bmeggitt's Xanga

Monsoon magic

Sat, 22 Mar 2008 12:48:02 GMT

"I go to nature to be soothed and healed
and to have my senses put in tune once more"

- JOHN BURROUGHS

Interesting thought

Wed, 19 Mar 2008 15:12:45 GMT

Solitary figure

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 12:19:31 GMT

"The interpretation of our reality through patterns not our own,
serves only to make us ever more unknown, ever less free, ever more solitary. "

-Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Tuesday, March 04, 2008

Tue, 04 Mar 2008 09:10:59 GMT

"Tell them dear, that if eyes were made for seeing,

Then beauty is its own excuse for being"

EMERSON

Proud to be an Aussie

Sun, 27 Jan 2008 02:16:46 GMT

Tears of delight ran down my face as I read the article linked below and I thought, I am proud to be an Aussie.

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2008/01/25/1201157638208.html

Living in Bangladesh has made me realise just how odd and unique Australians actually are (perhaps however, this is just me). Bangladeshis on a whole have a remarkably good grasp of English, yet when I first arrived and attempted to converse I received nothing but blank stares. I felt like some form of alien, I could understand them (I'd called telstra enough), but clearly I was speaking some foreign language.

My tone, the nuances of my speech were something wholly foreign. It has since become a joking point amongst the expatriate community: "What do you call a fire fighter again", I am commonly asked and all too often I reminded of our famous Woolloomooloo. But the Australia Day special linked above, made me smile and think I am proud to be Australian. I can say "it's going off like a frog in a sock" and you'll all undertsand.

A killer Kangaroo, photo by Mikey Leung.

Cyclone Sidr Appeal

Thu, 29 Nov 2007 03:20:03 GMT

Bangladeshi demonstrate their resilience and sense of community in the aftermath of Cyclone Sidr.

In Barisal district yesterday: I watched women and men, some wrinkled from the arduous life of a subsistence farmer, others breastfeeding newborn infants, wait patiently in line for their first relief distribution. A local NGO, SADC: Social Assistance for Community Development, offered their contribution. Two hundred and fifty of the millions affected received a lungi, a sari and a bag consisting of staple foods: rice, lentils, flour and oil.

Huddled in lines, their sense of desperation was palpable. Cyclone Sidr hit Barisal poorest. Families that live beneath tin roofs and tarpaulins. They survive on little. ow they are left with nothing. Abdul aged 60 said y house was destroyed, we now sleep beneath the sky?

Cyclone Sidr destroyed crops and food stores. Rice, ready to be harvested, was blown away. In fishing villages surrounding the coastline, fisherman disregarded the cyclone warning fearing the loss of their stored dried fish. Stores such as these are family only means for economic survival, over the coming year. The fisherman lost more than just their fish when Cyclone Sidr hit on November 15 ?many lost their lives. In a fishing village: Dublar Char, on the southwestern corner of the Sundarbans ?an estimated 3,000 fisherman died.

Bangladesh story, in the aftermath of Cyclone Sidr, is not solely one of disaster. It is a story of resiliency and community activation. In the streets of Gulshan, the affluent niche of Dhaka, a large charity drive is being held. Bags of clothes are collected daily for delivery to the most afflicted. A group on eight students I met whilst travelling on the barge to Barisal, were taking seven days off work or university to assist the relief efforts onboard the floating friendship hospital. (A hospital established to access sections of the country where provision of medical services are inadequate). Across the country, similar passionate nationals are making their contribution.

In a school in Barisal, that had lost its roof during the cyclone, I heard a young child sing, describing the need to unite at times like these.

Bangladeshis throughout the country are making their contribution, as those afflicted piece together what is left of their lives. Community members are working together to rebuild houses and clear paths. The sense of resiliency, that defines Bangladeshi, is evident more now than ever.

As our means of supporting these efforts, Mikey and I are doing a small fundraiser. We are asking for whatever you can give: a small amount goes far. A ten-dollar contribution provides enough drinking water for a week.

