Education is Like Light

Last night a revered Bengali teacher and writer spoke at our closing event in Bangladesh. The respectful murmur of the crowd and rush of photographers followed his approach to the podium. He bestowed on all of us an affectionate smile. Even though he spoke in Bengali, there was no mistaking the warmth, humor and poignancy in his message. We are all familiar with the tale of the "genie in the bottle" but he offered this to it.

"How is it that this genie who could grant any wish, could not get himself out of that bottle? What was it that was missing in the bottle that thwarted his powers? I will tell you. It is light. Light is the power. Once in the light, the genie was capable of anything. Education is like the light. With it, one can do everything."

Traffic

Riding any form of transportation is a harrowing experience in Bangladesh. We traveled for 3 hours back to Dhaka. Many times catching our breath as buses, TA-TA's (big decoratively painted dump trucks), rickshaw bicycles, baby-taxis, and cars vied for the right to pass. The drivers seem to play the game of "chicken" with the buses being the bully. That isn't even mentioning the people, goats, and cows walking along side. At a brief stop, I quickly opened the window to capture a sense of the experience.

Boat to Read

   

Boat to Read is a service of the Girls' Education Program of Room to Read. It provides pick and drop service to school and home during the 3 months of flood season. We rode along to attend a Reading

Festival.

We are in the Char areas in the Sirajganj district. This is where the Girls' Education Program (and scholarships) are being implemented in Bangladesh.  This area has its own geographical challenges. Chars are islands and riverside sand land masses that are vulnerable to sudden forceful flooding as well as erosion and land loss. These hazardous conditions, combined with lack of infrastructure and government services make living in the Chars difficult.  This results in more Char dwellers living in poverty as compared to the mainland population.   Jute is grown in this area and is a major export.

 We may be the first foreigners they have ever seen.  Many children do not go to school.

It was important to have John Wood there to see the program in action.

The girl in the photograph just won a prize from a reading game as part of the festival.

Few non-government organizations and even government departments have ventured on to the Chars and as a result little information sharing or awareness has happened among the local population. Hence, traditional practices such as child marriage continue to be quite prevalent.
The girls in the picture live on the Chars. Some would like to be teachers and doctors. A question they'd ask of three of us women in the group was if ours were "love marriages".  They are about 12 years old.

We want to show our support to the Room to Read teams and inspire them to keep up their work. Being there also lets us see first hand what the childeren need and the challenges they have to overcome. We honor the students, teachers, families and community and their desire to progress.  It is moving to see Room to Read in action!

Note the building in the background

The soldier was tickled when I showed him the photo on my Blackberry.

No photo op yet...

Dhaka, Bangladesh.

The first impression is the heat. Then, it's the first view of the humanity. The streets are teeming with "Baby-taxis" (three wheeled motor scooters) colorfully and art-fully painted. Crowded buses. Bicycles. Car horns honk a staccato conversation with each other. People are everywhere. There are outdoor stalls making use of every inch to sell a product of some kind. Children napping on the concrete nearby. Meager housing.

Zaki Hasan is the country director for Room to Read. What fun it is to greet him. "I told you we'd be here!"

Today we will see scholarship girls and go on the "Boat to Read". Rivers are used to transport people and goods and is how many of the girls get to school.

Notes on Bangladesh

Bangladesh is about the size of Wisconsin. 156 million people. Nearly half of them cannot read and write. That means 73 million people cannot read. 73 million!

The government has made education a high priority but the country faces many challenges. For example, student teacher ratio is 60 to 1. Can you imagine 60 students in an elementary classroom?

RtR has just begun in Bangladesh. The initial goal for this year is to establish 100 Reading Rooms (A reading room is a library within an existing school.) and provide scholarships for 234 girls through secondary school. It's a good start.