Hello Sinister, Shuvo Noboborsho/Happy New Year! Its my second chance to do New Years resolutions as its the first day of the Bengali calendar. Ive been extremely bad and not written an update for more than two months <slaps wrist>! Needless to say Ive been enjoying my life too much to sit down and write about it. Thanks to those of you who ask questions about my travelogues. Johan feel free to get in touch. Im enjoying hearing about your tales of gigs and picnics. I still feel very sorry for Mark O who is going to be coming back from San Francisco the day before B & S play. Big Stu come on we want to hear more travel tales. I cant get around Asia at the moment (bloody immigration) so you can at least make me jealous. Siniglasto has been quiet whats happening? I know I wont be in attendance as Ill be in Bangladesh still (unless immigration chuck me out of the country) but its interesting for me to hear whats going on. I still get to go to festivals, but on a smaller scale. Think of the more folky stages at Glasto. I go to things like that but with Baul music (Bangladeshi folk) with way more tabla and sitar etc. Quite recently some fellow volunteers got to share a bit of folk UK style with millions of Bangladeshis singing, playing harmonica and acoustic guitar on BTV Bangladesh Television. Plus they got to say a bit about why theyre volunteering etc. it was all very exciting for our little community out here. Well in terms of content Ive managed to get my copy of Im A Cuckoo Im with the preferring some of the B-sides crew. At long last the DVD has arrived so I now know what all the fuss has been about. The Asian branch of HBO has been showing Storytelling but always at times when only insomniacs are awake. I know everyone had mixed opinions about the film (and Im not terribly keen on the soundtrack) but Im one of these people that likes to see things for myself. Yes, Im very behind in films, books and music at the moment. My excuse is that I just wanted to go outside more. On to the travelogue then Warning you may need to read it a bit at a time its quite long! EID IN LALMONIHRAT So where did I leave off ah yes the Muslim festival of Eid-Ul-Asha. Well I quickly followed up my weekend up in the North-West of Bangladesh, mainly in Lalmonihrat (to visit my boyfriend Stuart*) and Rangpur with a whole week for the Eid festival. Lalmonihrat district is considered to be the poorest district in Bangladesh. I have only really been in the town area, which has a nice relaxed atmosphere typical of a pretty rural town. Poverty is not as apparent as it is in some areas of Dhaka city but the undertones are that it is present. The place is only about 7km from the Indian border - walking distance and everything but my visa situation is still preventing me from leaving Bangladesh at the moment. In Eid-Ul-Asha animal slaughtering is involved (as opposed to the fasting of Eid-Ul-Fitr). As people of many dispositions read these updates I am going to err on the side of caution and not go into too much detail. I can provide more info. to those who are interested. With Islam being the majority religion in Bangladesh the festivals are so much more visible here than in the UK. Eid-Ul-Asha obviously goes on back in the UK but in a more discrete fashion - in remote gardens rather than the side of the street etc. This week also marked the start of a big Mela (fair) in the town. I'd forgotten how much fun simple Ferris wheel type rides could be. I met a lot of interesting people during the week including some of Stuarts students they were such characters. Its always nice to meet people with hopes and dreams. The district commissioner was wandering around the mela and we got talking to him. He had a lot of ideas of how he wanted Bangladesh to improve and seemed genuine. Hopefully hell make the most of his political position to make a change for the better. * Some of you already know about Stu. Ill share this with Sinister because its a good tale of being brave. Weve been going out since the New Year although it turned out that we had both fancied each other since we first met at the beginning of October. Hes an American Peace Corps volunteer teaching English and basic computer skills to young adults and he quite simply rocks. Its silly that we waited so long to get together even though we were hanging out together a lot. A typical tale two very confident people in all aspects of life except the part where you ASK PEOPLE OUT. A result of emotional turmoil over the years its really something I should get over. So for my first New Years resolution of the year I decided to go for it. It was all planned to be done gracefully but me being me I ended up blurting it out awkwardly but hey it got done and had the desired effect. One of us had to do it and I couldnt take waiting for him to do it any longer. Were quite similar in lots of ways but with the right amount of ying to yang in things to make it work. MOTHER LANGUAGE DAY 21ST FEBRUARY A true celebration of the joy of Bangla as I'm not supposed to go to major events because of crowd security I had to miss the ritual of walking barefoot up to the mother language monument. The Ekushey language celebrations go on for a good month with extra special Bangla language book fairs and film festivals. For the day itself I went running