then handed over to the anaesthist who deals with c-section pts, his name is dr rashid, very nice guy, young tall and a bit overweight. he then gave me the grand tour of the centre, introducing me to all the staff as 'Dr Mirza' (still feels weird knowing that im not gonna be Mr anymore) explaining to them all that i am from the UK and here to have a look at health care here. the staff were very friendly and really nice, asking me if i want a cup of tea every 5s, but it was touching. after the ground tour, i was then shifted over to the driver who brought me here to go to another urban clinic. i was sad to leave this centre, cause i really liked it and wouldnt have minded spending the day and doing some medicine in their GP section of the building.

i now went to another clinic in an area which was more poor than the centre i was at. the clinic was small and here, they have a doctor, a counsellor and no pharmacy. the doctor that works here was a young doctor, probably 25 and her name was dr khan. the striking thing about her was that she was really pretty, (hubba hubba!!!) but she was cool, she gave me the brief guided tour of the place and explained who her patients are and etc. after 20mins, and another 5 offers of a cup of tea, i then sadly departed, not being able to use my charm on her to go to the second to last clinic i was going to visit.

the place was called gandaria, and it was situated a mile north of the big river buriganga. this place was right in the heart of 'old' dhaka. the area was made of a meshwork of slums where most of the patients live. as you can imagine, the patients here are commonly ill with TB being the most common disease. dr shilpi, a young doctor was the lady in charge here. her job here was similar to that of a gp, patients come in, their notes are provided and then bang, same as a GP surgery in england. the difference here compared to the other places where i had visited, was that, i was now playing an active part in patient diagnosis and management. dr shilpi, gave me the privaledge of taking the history and and prescribing the medication. i saw a crazy number of patients in the space of 3 hours, all these patients are sadly very poor and dont have very good education. its just hard to comprehend this exists especially in the comfort of england. but i tried to do as much as possible to help, for example, with one patient, i taught him how he should be using his asthma inhaler. dr shilpi, had her faults, she didnt give a damn how he was using it, but, i told her simple things like education is imperative!! i was afraid i may have been patronising her, especially since i am still a student... but at the end of the day, she was really nice to me and said i am welcome to have dinner with her and her husband at their house. after we finished the clinic at 4pm, it was time to move on to the last place to visit for the day.

this place, if my parents knew i went to would be upset but i am the today and they are the yday. this clinic was not a clinic as such but a place with counsellours providing healthcare and advice. no doctor chooses to work here because they fear they may not be employed elsewhere. it sad that a mentality like that exists here but i will explain to you why.

the final clinic i visited was the drop in centre where commercial sex workers visit to receive healthcare and advice. it also serves as a nursery for their children so they can receive education whilst the mums are at work. poverty is so desparate in bangladesh that there is an estimated number of prostitutes that exceeds the population of some small countries. islam and a conservative social culture mean nothing when it comes to helping the poor in the land of bangladesh. so if you are curious why i went to visit this place, its beacause i care about these people whilst others do not.

i was received here very warm. the lady who works here is called anodha, and she was a former sex worker and now a trained health care advocate. teachin about condom use and recognition of STIs. she was really nice and i was touched when she called me brother. i told her, please dont call me brother, call me shuwaib. she went to show me her humble clinic, and the achievements they have made displayed by photos taken by BWHC. she was a very proud woman. i got to meet some patients that were here and spoke to them about what they were concerened about and i once again answered the questions about why i am in bangladesh. but i didnt mind, i am just satisfying their curiousity like i am doing with mine. at the end of the half hr i was there, i had a crowd of 6 patients, and i demonstrated to them how to put on a condom. if no other doctor will show them, i really should. the 6 of them knew exactly how to put one on, they didnt use my willy to demonstrate but i bought some bananas for the demonstration.

i then popped my head into the nursery to see what the kids were learning. so innocent and yet forgotten by their people. i said my goodbyes and i promised anodha i will return and teach the kids the english alphabet before i head back to england.

it is sad that an NGO takes resposibilty for them and not a GO. on the bright side of it though, and slightly contrary, BWHC is funded partly by the bangladesh government. however, it is a shame the government can not just come out and be frank about the internal problems of the country but does the easy option and just pay someone else to do the work for them.