I realise this is not the first time we or others have asked for your assistance ?yet, if you or anyone else you know can find it in your hearts to contribute, I know the money will reach the people in need. We are distributing the money through a friend who runs Guide tours, a tour company that works largely in the Sundarbans. Due to the level of destruction in the Sundarbans mangrove forest, tour operators are no longer running. Guide tours are instead utilising their boats to provide aid and rebuild industry in the area.

To contribute please click on this link directly

For more information on Cyclone Sidr and radio features from Mikey Leung:

For more information on Guide Tours relief efforts:

In a more ideal world, I wouldn't be writing you all again, asking for your help. But unfortunately, our responsibility to aid those who are in dire need is upon us again. We need your help to support the victims of Cyclone Sidr.

joybangla.info welcomes you

Thu, 29 Nov 2007 03:05:48 GMT

I packed my bags four months ago, to return to the land of rice paddies, streets teeming people, monsoonal rains and liquid dhal ?destination Bangladesh.

Dhaka streets: rickshaws, cars and SUV battle for space.

Why you might ask?

Many did. Some, including myself, even questioned my sanity. The decision was difficult. Living with one of the most beautiful and secluded beaches of Sydney at my doorstep and having the daily thrill of using a clean flushing toilet, one might think I was deranged. Bangladesh however had crept under my skin, like the dirt that becomes encrusted on your face in a Dhaka traffic jam, as had Mikey, who planned to spend the next year working there.

My bags were packed, chocked with essentials: vegemite, coffee, herbal tea, vitamins and even tampons (no they can be bought in Bangladesh ?perhaps this has something to do with Islamic religious conservatism and marriage prospectsut that a whole different discussion.)

So long to security and comforts.

Possessing a scant understanding of basic spoken Bengali and a generalised comprehension of Bangladesh rich cultural soup and adolescent politics, I ventured into the unknown. I had no idea how I would survive or what I would do for work. Somewhere in the deepest recesses of my mind I knew it would work out, but that was shrouded by doubt.

I had spent hours scouring the web for work, looking for a job that might satisfy my security needs. The only hope I had gleaned from that wasted time was a potential position at ICDDRB, the cholera hospital, but they were hiring a local expatriate. Perhaps when I arrived in Dhaka a similar opportunity might arise.

Yet, I wasn even sure what I really wanted to do. I could pursue work in public health development or listen to the cheekier voice inside that touted prospects of freelancing and continuing my experimentation with photography. The cheekier voice had a clone named Mikey, who was likewise encouraging.

Bangladesh greeted me with its usual welcome: a cacophony of horns, millions of smiling curious faces and a potent aroma not unlike eating a curry in the bathroom. It was good to be back.

Curious children gather to investigate the strange foreigner in Dhaka

Once I had adjusted to the searing temperatures and litres of fluid that washed my clothes daily, leaving a sweaty residue, I began my hunt for work. First stop ICCDRB: I arrived in the middle of the monsoonal floods. Daily, over a thousand patients were being admitted with diarrheal complication. Patients and family members huddled in the makeshift wards the hospital erected to cope with the flux of diarrheal patients. I offered my services, but they were not keen for any virginal immune systems near those resistant bacteria. I soon realised that the majority of the work performed by expatriates in the hospital was funded research. I needed to look elsewhere. I explored many other avenues, including offering my services to the new Westin to train their gym staff, although interested they were not keen on my consulting fee: USD 100 per day (nb/ An average room costs approximately USD 150 per day).

Within a few weeks my hunt was successful and I was offered a short-term contract with AusAID to assist with their Human Resource requirements. What an opportunity: not only could I escape the heat for eight hours at a time, but it gave me the chance to experience development from a new platform.

The contrast to working at the grass roots is staggering. Possessing a chequebook with that many naughts: you can make changes. It does however involve a lot of paper shuffling.

Despite the prospects of being part of that change, I could not escape my itchy feet. I felt claustrophic, numbed of my creativity. I was designed to engage with people and to move around. Yet here I was staring at a computer and a blank wall, in the land of opportunities. Some might question my sanity when I call Bangladesh the and of opportunities? as there are truly few opportunities for Bangladeshi nationals. With approximately 150 million people living in a country half the size of the UK, a large percentage of people are simply fighting for survival. Yet for a skilled foreigner willing to invest their time, Bangladesh is amass of unexplored opportunities.

