Reflection in Turkey....

We have left Bangladesh and arrived in Istanbul, Turkey. We will have a few days to reflect on our Bangladesh experience, they are a big part of every discussion. You can't help but have experiences like we've had, impact your perspectives. We all had mixed emotions as we departed, a bit sad to leave, the people of Bangladesh are so appreciative of our presence in their country.  So many students have so much potential, it was so nice to see their learning environment and to encourage them to continue their studies.  Our connections with the teachers and the administrators was also so positive. Below are a few photos of the farewell party for us. Some students sang and danced, we shared our Canadian culture with a slide show, a taste of pancakes and maple syrup and a dance.  Such fun!

 

 

This was the view from our hotel as we arrived in Istanbul after 22 hours of travel (many delays), as Danielle said "this was the prize at the end of our long journey today".

Exploring different foods!

This is me at the beginning of my trip, lots of peanut butter, although I am almost out! 

Just kidding!

                                        The food is actually pretty good

From, Kim

Time is winding down

Hello everyone,  Great photos have been added in the last few posts, please enjoy them.  Our time in Bangladesh is quickly coming to an end.  Today we traveled to a clinic run by the Grameen Welfare program, that gives care to poorer people in distant communities.  This is their first line of care, if their problem is more serious, they can go to a larger clinic, if still not well, then they would visit a district hospital.

Unfortunately, we quickly realized that our Vet clinics in Canada seem better equipped then the health care clinic we saw. The birthing room didn't look very clean or well equipped. Most women now give birth in these clinics, where O2 is available if needed, but the room left a lot to be desired.

We then walked to the village, as a health attendant (they called her a Paramedic) was about to see pregnant women and do ultrasounds (actually it was a fetal doppler, that just amplified the babies heart beat).  We saw a woman that was 8 months pregnant and she hardly looked pregnant, we heard that often the women don't eat much, because they want smaller babies to make deliveries more easy. Many babies are 2.5 to 4 kg in size.  This exam room was better and cleaner.

Tomorrow is our final day, we plan to sort out our packing then go to the College to enjoy a Canadian Cultural activity.  We  have a great video made by Eric in our LPN class and a slideshow of Canada. We will serve some pancakes and maple syrup, and do some Canadian Country dancing.  I think the staff plan to have a party for us at 4 pm, then we'll head back to our hotel. We are heading to the airport at 3 am, so not much sleep tomorrow night.  We will be in Istanbul for 2 nights, then we'll be home.  Great trip, lots of fun, lots of learning, a lot of teaching and many wonderful experiences.

 

The birthing bed......                         A health attendant asking questions, to expectant Mother

Ralph, forever the "pied piper", he always has a crowd of children and adults around him

A young girl carrying water home, from a common faucetCows being fed from a large "wicker" basket, hey Cameron's, how about that?

A progressive village, they had public toilets and even several water pumps.......

My lonely planet guide book, and a little boy from Bangladesh, similar to the cover of the book.

Just a few thoughts,
Debbi & Ralph

The River and the Children

Hello everyone!

The last two days (actually the last 13 days) have been full of life and eye opening to say the least.

Our day at GCCN during student admission examinations was fascinating. After greeting 124 girls who came from all around the country to get a chance at being admitted to this prestigious nursing school, we were treated to a lovely lunch with the Bangladeshi vice principal.

What an interesting woman. She had us sitting at the edge of our seats listening to her childhood fascination with nursing, a profession discouraged by her society and family, her  defiance in duping her parents into signing consent forms so that she could pass entrance exams without them knowing. She went on to being continuously #1 in her class and nursing internationally and  finally being in the position she is in today.

Education takes on a new meaning here in Bangladesh. The top 50 applicants will be chosen for the next cohort.... The others will most likely choose marriage  as this is often their only next option. Some certainly stood out but we would have chosen them all!

This young woman was very curious and friendly.

Team building with straws and pins. The energy was amazing!

Today we though we would have relaxing, luxurious ride down the river to experience this Bangladeshi lifestyle.

First stop was an old kingdom castle converted into a university where the very conservatively dressed students took a serious liking and following to us. They were very curious about the blond hair and the lack of nose rings!

Young boys handed us marigolds after being given leach a pencil.

The second stop was to a village where we met, among many, two amazing young sisters, 8 and 12, who mimicked all our English and whose eyes sparkled with intelligence. It was terribly difficult not to pack them into our backpacks.

The final stop was to a weaving shop.Beautiful hand-loomed saris, woven by the villagers including children children no older than ten. The working conditions and human labor continuously blow your mind away.

 We certainly have a huge responsibility as north American consumers to be more conscious of where are products are made, by whom and in which conditions. Our children our fortunate beyond belief that they have all the opportunity to choose who they want to be, be with whom they want to be, learn as much as they possibly can and be the children that they are.