i got home that evening for 9pm. i stopped off at Kozmo lounge, the best place for coffee in this city. its a nice coffee shop. i will take pictures of it, but i go there to just wind down.

anyways, im off, gonna chill for the rest of the day.

shuw

private medical care, u gotta love it

2007-03-07T22:23:00.000+06:00

On Monday, I spent the most part of the working day in a private medical college in gulshan. I was looking forward to this very much because it would be an interesting stark contrast to what I am used to after learning in the clinical settings of the NHS. My previous exposure to private healthcare was at the south Wellington whilst I was doing my SSM late last year and also at a harley street clinic. I, however, have been trying very hard to be open minded in what I will expect in when I go to these places. I cant be biased and the british upbringing I have shouldn’t cloud my expectations of what exists.

Healthcare in Bangladesh is very important. It is expensive here and there is a massive shortage of facilities in the public sector. However, in the private sector, the patients here are the ones that can afford to pay for their consultations and medicines and the rent required for the hospital bed. Knowing all this, one should also bear in mind that this is a country where the average wage is under the golden British pound.

I arrived at the college and I was greeted by the principle of the college; he is a good friend of my boss at FPAB and therefore, this is how I got the contact and the arrangements for my visit. The principle, himself was a character that really put the fear within me. He has very few facial expressions and he appears at times to be obnoxious to my curiosities of his college. I actually felt quite intimidated by this man, thinking that the next time I open my mouth will be something that offends him. We both had tea together and I told him my schooling history and family history and he then told me his history and how he had been to London to get a PhD from the london school of tropical medicine. For some benign reason, when I tell anyone the name of my medical school, they appear clueless which leads me to believe, is it a shit uni??

The prof then called one of his staff, a young doctor who lectures in pharmacology at the college to give me a guided tour of all the departments at the college itself. They take a lot of pride here, and the facilities they have; one thing that struck me was the amount of science these students do. I swear the stuff the 1st years were being taught was the stuff I learnt in high school, I swear by it.

Then I looked around the anatomy labs and histopathology and microbiology depts, I was feeling thick because at Bart’s we don’t do half the stuff these kids get taught. We have learning landscape but that is nothing to what they have. The big contrast is that the kids in Bangladesh learn, or should I quote, memorise text, pictures and things. They don’t use their minds to work things out or how to apply their knowledge, but they learn things in text books like the way I used to learn my lines whenever I used to be in a school play.

After I had been given a tour of the college, it was now time to be given a tour of the hospital. The hospital is very clean. If you are going to be in a private hospital, cleanliness is the thing that makes one feel that their money is well spent. At the hospital, it can hold a maximum of 300 patients. And unlike an NHS hospital, there were, believe it or not, only 20 patients. On questioning why there are only so few, the answer is, ‘it’s a new hospital and many people think it is too expensive.’ This excuse is exhausted and I felt extremely insulted seeing a hospital not being utilised for its maximum potential. There are people dying at the entrance of government hospitals and this place does nothing to help. It really is sad. The other thing that really pissed me off was the fact there are so many doctors, just lounging around, reading a paper, drinking tea and literally being paid to do nothing. These doctors go abroad to get fancy letters like FRCS, MRCS so they can go back to Bangladesh just so they can be paid 1 lakh per month to sit on their arses. It really is a disgusting sight.

My guide then donated me to another doctor who works in the ITU, there were three registrars for ONE patient!! The patient had a stroke and the registrar was going through the history of the patient and discussing the management plan. I looked at the notes and the drug history for him, and I was shocked. This patient was being treated for symptoms of the stroke. But nobody has even bothered to treat him in preventing a second stroke. Even his drug history was awfully managed. His doctor who was looking after him for his diabetes and high blood pressure was not even applying the modern guidelines in his drug regimen. I then told the registrar it was no surprise he had a stroke. The registrar then defended my accusation of negligence by saying the community doctor must be some crappy village doctor. The truth is, the community doctor is probably some city doctor, making big bucks but not properly looking after his patient. This was disgusting and if this were England, we would have a legitimate legal case here.