Knowing my feelings, Mikey proposed the Bangladesh Caravan to me, over sushi. We would create a ive?travelling documentation of Bangladesh. Whilst writing the Bradt travel Guide to Bangladesh we would photograph and document our travels to a growing, interested audience. I couldn contain my excitement ?perhaps it was the white wine induced haze, but after extensive probing it seemed like a great idea.

So now I would like to welcome you to www.joybangla.info, our official travel website. After a month of backend technical work and planning, mostly thanks to Mikey sweat and arduous hours of input, we were ready to begin our workn Canada.

Banff, Canada

Canada? No it not part of the smelly armpit of India, but after nine months straight in Bangladesh for Mikey, it was time for a break. There nothing like the familiarity of home and a mother love to revive even the weariest of souls or at least assist with weight gain, a necessity following four bouts of the Chitta Shitters.

We used our time in Canada to promote Bangladesh and its travelling and volunteering opportunities. Through the use of photography we showed Bangladesh in a light rarely used on the global stage. Internationally, Bangladesh is perceived as a poor, corrupt, flood prone, cyclone stricken country: an image that conjures pity not respect. There is a legitimate reason for this presentation and yet we rarely hear of the poverty that threatens the lives of thousands of Americans.

Our approach to Bangladesh was well accepted in Canada, particularly by the local Bangladeshi community. We were guests on a local community radio program that runs a weekly feature on Bangladesh. We discussed our experience of living and volunteering in Bangladesh and how we perceived the country. It was great advertising for our slide show at the Travel Bug Bookstore in Vancouver later that week. We crammed close to 40 people into the bookstore and entertained them with photographs and an hour-long presentation of Bangladesh. We tantalised their taste buds with he best beef curry in greater Vancouver?(according to the cook and head of the Greater Vancouver Bangladesh community) and definitely left them believing Bangladesh was the next hottest tourist destination.

Word of the crazy travellers who now call Bangladesh home spread rapidly. By the end of the week we were invited for a quick chat on Channel M South Asian segment: Chai time. Adorned in kameez and lungi we experienced our first real television appearance. Plastic face, bright lights and all ?it was remarkable fun. I didn even get the killer shakes.

The tour and bright lights came to an end and a solemn one at that, as we returned to the aftermath of Cyclone Sidr. With winds up to 240km per hour, Cyclone Sidr ripped through the south-western corner of Bangladesh, creating devastation along its path. Houses were left ruined, crops and shrimp farms destroyed and thousands of people were killed. The death toll currently stands at over 3,000, although The Red Crescent estimates the number dead will breach 10,000. Families in the affected areas mourned lost loved ones, whilst others scouted for fresh water and food. Many have to walk for over three kilometres for fresh drinking water as sources have been contaminated by salt and human death. Stores of food and crops have also been destroyed. These were the livelihoods of the affected subsistence farmer.

Barisal: a man grasps a sari, lungi and precious food supplies
he received as relief effort from SACD, post Cyclone Sidr.

Rescue missions are now reaching the worst affected areas but the battle for survival has only just begun ?repair of houses and livelihoods will take months, if not years. The international community vouched to support Bangladesh on yet another road to its repair.

It seems strange at times like these to be forging ahead with tourism development. Yet the benefit of international dollars in the form of tourism to Bangladesh, could change the lives of thousands in the long-term. Bangladesh is not just a country of natural disasters. It possesses diverse cultural backgrounds, open and hospitable individuals, beautiful handicrafts and an interesting cultural soup of Islam and Indian passion. I hope you will follow us as we journey through the extremes of Bangladesh and possibly join the adventure in person or by signing onto our website for regular updates at http://www.joybangla.info

I look forward to hearing your feedback at our website.

'Pornography of poverty'

Mon, 29 Oct 2007 16:42:12 GMT

Many believe photographs taken without permission are a violation of freedom.

Without spontaneity, it is virtually impossible to capture a moment that reflects daily life. By approaching a subject and behaving orally? do we lose the art of photography? Can we capture the moment in time?

