That's all

I got back from Bangladesh about 6 weeks ago. I got more or less everything I wanted, despite two weeks of tooth-gnashing sickness at the end.

So that's it for this blog for now... thanks to the 1000 or so people who apparently stumbled across this site before realising it had no relevance to them, and especially to the few who left comments.



Since coming back I have made a presentation (1.5Mb) and short paper on my preliminary findings for the BAICE Conference. Enjoy!

p.s. I will probably continue occasionally to bookmark news stories and other links about Bangladesh that interest me.

Education for sale

Signs mostly found around the well-off Dhanmondi, Gulshan and Bonani parts of town.

Sundarbans

Having not had a holiday for several days, it was time to head to the Sundarbans, the mangrove forest on the south coast, for a three day boat trip. The emphasis was very much on sitting on the boat, being fed constantly. Disappointingly there were no tiger attacks.

Workwise the data has all come in and I'm checking it for inconsistencies. There are lots. Trying to plan a quick set of interviews in small slums, which may have different characteristics to the very large slums where the survey was done. Still thinking about the camera idea.

Nepal

Once again showing my commitment to my work, I clear off for a holiday in Nepal.


Cycled up to Nagarkot, 35km outside of Kathmandu. The last 10km were quite hardgoing.



More photos...

Kathmandu is such a holiday after Dhaka. Everything is so much easier (climate, hassle, transport). Coming back was difficult.

Kenya photography: 'It gives them a voice' (Guardian)

Interesting idea ... give cameras to kids in slums.

My qualitative data so far is not providing the depth I would have liked. Wondering whether some photography could help.

Slum clearance

On my way to work saw this small slum area being demolished. The people living there were told that morning that their homes were going to be demolished at midday.



Later that day most of the materials were being salvaged by anyone with a rickshaw-cart.


A few slums in the Mohakali area seem to have been cleared lately. I'm not sure if it's part of a larger programme of clearances. Either way it doesn't seem to have made local newspapers.

Aparajeyo Children's Day

As mentioned earlier, Aparajeyo has a children's day once a month where the children get to take over the school.

The manager at his desk


The manager and headmaster. It was older children who had graduated from Aparajeyo and were attending a private secondary school, rather than the project's current students, who were put in charge. Fitting in with the secondary school's two-shift system, boys took over Aparajeyo in the morning while the girls were at school, and the girls were apparently going to come and take over in the afternoon. They were still using lesson plans prepared by the adult teachers. Nevertheless both the students and the teenage teachers seemed to be having a lot of fun.







Having seen the school we visited the slum, Sujat Nagar, from which about 75 of the children at Aparajeyo come. It was accessed via a shaky, patched-up bamboo bridge. My first thought was how pretty the place was, at least from this side of the bridge.



Water and cooking facilities.




Members of the slum action committee. The committee apparently comprised 4 men and 3 women although the women were not around when we visited. They told us the main thing this area needs is daycare centres for young children.


An NGO-provided health service.


Education provision for the several thousand children living in this slum is extremely limited. Apart from the 75 attending Aparajeyo, 20-30 go to a BRAC classroom, and perhaps a further 30 or so go to a Proshika education centre. The nearest government school is 2-3 km away, and is likely to be difficult for the children here to access.