I understand when it comes to medicine I am not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but I know my basics and I am now a lot more confident and I feel competent in knowing when a patient is being fucked over by his doctor. Anyhow, needless to say, the registrar and I fell out. The irony was when the ITU consultant came down and I then told him what should be done. I am not even a doctor yet, I have another 4 months left. I was feeling extremely angry. Thank god in the UK we have NICE guidelines.

Afterwards, I was then taken to see the outpatient clinics; here I met an Indian couple. They were the typical Bangalore IT workers employed by a Bangladeshi company. Sad, that Bangladesh doesn’t have people to do their jobs but India does. Anyways, the couple were in because the wife was having her 1st antenatal check. They were very nice people, very chuffed to have a ‘Dr’ from the UK come sit in with them in their consultation. The reason of concern for the lady was that she was anaemic and as they were vegis, they needed to put more iron in their diet. The advice the obstetric consultant was giving was simply ‘take iron tablets’. I then intervened and asked, are you not going to advise anything else? So, I then gave them dietary advice, what to eat, what to avoid, what to do to stay fit and how to recognise the signs of anything bad that hopefully wont happen. I think the consultant was quite offended, because I was doing her job, the only difference I was that I wasn’t expecting a fee. After the consultation, I went along to see the ultrasound being done. I swear in England, ultrasound is not done by doctors. It is a nurse’s job, however, here they employ a doctor to do ultrasound all day!! What a waste of resource. She doesn’t even report the findings, all she does is applies the jelly and gets the image. That’s it!! 5 years of med school so she can take pictures! This was ridiculous, next thing I was expecting to find was a doctor mopping the floor. I mean no disrespect to people who do these jobs, but doctors treat people.

I learnt after this day that the place was really inefficient, and only god know how the hospital survives and is able to afford to pay doctors their wages whilst they have so few patients. I learnt today how an MBBS is wasted and when I think of it, it makes me sick.

i didnt take many pictures, i dont think the places deserved it

lost in the bay of bengal

2007-03-05T18:25:00.000+06:00

On Friday morning, after all the AGM had finished, I woke at 6am so me and 30 other people could go to bangladesh’s most southern point and one of the world’s unspoilt treasures. The place, is an island called St Martins.

The bus ride from cox’s bazaar to the smuggling port of teknaf was an arse aching 3 hours. We even got given breakfast on the bus, but eating that whilst dancing on the seat was a mission impossible. I didn’t sleep much that night, hasan and zaki kept me up in their banter, we spent an hr debating which bolly actress was the hottest. I said priyanka cause her body is fantastic. Curves in all the right places.

The majority of the bus ride was spent sleeping. People kept waking me up every 2mins trying to explain to me that the Bangladesh scenery is beautiful and I should be awake, but I kept snoring fak off to them. So we reached teknaf, the place was saturated with buses from tour companies because st martin is a massive tourist destination in Bangladesh. I was really chuffed, because I have heard so much about the place and now that I was going there, it felt surreal. We boarded the boat. It had three floors representing 3 classes.

The downstairs was plastic chairs, middle was comfier, and upstairs spacious. It was an ok ride, I managed to get some more shut eye in between taking pictures, so I was happy. The weather like usual, was warm and pleasant. Its not like the june, july months where it hits 40 deg Celsius. We reached st martins finally, seeing the island on the horizon of the bay of Bengal reminded me of what the island in Lost looks like. It really is a beautiful sight. The place is tiny, two fat people would make it look like a box room. But the beach was a beautiful colour. The population is small, 7000 and the main industry is fishing. Boats litter the shore and fishermen can be seen casting their nets.

There are a few hotels on the island. The place has potential for being a massive tourist site, because it also has a coral beach. I did see 2 white people there, enjoying the tranquillity and peace that this beach offers. In Bangladesh, beach culture is much more reserved, so sadly, u don’t see bikini babes wet and bathing in the sun, but I have a dvd in london for that so I aint too bothered.