Perhaps asking permission is right, but that depends on whose moral equation you use.

Without photographers, bloggers, journalists and travellers acting as voyeuristic gyroscopes, would the developed world sit in its bubble, content in its own dramas?

What I would classify as the reflections of day-to-day reality of millions, is known in other circles as the ?a href="http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2006/09/06/1157222139470.html" target="_new">Pornography of Poverty." The kind of photography used by international aid organizations to pull your heartstrings and demand your contribution to their work.

The argument in my mind is not about the photograph but the motive behind it and its financial gain. How can a photograph that makes you stop, think and even spring into action, be a bad thing?

The issue of international aid organisations utilising these images for financial gain and the corresponding impact of their action against poverty is an entirely different issue. I don want to debate here.

However, I do want to know if my ideas of using photographic reality is a form of voyeuristic pornography. Can a photo make you stop, step back from the globe inside your head and take a different perspective on the global environment?

Outside the bubble

Mon, 20 Aug 2007 07:09:16 GMT

Our lives are spent in our own heads. Looking out at the world we all see a different reality, one that depicts our construct of world. The images from Baraka spring to my mind when I think of this idea: the constant hum of traffic, the stop start, the incessant race to a point many of us aren't even aware of. What breaks us then from our own little bubble. What is it that makes you take a step back, stop and just observe for a moment. Do we see the perfect wave, the light and shade of a sunset, can we hear the beating of a lovers heart.

This world clock did it for me the other day. It's worth a look

http://www.poodwaddle.com/worldclock.swf

Making a donation

Tue, 14 Aug 2007 02:06:33 GMT

Bangladesh flood toll rises to 298.

As a follow-on from my last piece that described the intensities of the flood damage in Bangladesh, the international voluntary association (VSO) has initiated a fundraiser to help more than 20 million people who are currently affected by rising water. As I mentioned, many of these people are without safe drinking water and food is scarce. The government and NGOs are doing what they can: they are distributing chlorine tablets to purify water, collecting dry, clean clothes and making food deliveries. Our greatest impact now is to help stop the spread of diarrhea disease that have the potential to cause the greatest havoc. Yesterday I dropped into ICDDR,B where upto a 1000 new patients are arriving daily. Three emergency tents have been erected outside the hospital where thousands of women, children and men lie attached to life saving IV drips.

A little financial assistance can go along way here. For more information on how you can help please continue reading and follow the prompts.

WE NEED YOUR HELP!

In early August 2007, the warning alarms began sounding-several of Bangladesh's many rivers were flowing high above their danger levels. A severe flood would be inevitable. Over the next few days, the waters came, displacing nearly 10 million people. The situation has now developed into a national disaster.

Click here for more information.
http://www.mikeyleung.ca/flood-relief-fundraising/

We at VSO Bangladesh have volunteers in some of the worst-hit areas. We have therefore decided to raise some funds for the relief effort. For one week, from August 13 to August 20th, we will collect donations and provide these to the Chief Advisor's Relief Fund (the government's central donation fund) with the hope of assisting our host country get back on its feet. By donating to us, you can know that your money is reaching the people coordinating the effort more directly than donating to other sources.

Every little bit helps-and a little bit goes a LONG way in Bangladesh.

How do I donate? And what will happen with the money?
VSO Volunteer Mikey Leung is facilitating the donations via secure payment gateway Paypal. You will need to register for a Paypal account when donating. Please prepare your credit card and click the button below. What you donate is of course up to you, and our suggested donation amount is $10 USD or five pounds sterling. Our goal is $1,000 USD. We will contact our families and friends from abroad in the hopes of raising the necessary funds.

Money donated will be taken on August 20th to a branch of the Sonali Bank for deposition, according to the instructions provided by the Bangladesh Government.

Click here for more information.
http://www.mikeyleung.ca/flood-relief-fundraising/

Once you have visited this page, click the "Make a Donation" button to donate. After that, please forward this message to anybody you think can help.

On behalf of VSO Bangladesh's volutneers and staff, thank you for your assistance.

Mikey Leung