Tea Estates

Hello from Srimongol,

As our morning tea arrives, we thought we'd send you a note, we are up in the tea estate region of Bangladesh, having ridden through one estate by bicycle, we saw the hard way of life in agriculture here.  Most Canadians would find it tough, very labor intensive.

Life is certainly different in Bangladesh, the streets in the city are crowded and people struggle to survive. I think anyone from our community would find it unbelievable, the day to day life in Bangladesh.  We've had a bit of a pleasant change, since we are now in a rural area, where things are green and the environment is less trash filled.  They think nothing of tossing things out, wherever they may be.  

Yesterday we stopped at a rice drying area, where families live in one room accommodations on the edge of a large flat drying field.  The rice, in the husks are dried and turned with big rakes constantly, when it's all dry, they then gather it up onto a processing area, this takes off the rice husk from the rice, and they are able to bag up the rice.  It's a long process.

One highlight is the tea estate, things are very green. Women (mostly) pick about 5 - 6 kg of tea leaves, and at noon their bags are weighed and the tractor hauls away the tea leaves.  Then they work again for the afternoon, again weighing their loads, then off it goes to the processing plant.  Enjoy the photos below.

We also stopped at a brick kiln, also labor intensive, it was really interesting to see each step in the brick making process.  Most homes and buildings are made from bricks.  When we asked a young worker his age, he said 16 and rushed away quite quickly, we think he was actually around 12 or 13.  Most people make 100 taka's a day ($ 1.50).  At the tea estates they make 70 taka's ($ 1) per day.

Our visit to a Tb clinic was very interesting.  The people at the tea estates are more susceptible to Tb because they live in close quarters and when one person has Tb they expose many others.  It's important to educate the workers and their families to recognize the symptoms and seek treatment.  They are able to help their people with treatment when assisted by USAid and Save the Children UK.  As wealthier countries we have a responsibility to help those in the world who could never tackle disease treatment and eradication on their own.  Visiting a country like Bangladesh really makes you appreciate how lucky we are in Canada.

D & R

 
A young tea picker                     The tractor is loaded

Ralph showing photos from 2 years ago, they saw family and friends in our book

The Tea estates, so green and lush

Two young girls helping where needed, it was Friday, their day of rest (no school, if they go??)

A tea girl, loading up her sack.