Things have certainly settled down here and for the last few days we have only had curfews at night - from 10pm/11pm until 6am the following morning - and hopefully they will end soon.
The riots seemed to have ceased, with the major universities being shut down and students sent home (pretty much all students stay on campus).
There has, however, been some interesting reports - such as someone being arrested "on suspicion of being a student", charges being laid against 80 000 people - the majority unnamed - and reports of a group of ~100 'students' (including those who couldn't prove they worked) being rounded up from a particular area (indoors under curfew) and being beaten.
Here's a link to a BBC report on the situation from a few days ago (hope it works) -http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6961543.stm
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Dhaka is in chaos!
We are currently in day three of some major riots in Dhaka, that have spread to other areas of the country. Subsequently, a curfew has been imposed since 8pm last night and I am going a little crazy being housebound – especially as I was home all day yesterday as I was sick. I did just pop out of the house then for about 5 minutes – but the streets were eerily quiet, with only a few shops open and the main road near our house, normally chaotic, was completely empty except for the odd ambulance (they are allowed to move around hence a number of people “hire” them in these situations) and police.
You may have heard in the news at home about the riots so I won’t go into too much details here but what started as students protesting against the army treatment of a student and their presence on campus at Dhaka University, has escalated into a combination of protests against the army backed caretaker government and the lack of democracy - plus hooligans jumping on the bandwagon and joining in the violence. Some strategic places have been targeted by the students such as particular officials houses, but there also seems to be a lot of random hooliganism - for example outside one friend’s workplace yesterday people started throwing rocks at a bus and as passengers started jumping out the windows they set it on fire.
There are a lot of theories and rumours about the bigger picture of what is actually going on. Probably best if I don’t document them on here but will be interesting to see how this all pans out...
You may have heard in the news at home about the riots so I won’t go into too much details here but what started as students protesting against the army treatment of a student and their presence on campus at Dhaka University, has escalated into a combination of protests against the army backed caretaker government and the lack of democracy - plus hooligans jumping on the bandwagon and joining in the violence. Some strategic places have been targeted by the students such as particular officials houses, but there also seems to be a lot of random hooliganism - for example outside one friend’s workplace yesterday people started throwing rocks at a bus and as passengers started jumping out the windows they set it on fire.
There are a lot of theories and rumours about the bigger picture of what is actually going on. Probably best if I don’t document them on here but will be interesting to see how this all pans out...
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Flood Relief
Hi everyone,
Just to let you know some good news in that our organisation has received some funds from our donors and started doing flood relief for people in our project areas that have been affected.
I went along today to see the packages of rice, potatoes, lentils and water purifiers being distributed – and was amazed at how patient and dignified people were.
I also went to visit one of our health clinics in the area. The waiting room was packed full of patients and the clinic was in a semi flooded area.
Here’s a couple of photos:
Just to let you know some good news in that our organisation has received some funds from our donors and started doing flood relief for people in our project areas that have been affected.
I went along today to see the packages of rice, potatoes, lentils and water purifiers being distributed – and was amazed at how patient and dignified people were.
I also went to visit one of our health clinics in the area. The waiting room was packed full of patients and the clinic was in a semi flooded area.
Here’s a couple of photos:
A Beachside Weekend!
The Lonely Planet states that one of the highlights of Dhaka is “getting the hell outta there”. While I do think that is a bit harsh, I have been craving some clean(er) air and a little less chaos and so last weekend headed south from Dhaka to Cox’s Bazaar for fellow Aussie, Lindy’s birthday bash.
Cox’s Bazaar is apparently the world’s longest (uninterrupted) beach – I’m still working out how/if that can be true – and although it is hard to measure up to our West Aussie beaches at the best of times – it was nice to be near ocean and a lot of greenery.
Highlights included swimming in salwar kammezes at the beach together with a group of children; eating yummy seafood and dancing in the darkness on the sand at the “Mermaid Café”; having a ride home in the back of a paddy van and getting in trouble from a policeman when we tried to get back to Lindy’s place at 2am (oops) – and having the most comfortable bus ride I’ve ever had – with so much leg room and built in massagers in the
chairs!!