So we walked around the beach, I took some pics, drank water from 4 coconuts, they were really good and took some more pictures. I bought rahima her shell, I was going to buy coral but I was afraid that it might be illegal so I declined. We found this standard Bengali restaurant a little inland. Sadly I didn’t get to eat fresh fish. The people I was with were pretty boring in that sense. after lunch, we headed back to go back to mainland Bangladesh. We did not stay for long at st martins, because we were heading back to Dhaka that night. But, the 2 hours I was there for was good. The only sad thing about st martins that I will remember, is that, u still see poverty here. It doesn’t matter where in Bangladesh you are, you still see poverty. It disgusts me that nothing has changed. But I alone can not do something. Change must come from the central government, and it needs to be soon.

To go back to mainland again, it was another 2 hr boat journey. I made a friend on that journey, nadia is a 10 year old studying at an English medium school. She is really cute and she wants to be a doctor in the future. Why? Because I am going to be a doctor.. little copy cat!!!
We reached our waiting bus and the sun was now beginning to set. Again I didn’t get to see a bay of Bengal sunset. I am not too upset, but it is something I will regret I am sure. The bus journey was a nice experience. Like in bollywood films, everybody started singing bangla songs and reciting famous bangla poetry. It was a really nice united feeling. I am beginning to understand how important language is and culture is. The more I am learning and the more interaction and exposure I get, the more I feel proud about the men and women that fought to preserve the Bengali language. Maybe I am not proud of what Bangladesh is now, but the spirit that exists amongst the people, rich or poor is something that is reaping a patriot emotion within me.

Cox's Bazaar Day 2 & 3

2007-03-04T19:11:00.000+06:00

Tuesday morning and the conference started at 9am. At 9am I was still in bed sleeping and enjoying my life of pure bliss. This period of my life will never repeat so I shall make the most of everything I have and just chiiiiiiil. I finally awoke from the giant sleep at 11am and I then strolled the 5 minute walk to the conference walking along the road that is parallel to the shore and telling every rickshaw driver I do not need to use them. At 11.45, I slipped into the conference room right in the middle of when my boss was giving a speech. I don’t think she recognised it was me because like me, she is short sighted so I was in luck.

Anyways, the day was not that fantastic, it was the same stuff as Tuesday but however, the twist was that in the evening the FPAB team at cox’s bazaar had organised a cultural evening. Cultural you ask… well, this meant, some traditional Burmese dancing and the bangla singers lightning up the room and people dancing. I myself also bopped on the dance floor, but instead of 50cent, it was some bangla song. It was really cool. There were about 30 people, all above the age of 30 except myself dancing. I have never seen Bangladeshis dancing, as it is frowned upon and regarded as haram. However, as I learn more and more about the culture, I can see the reasons why over here in Bangladesh nobody is bothered at the hesitancies the Bangladesh community in the UK have. People have to remember, that many of this people were in the country when they shed blood to save the language. God was not available that night when all the scholars at Dhaka University were murdered. The culture therefore now celebrates music, and singing and poetry, and seeing all these people come together that night, I felt proud as a Bengali, and being grabbed hold of by the people to dance with them made me feel even more proud because I am now beginning to feel I am a member of this race.

After all the serious conference speeches, we were treated to Burmese dancing. There were four really adorable doll like girls who have grown up in Chittagong brought to entertain us. This was the first time I had ever seen anything like this and I have to admit, I really enjoyed the show. The music, the dancing with candles and umbrellas was really cool. Next time I am in Chittagong I am going to have to see a show like this again. After the girls had done their dance, I chased after them, not because I have yellow fever but because I wanted that exclusive photo. The weird thing was that they were so fluent in bangla, but the other weird thing about this is the stark contrast in physical features between Bangladeshis and the Burmese in such a short distance on both sides of the borders. People either look Bengali or Burmese, no in between. If you know what I mean.

After the Burmese dance, was the Bengali band. There were three singers, 2 girls and one bloke whose picture I didn’t want to take. But in between the dance and music from the band, the people of FPAB wanted an encore, so guess who took the mic and started to sing, my boss!!! She is so brave, such a cool brave, such a cool modern Bengali woman. I wish many more Bengali women would be like her. She is 50 years old but she won’t let anything stop her in her ambition whether it is educating about sexual reproductive health or wanting to sing for a crowd. She did two numbers, and I have recorded one of them on my camera, but until I can figure out how to upload them to this site, they will just remain on my hardrive. The band then arrived in typical Bangladesh timing fashion, but they did sing for 2 hours, it was good. Like I said earlier, people got up and danced.