with the hash harriers close to a different monument Due to festivities going on elsewhere the Martyred Intellectuals Memorial was relatively quiet. This memorial remembers the victims of the night when Pakistani forces went down to Dhaka University (25th March day before independence for Bangladesh) and killed a whole generation of brainy people. A simple, but effective structure, this is just outside the city near Mohammadpur, which is the area of Dhaka I work in. It was great to explore the rural parts of my area of town. SYLHET AREA March got off to a good start with the VSO Bangladesh volunteer's conference held in Sylhet (as I've mentioned before in the North-East of the country). For those of you that dont know most Bangladeshis that are now resident in Britain are from this region. This has a lot to do with the history of the cargo industry. Its very easy to dig out information on the subject as I managed to do before I came out here (too much to type down though). The theme of the conference was Celebrating Diversity. An all encompassing title reflecting the cultures of the volunteers and their partners from Holland, Scotland, Kenya, Uganda, Philippines, England, Wales and Norway. Reflecting the different communities of Bangladesh; religions, tribes etc. Plus of course just reflecting the sheer diversity of individuals. There were more than 50 people there. The vast majority of volunteers and programme office staff were present together. It was a great time for sharing and lots of workshop activities were crammed in to the few days (too much to mention). One of the best learning parts for me was the disability workshop. Mainstreaming disability issues in development is an area that I definitely needed to learn more about. Lippi, a young disabled Bangladeshi woman (one of the very few that lives independently out here) was a very enigmatic speaker. The participatory workshops involved were also great. Although I have given many presentations the conference also played host to me running my FIRST EVER workshop! I felt it was very important to include global education in the programme. I was very pleased as I felt it went well and that my message of how important a role volunteers can play in raising awareness of their home country in Bangladesh . and .vice versa. Its true to say that when I was growing up all I knew about the country was natural disasters and poverty. There are many other sides to the country. I do hope that the culmination of my travelogues will give you that impression. We did have an afternoon off to do some sightseeing. I went on a trip to Jaflong with some of the gang where we took in the beautiful hills and visited an under-river stone quarry. These stones are brought down from the hills by the monsoon so with all the weathering theyre all beautifully rounded. It was nice to finally see the place my local restaurant (when at uni in Shef) is called. A few km down the road and we were at another Indian border crossing still couldnt go over. On the way back we stopped off at Haripur where there is this rather bizarre lake. There are open gas fault lines underneath the water so you get natural gas bubbling through the water. No sparks please! We actually stayed at the Parjatan hotel (Bangladeshi Government Tourist Board) surrounded by lots of pretty posters saying things like Visit Bangladesh before Tourists Do. If only they managed to gear themselves up to get people to come. They certainly need to do some work with immigration if this is ever going to happen. It really frustrates me as there are a lot of beautiful areas in this country but people overseas dont really know about them. Not only are the posters pretty but when I first arrived on placement a colleague showed me a video that the Parjatan made to encourage visitors. It was great if only it got distributed!!!!! Gah! As a token of appreciation for helping organise the conference the volunteers clubbed together and bought me some lovely Monipuri fabric to make into a new shalwaar kameez. The Monipuri are one of the tribes of the ethnic communities in Bangladesh. Some representatives from the Monipuri community in Sylhet came to give a talk followed by a cultural evening. Sadly, I had to miss this as I needed to go and sort out some urgent conference business that had come up. All is not lost though. Ive got the contact details from the Monipuri people that came they do cultural events fairly regularly so I plan to head back up to Sylhet to catch one of these. In a major bout of coincidence the area of Dhaka city I live in is known as Monipuripara Village of the Monipuri People. So there you have it. Another major reason Im cursing having to leave that evening (although when organising events these thing happen) is for a workshop Rob and Ian were putting on. These are two other VSO volunteers who are currently based in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. Rob in Bandarban and Ian in Rangamati respectively. They wanted to share their learning of the tribes of the area. They decided to do this through a big team game with quiz questions so that everyone could learn more. They had made me Chief of one of the tribes but they had to get another woman to fill my place. That is one of the interesting things for me many of the tribes such as the