Cox’s Bazaar is apparently the world’s longest (uninterrupted) beach – I’m still working out how/if that can be true – and although it is hard to measure up to our West Aussie beaches at the best of times – it was nice to be near ocean and a lot of greenery.
Highlights included swimming in salwar kammezes at the beach together with a group of children; eating yummy seafood and dancing in the darkness on the sand at the “Mermaid Café”; having a ride home in the back of a paddy van and getting in trouble from a policeman when we tried to get back to Lindy’s place at 2am (oops) – and having the most comfortable bus ride I’ve ever had – with so much leg room and built in massagers in the
chairs!!
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
A celebration (Tuesday 7th August)
Today I was reminded of how generous people can be.
There was a religious celebration in the Bihari camps and although people couldn’t tell me exactly what the religious significance of the day was, it involved different families taking the responsibility to cook a special type of food for the whole community. A ring is hidden in the food and the person who gets the ring takes the responsibility of providing the food the next year.
We were invited by some of the teachers from our organization who work in the camps to attend the festival. As I mentioned in previous entries, the conditions of the camps are very poor, but today they were alive with festivity and scattered houses full of people eating the food, which was a yummy sweet rice and milk dish (payish) and a fried flat bread (loochee).
We ended up visiting quite a few homes and the generosity of all the families we met, not only to us but to their fellow community members was humbling.
My most humbling experience came in the last house we visited. At that stage I was extremely full but our hosts kept insisting that we eat more. As we sat and chatted, the community members who had gathered started to tell us that there had recently been a government order to destroy the slum they were living in – and that it was due to happen sometime this week. In comparison to some of the other camps/slums, this one was fairly clean and ordered – as it had been destroyed last year by a fire and had been rebuilt.
No provision has been made for where these people are meant to go and the families that I spoke to said they have no plans yet and they will sort things out as they happen.
It is so difficult for me to comprehend being in that situation, but I think that if I was, feeding and entertaining my neighbours would be far from being a priority, yet alone a couple of complete strangers!!
There was a religious celebration in the Bihari camps and although people couldn’t tell me exactly what the religious significance of the day was, it involved different families taking the responsibility to cook a special type of food for the whole community. A ring is hidden in the food and the person who gets the ring takes the responsibility of providing the food the next year.
We were invited by some of the teachers from our organization who work in the camps to attend the festival. As I mentioned in previous entries, the conditions of the camps are very poor, but today they were alive with festivity and scattered houses full of people eating the food, which was a yummy sweet rice and milk dish (payish) and a fried flat bread (loochee).
We ended up visiting quite a few homes and the generosity of all the families we met, not only to us but to their fellow community members was humbling.
My most humbling experience came in the last house we visited. At that stage I was extremely full but our hosts kept insisting that we eat more. As we sat and chatted, the community members who had gathered started to tell us that there had recently been a government order to destroy the slum they were living in – and that it was due to happen sometime this week. In comparison to some of the other camps/slums, this one was fairly clean and ordered – as it had been destroyed last year by a fire and had been rebuilt.
No provision has been made for where these people are meant to go and the families that I spoke to said they have no plans yet and they will sort things out as they happen.
It is so difficult for me to comprehend being in that situation, but I think that if I was, feeding and entertaining my neighbours would be far from being a priority, yet alone a couple of complete strangers!!
Quote of the Week
“Tinjon mota” = “You three are fat!”
from our language teacher at our weekly lesson. It was elaborated on by telling us how good we were looking because we had got so fat and that no one would recognize us back home in Australia “especially you Amy”.
Think I need to cut down on my daily rice quota!! :)
from our language teacher at our weekly lesson. It was elaborated on by telling us how good we were looking because we had got so fat and that no one would recognize us back home in Australia “especially you Amy”.
Think I need to cut down on my daily rice quota!! :)
HitchHiking - Bangla Style
As if the poor rickshaw waller didn't already have a full load - yet alone someone jumping on the back!
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