After the dancing, the night was over and everybody went home. I was starving and I did the easy thing which was order room service. The milkshake at coral reef aint bad.

On the third day, which was now Thursday, my typical day pattern did not follow. I woke up at 10 this time, but instead of heading off to the conference immediately, I went to this most delightful and charming café/snack bar which is built on stilts and sits on the beach. When it is high tide, I am told the place is one of the best places to be in Bangladesh and maybe in the world. The name angel drop is quite fitting, and I hope this place remains forever and that the effect of globalisation doesn’t destroy it.

For my breakkie, I had a cup of tea, typically loaded full of sugar and a biscuit, I didn’t order much partly for the reason they don’t really have much on the menu. But it was good never the less. One striking thing about Cox’s bazaar is the noise the Bay of Bengal produces. The waves crash with such volume that they are a formidable opponent for the central line.

Today was the last day of the annual project review (AGM) so I should really have been there much earlier and stay all day. I did the latter which was ok. It was the same old stuff again. speeches, but this time the critiscm and reviews were handed out to people and the different districts were told where they were going wrong and how to improve.

The day finished early, around 3pm. But in the afternoon, there was a debating competition, 10 regional finalists came to cox’s bazaar to battle out who is the best. The subject was sexual reproductive health, gender based violence and all the trimmings that went along with it. The competition was interesting, the one thing I had learnt from Bangladeshis when it came to debating is that it is all about voice projection and copying what the politicians do. People don’t use wit here, they shout, and bang fists and this is what the crowd like. It gives a buzz and to see teenagers doing is quite remarkable. In the UK everyone is a bit more relaxed, the content of what they say uses humour and intelligence, but it was interesting to see the contrast.

After the debate, and the prizes handed out, FPAB then staged a little natok. The drama is typical of what the volunteers do for FPAB. Educating is more effective in staging the message rather than handing out leaflets so it was nice to get an insight into this. The story was, a pregnant wife beaten by the husband and then given shit by the mother in law. FPAB then comes to the rescue to teach the family why they should not be doing what they are doing and so on.

The sad thing about Bengali culture in the village is that pregnant women have it hard. This needs to change, obvious statement I know, but this culture is centuries old, so the task is hard.

After the day ended, I treated the guys I made friends with to the cheapest meal ever. 4 peeps ate for less than 70 pence. Hail the strength of the pound and my time in cox’s bazaar.

I went to bed early because the day after, I was headed off to St Martins!! Woo hoo!!!!

cox's bazaar, sun, sea, sand and no sex! 1st proper day at cox's bazaar

2007-03-03T14:50:00.000+06:00

hey world!!!

This week, I have been far far away at the jewel of the Bangladesh crown. Cox’s bazaar is a seaside resort, not like Blackpool, but somewhere which still retains lots of natural beauty but also is being infiltrated by the major tourist companies.

Last Monday, I woke up before sunrise to get ready for the 8hr bus journey. I have confirmed to myself once again that I am not an early morning person. I hate early mornings but it is even more depressing when you wake up when the sun has not even risen! I had to be at Razorbag bus station for 7 o’clock. Me being the twat I am didn’t anticipate that I wouldn’t have any morning traffic to deal with that early, this meant I reached there for 6.30 and I was seriously moody cause I could have slept for another 30mins..

The reason why I went to Cox’s bazaar last week is because FPAB have their annual general meeting there. I was really fortunate that my elective coincided with this, because I was planning on visiting the beach but I didn’t know when I would fit it in. The phrase, 2 birds with 1 stone was awesome, I went to see Bangladesh’s seaside and also be on my elective at the same time.

The AGM itself was not very interesting. It was an evaluation how the NGO was doing nationally with many members from all over the nation being present there. There were speeches, presentations, discussions, workshops etc. I am still having trouble understanding fast spoken bangla, and it was no surprise I was falling asleep or playing on my Nintendo or day dreaming about hitting the beach.

The AGM started on Tuesday and we travelled all day on the Monday before. For three solid days, the AGM happened 9-6. I didn’t attend the early morning sessions, my bed was far too comfortable for that and I didn’t stay all day because I wanted to do was chill by sea which was only a stone throw away from the hotel.