In our week of celebrating the 25th anniversary of the UN Children's Right Act, let's be conscious that all our beautiful children still do not live all that is owed to them.

  

Until next time! xoxo

 

Day 15

Day 15

Another amazing day in a village.

The ladies in this village thought I should learn to cook a Bangladesh dinner.

So they gave me cooking lessons.

We are learning so much here.

This is a picture of the clinic in the village.

Grameen welfare clinic.

We were invited to do a tour.

This clinic needs so many things, they had almost no supplies, and only an occasional doctor available.

Everyone in the village welcomed us.

Beautiful people.

Kim found a beautiful baby, all the children here are lovable!

I'll be surprised if we don't come home with a couple of little ones!

River trip

Hi to all,

I know that it's been hard for Danielle, Kim and Bev to upload photos onto the blog, it's not so straight forward when using an I-Pad.  I will add a few here.

 

Our boat for the river trip                  We gave out some Izzy Dolls, made by Qc ladies, so great!

 

A typical boat, this one loaded with bricks  /  Bangladesh is making ships for Norway, along the river

 

A boat full of sand, used to make bricks  / Men with heavy loads

 

A Bangladeshi shower, while on a boat  / Cardboard recycling, large sheets are drying on the riverbank

 
                                                             The Palace, now a College

 
Two lovely girls, we all wanted to show them Canada.

Cooking, outdoors, she was cooking rice and scalding milk

On Sunday, we headed off on a two hour bumpy ride to get to the Shitalakhya River just outside Dhaka City.  We travelled up the river, enjoying Bangladeshi food and visiting a few small communities.  We visited a not so well maintained palace, which is now a College.  We also visited a community made of mud houses, the way they cooked their meals on fires made of twigs and leaves, made our version of camping seem easy. We were all impressed with a couple of sisters who spoke excellent English and invited us to their home.  They served us pickled mango!

Our last stop was the village of Ruposhi, that was known for their weaving.  They make some exclusive sari's that the wealthier people in Bangladesh purchase.  The saddest part was seeing kids working at the looms.

We all saw a small school, Kim lagged behind the group and the teacher spoke to her and she wondered if we had any pencils (we had just given our last ones away), because they had no pencils for the children to use. I think of my "pencil and pen" drawer at home, overflowing with writing tools...... somehow it isn't right that so much of the world goes without, when some of the world has so much......

It's the people of Bangladesh that touch our hearts, they smile, warmly welcome you, try to speak in their limited English and are so ready to share what they have with us, be it tea, food or just conversation.  Everyone should have an experience like this, it's really wonderful.

Admissions Day at the Grameen Caledonian College of Nursing

Yesterday was a unique day for us.  Education in Bangladesh is very valued, it's a person's only opportunity at a future that may give them skills and lead to employment.  This year the College had 150 applications for 50 spots in the new RN class. Yesterday 120 + students arrived at the school early with a parent or their family to see the school and for the girls to be "tested" for admission (some travelled for 7 hours or more by bus).  They first did a social survey that asked a lot of questions we'd never dream of asking (how many meals per day you eat, if you have ever had health education, how many hours you sleep, etc).  At the College they house the girls in dorms for their 3 years, so I guess some questions are relevant.

Next they had an hour and a half exam and finally finished off with a bridge building activity, using straws and teamwork.  They had to balance an egg on their "bridge", if their bridge collapsed, they were eliminated from the challenge.  Bev, Kim and Danielle had done a similar straw teamwork building activity in Canada, so it was fun for them to see it in Bangladesh.

We sat at the front of the auditorium during the final assembly, and we wandered through the classrooms between their survey and exam time.  I think the College was "proud" that they had foreign visitors, so we did our part.  We have certainly been welcomed by the College, made to feel at home and they appreciated our teaching aids and our workshops.

Life is just so different here, the Bangladeshi people want to improve their lives, but truthfully, they have so far to go.  We can't help but think of how fortunate we are to have been born and raised in Canada, we have so much opportunity.  We have choices, we have options, so many here do not. Going to nursing school will give some girls options, if we had our way, we would want to accept all 150 girls.....  They were lovely, curious and caring......  We are so lucky to have come to Bangladesh, what we've learned we can't even express clearly, it's given us a special appreciation of being Canadian.  Enjoy the pictures.....

Notice the hena on her hands

The girls building their bridges, there were 10 or so teams of about a dozen girls per team

Girls Still working.....We also visited the Nobel museum, which commemorates Dr. Yunus's and Grameen's 2006 Nobel Peace Prize, very interesting and successful concept.

They just had straws and pins, and this was the winning bridge.