It is known as the city of mosques, yet some of the stories I have heard here over the past couple of days are beyond immoral. A country which celebrates its independence on almost a daily basis find some of its most needy citizens steeped in an unending maze of control by local mastans.
The last few days have been difficult in the sense that getting things done here continually seems to be such a long process, the temperature is reaching unbearable levels and the stories and the gross conditions I have been seeing on a daily basis seem to be just getting more and more difficult to accept. But it is the reason for the peril that I mentioned in my last blog that kids like Rabbi face that has been on my mind these past few days. As I mentioned above, a city known as the City of Mosques (literally on every corner) would seemingly be full of spiritual and moral inhabitants. How is it then that immoral acts such as paedophilic sodomy can exist here? Bangladesh is a country which is rightly proud of its sovereignty and celebrates its independence constantly and yet the children and the struggling poor who are living on the streets of Dhaka, seem to be caught in a tangle of street warfare between mastans who use, abuse and expose these helpless people to things which no human should be. The power for struggle even encapsulates the local police, area security guards and from some of the third party stories you here from street dwellers even government officials and ministers. Bangladesh is known the world over for being one of the poorest countries in the world. How is it then, that prostitution, normally associated as a disease of a side effect of capitalism, plagues the most poorest of the country’s citizens? Unfortunately, I am yet to find the answers to such rhetoric, but I felt it was important that these paradoxicals be put in the public realm, so that even if for a second, readers who were not so aware of my country’s perils could be made aware.
I have an unnerving belief that if my fellow brothers and sisters in humanity are aware of such problems and issues, then they will find it within themselves, to at least raise awareness to their friends and family.
I spent the weekend in my home village visiting family etc and arrived back here on Monday morning. In the afternoon, I met with Shuzon and Jakia – our two newest recruits. Shuzon will be working as a full time teacher and mentor and Jakia will be working as part of our outreach programme but also providing additional support and teaching a few subjects that she specialises in herself. On Tuesday I also met with Shahera who will be working as our homekeeper and has a wealth of experience including working previously as a teacher in a Brac school and also working as a motivator for street children. Alongside this, we have our existing field outreach Shoeb and of course our project co-ordinator, Dr Zaki. I really feel that we now have a core team here in Bangladesh, who between them have a wealth of experience, an abundance of energy and huge passion for our work. I will be meeting with a few potential counsellors and nurses tomorrow also before making hiring decisions on Saturday. We have been working consistently on upgrading our building and renovating certain aspects. I will be spending Friday evening adding the finishing touches myself (lick of paint etc).
Tomorrow, Shuzon, Jakia and myself will be visiting the Newmarket and Nikilhet bazaars to purchase schooling equipment (boards, writing books, sketch books, chalk, teaching books etc) and will also be making final orders for furniture such as beds and dining table etc. Friday and Saturday, during the day we will be holding some final focus groups with the kids and then on to some outdoor teaching also. As I mentioned on Friday evening I will be doing the final finishing touches inside the rooms and on Saturday evening, all the furniture will arrive and fixtures and fittings put into place. On Sunday, we are aiming to hold our first official classes inside the centre.
At this time, I wanted to end on a plea to all readers who may feel helpless to our cause to attend our event on May 2nd where you will be able to see first-hand the exact work I have been doing here when we will hopefully screen the footage I have filmed whilst here (gonna be a mad scramble to get the film edited next Thursday and Friday, lol).Our ambition is to eventually, house, feed, educate, provide medical support, psychological therapy, and creative nourishment to these kids. I ask you all at this time not to desert us and show your support to our cause. Perhaps, once we can financially support our ambitious plans, we can then set about answering some of the rhetoric with which I opened this blog.
Its nearly 1am here, and on that note, I wish you all a wonderful evening. God bless, and peace be upon you all!