As for the beach itself, it is a place where one can just chill out and forget all about the realities of life. The place is relatively clean and kids are employed a phone company to pick up litter. The sad fact is, these kids should be in school, and the other sad fact is that littering is a massive problem in this country. The government here is too busy concerned about its military capabilities than doing the simple things such as placing a bin in places populated by man. I have never seen a bin Dhaka and I haven’t seen one either in Cox’s bazaar. Simple things seem to be too complicated for a country which tries to copy the west.

On my first day on the beach, I chilled on a deck chair for an hour, got hassled by kids to give them some money and or buy shells. I did both, but it doesn’t matter where you go in this country, poverty follows and its depressing, because here I am, a tourist first, British second, and Bangladeshi third and it really upsets me when I see these children and family because if it wasn’t for the simple migration my dad did, I could have easily had the same childhood. Alone, I can not change this; change must come centrally and nationally.

The highlight after relaxing on my deckchair, was that I hired a beach buggy for an hour, this was bloody awesome, it was simple to drive and there were some mini dunes I could drive over. The best thing was that you it only had one gear, like a video game u just pressed the accelerator button and steered!! Afterwards, the sun started to set, this thing about sunsets here are that, you don’t get to see the sun ingested by the ocean. The horizon is always cloudy on the Bay of Bengal; therefore, I only managed to take pictures of a tangerine sun. This upset me, because I tried for three days and disappointment each day. After sunset, I went back to my hotel watched some TV and met with two of my colleagues, Hasan, and Zaki. They are relatively young compared to the whole FPAB members, at 23, and 33. with them, we would just chill on the beach again at night and drink tea and I would be questioned about the usual stuff, England, girls, and alcohol. Around half 10, I would retire for the day and sleep again after watching some MTV.

gonna be away till the 2nd

2007-02-25T22:00:00.000+06:00

hey guys

not much today, quite tiring and long at the office

im going to cox bazaar tomorrow morning till friday because FPAB are having an AGM with lots of speeches and workshops, should be interesting..

im going to the longest natural beach in the world, so i will be taking lots of pictures and hopefully have lots of stories to tell on saturday when i am recovering..

have fun guys

shuwaib

child labour and overworked fathers

2007-02-24T22:57:00.000+06:00

dear reader/readers and world

another day passes by and i havent had an 8hr nap iyet, and i have had no coffee either. how am i surviving? u tell me???

toaday was another long day.. i woke up early and we did a bit of market shopping in gulshan with mum and dad. they left for the village today, it was nice to see them after so long and the next time i will see them is in another 11 week's time. im not sad, i quite like this independance i have but my parents are upset at it. they feel they have lost a son due to the education system of raising me in england. but what i have been trying to explain is that in order for me to learn about who i am, where i am from and for me to reach success, i feel i must do it away from stoke.

they left at 12pm, and i then headed off to the office and finally got the poster on the way to being made. madam was surprised by what i have done in summarising the independant evaluation and i am quite touched. its not often that one gets to be such close proximity to the head of an organisation, especially one like FPAB in bangladesh.

so i got back to the hotel for half 6, this was perfect timing because ESPN were showing the Man U game live on the telly. premiership football when so far away makes the world seem a lot smaller than what it really is. thank you rupert murdoch for being my football saviour.

this evening i went to visit my friend's parents. they had given me an invite which i was reluctant to accept because of the rest i need especially because of it being warm weather and also cause i am generally knackered!!! anyways, they sent their driver to collect me and i sat down to talk about the usual shenanigans people discuss. the couple are very interesting and both have highly respective jobs, but it still doesnt excuse some of the culturual aspects this country is still infested with.

the thing that has made me melancholic today, is the young not even a teenager who works as a made for them. its not right, child labour is not right. fine, she may be off the streets and away from the dangers of dhaka street life, but she has a right to dream and even working for this family means she has none.

i hate this concept of having servants and chauffeurs because i hate the institution of social class. this poor girl, has no basic education and all she knows is how to clean and follow orders. i can express how much anger i have in seeing such a beautiful young girl in this position. her eyes were beautiful and anyone who sees her would wish for a sister or daughter like her. i understand the positives and yes i know the argument is that my british upbringing clouds my view, but the people who employ are not backward members of society, they are successful and wealthy people. the irony is, my friend's mother is a school teacher at high school level, yet at home the girl who works for them receives none schooling.