Garos dont follow a patriarchal structure but more of a matriarchal one where females have a say in decision making along with men. In some cases they actually have more power with inheritance goods returning to the Motherhood. I really want to go into this subject further at some point but Ill cut is short for the moment. The current advice is not to travel in the area but Ive got all bodily parts crossed that the ban will be lifted soon. I really want to go so I can experience the different cultures and explore the beautiful areas hey it is reason I brought my hiking boots out with me after all. SILVERWARE When I was busy at the conference the important business of the Carling Cup final was underway. I didnt really feel it was appropriate for me to go into Sylhet to find cable TV showing the match and in fact I didnt find out the great news until several days after the event. Up the Boro! Im still really pleased - Middlesbrough Football Clubs first bit of silverware. The pictures on the BBC and my local papers website looked great. Plus of course I had friends sending me their pictures and stories too. Big thanks must also go to our very own Irish Boro fan - Simon Fallaha (I shall write soon). My dad (amongst others) went to see the victory bus drive through town. Shame I couldnt join the party but then again Im having my own out here. SRIMONGAL So on through to mid-March and back up to the North-East region of Bangladesh to the lovely Srimongal. I went away for a long weekend with the Dhaka Hash House Harriers for some walking, running and general festivities. We stayed at the DFID guest house which Im sad to say closed its doors at the end of March. It was a very pretty place to stay as well. I saved this trip (rather than going in Sylhet) to be my first time to go into tea gardens. Its always interesting to go and see where produce comes from. Miles of tea plants in rows are pretty astounding to look at. It would be wise to not be completely deceived from their beauty if you get scratched by one when youre running past it hurts ouch!
From now on every time I have a cuppa Ill always think of how beautiful the Srimongal area is. Of course on a more serious note there are lots of trade issues to consider when thinking about tea production and I will hopefully get to go through a little Tea Trade Game with peeps when I get back to the UK. Hey its better than you simply reading my drivel trust me.
QUALITY WORK Work is improving in leaps and bounds. It looks like the water and sanitation for disabled people work Ive been pushing for is going to be taken on fully by my organisation. The staff gender policy Ive been working on is starting to be put into practice. .. Another exciting thing for me was to get to go back out into the field yey! I was part of the technical team getting training on water quality testing in the slum areas. As Ive been in the office a lot recently this was great for me. It looks like Im going to get my newly acquired skills into more practice over the coming months. THE BENCHMARK Many other things have gone on both at work and play but that should be enough reading for you to get through for now. Just for the record I have recently gone past the halfway mark of my placement. Six months has just flown by. Im now at the stage of trying to get a job to go onto. I need to get some industrial engineering experience under my belt before my degree is deemed to go stale so Im applying for environmental jobs particularly in the water/wastewater sector. Many hours are spent filling out online forms. Please email me to give me a break from these efforts! Hopefully there will be a few job interviews to go back home to. Dont worry I will still make lots of time to do more global education activities after I finish in Bangladesh. To start with Ive got enough photographs to do some exhibitions visual aids for my updates would clog up your email inboxes. Besides I want to give the whole picture of Bangladesh (as best I can) so it will be better when I select and present images after leaving. I do have piccys on an Ofoto website but only a few friends and family can have access to it. Regardless, the images will look better for all when theyre blown up larger. Ive got many other plans for workshops and activities. Theres no point in me being here if Im not going to share things. Normal service of regular monthly updates should resume now so expect something in the first week of May... Amy _________________________________________________________________ It's fast, it's easy and it's free. Get MSN Messenger today! http://www.msn.co.uk/messenger +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail sinister@missprint.org. To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to majordomo@missprint.org. WWW: http://www.missprint.org/sinister +-+ "sinsietr is a bit freaky" - stuart david, looper +-+ +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "peculiarly deranged fanbase" +-+ +-+ "pasty-faced vegan geeks... and we LOST!" - NME April 2000 +-+ +-+ "frighteningly named Sinister List organisation" - NME May 2000 +-+ +-+ "sick posse of f**ked in the head psycho-fans" - NME June 2001 +-+ +-+ Nee, nee mun pish, chan pai dee kwa +-+ +-+ Snipp snapp snut, sa var sagan slut! +-+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+