the driver who dropped me off engaged me in conversation, we discussed england and what is the purpose for my visit to dhaka. but i then questioned him on his personal life. the driver has a wife and 2 year old baby that he works to feed. that i appreciate, he works to provide for his family and that is v.honourable. but this where the bitter taste started to be felt.

the driver only has 4 days off a month, and he starts work at half six in the morning and doesnt finish till close to midnight. the guy has a wife and child. he should be as fortunate as his boss to be in his family's life not his bosses literally all day and night. where is the justification and do his employers have any sense of guilt? i know we have servants in our village, but i know for a fact they do not live like that. at least in the village the family are kept together and my father also makes sure the daughter is educated. but what is the plight for my driver's life?

i apologised to him and said i will try my best somehow to change this in the future, so other people do not live like this. in return, the driver asked me if he could come work in england and be our chauffeur. the reality is, we all drive and the idea of having a maid or chauffeur is outrageous. this country makes me realise how lucky i am. but it also makes me realise what kind of people exist in this country and also the ones who export themselves to england to make a better life for themselves financially. people say bangladesh is improving, in my eyes it is still the same - culturally it is still the same and that is sad. i could have easily become the chauffeur i met today, but thanks to god, i was born in england and i have now become a doctor. but the most important thing that i have and that nobody will ever take away from me is the independance i have in looking after myself and i will never ever be dependant on anybody to literally wipe my arse for me.

not many pictures today, just one of a train but it isnt a good one.. also, as u know, nike do really cool adverts on tv, so on you tube, check out the nike indian cricket advert.. really cool

speak later
shuw

2007-02-24T19:42:00.000+06:00

link to my old blog

if u want to see the bulk of my first week the link is above

friday 23rd feb

2007-02-23T23:13:00.000+06:00

today was a long and frustating day, i am happy but i am so upset that i cant log into my blog at shuwaib.blogspot.com

anyways, its ok, i have a new one now and hopefully people will catch on and switch to the darker side...

so today, what happened..

well, since my parents are here, we went to visit some cousins of mine who live in mohammadpur. i havent seen these guys in a decade and it was nice to see them and boy have they grown. they are all busy studying away and i am quite proud of the dilligence they have.

after visiting them, we went to bashundhara shopping centre. this is regarded as the jewel in the bangladesh crown of shopping, but i found it a place with no personality and dull so hence no pictures of it. maybe next time i go i will snap away but not today.

afterwards, we headed to dhaka university, we were going to go to the book mela, but the line was massive so we didnt. instead we went to kazi narul's grave which is opposite the art dept of dhaka uni. he is a very famous figure to many people and touched them in someway in their lives.

we then headed to the art department for a wander and we were watching students doing still life drawing. they were pretty good but i dont want to sound horrible, but does a country like bangladesh really need artists??? i think they need other professionals more. but that is my personal oppinion.

we then went home cause we were all tired and i was getting more and more tense because i knew today was the day my results would be published for my final exams. so i had a nap for an hour and then logged on. i was convinced i had failed and that the shock wouldnt be great but just a reconfirmed upset emotion.

anyways, i logged on and bang!!! i had passed my exams, maybe not with straight As but never the less, i am now 99% a doctor!! just need to do the elective report and SSM coursework and i am then going to graduate as a doctor. i am glad and honestly, i am shocked because i have low self confidence when it comes to exams now, especially after my 1st and 2nd year where all that partying led me to retake in the summer holidays.. but i have never had to repeat an academic year so i should have some confidence in me now.

we then headed to a bengali restaurant, we were going to go to the most expensive one in dhaka but we couldnt even get a cab!! the food was too much and i gave what we couldn’t finish to a homeless boy.

anyways, im gonna sleep now so catch you later!!

i cant log into my other blog!!!

2007-02-23T23:08:00.000+06:00

cant remember password or username!!!! and the troubleshooter is useless

so here is my new blog!!!

enjoy guys, same as before...