Switching to Wordpress

Hello lovely followers,

Today, I'm picking up the ball I dropped, oh, roughly in October? I'm switching to a new blog host - wordpress.com - because they've got more options for posts, pictures and additional features. And this isn't a bluff; I will be updating this more often in the next 5 months, especially more than I have been in the past 5...

I've even got a few posts waiting to have pictures added! keep checking back for more updates.

And the new blog address is...

www.katemeehan.wordpress.com

Enjoy!

Mutiny over

Late yesterday evening we received word that the mutiny had ended. Guns were laid down, and some of the mutineers even tried to escape as army tanks rolled into Dhaka apparently.

We were not affected in any way, and Chittagong has weathered the incident with little to no apparent consequences. What this has reinforced for me, is that Bangladesh is a country where - because the sheer number of people, its history and the divides between many stratas of the population - small incidences can quickly escalate to dangerous situations (a good thing for someone like me, who has a low sense of self preservation...).

And luckily, this was used as a 'dry run' for any potential future situations requiring safety procedures, for WorldTeach and AUW.

Here are some stories following the end of the mutiny and what's happened since then (the BBC article also addresses the reasons why it was started):
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7914071.stm
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jWHK1_e5aHDizUpee0x6O-h7TiTwD96JQNHO0

military worries in Dhaka (not chittagong!!)

Entries about term 3, my trip to thailand, Chittagonian fish markets and the Chittagong Hill Tract region of Bandarban are forthcoming. However, for anyone who's actually checking current events about Bangladesh, here's a NYT article about the current military situation between border guards and army officers. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/26/world/asia/26bangla.html?_r=1

and here's a website specifically covering bangladesh news: http://bdnews24.com/beta/

We heard about the situation yesterday morning, and luckily have staff members who have made sure all security precautions are being taken.  Because the AUW is in Chittagong, we're not directly affected right now - other than having to limit our mobility as a precaution - but people are keeping an eye out for any continual flareups. 

Don't worry about me or the AUW, as we are well taken care of.  I will definitely keep updating as news comes forth.

"bishtare bishtare jaam jaam"

meaning: "slowly, slowly, let's go, let's go"

which was exactly what we needed.  Last week I returned to Chittagong from 8 days in Nepal - 4 of which were spent trekking in the Annapurna mountains.  I can't say enough about how beautiful and absolutely breathtaking the scenery was, not to mention the hospitality and warm welcomes we received throughout our stay.   

Thanks to the first protest since the new government took power, our plans were slightly altered. rather than starting our trek from a little town, hiking two days to a nice hill to watch the sunrise and then heading back out the same way...we ended up almost doubling the distance, trekking for a full four days (covered roughly 75km), and seeing some of  the most gorgeous mountains i've ever seen in my life.  we also, thanks to the different route, got to walk though dense jungle, climb waterfalls, literally climb down into a valley and right back up again (that was a tough day), and walk through rolling, terraced hills of rice and soybean paddies.  picturesque doesn't even begin to describe it. 

Our guides and porters were incredible gracious, inspiring and helpful (even lying to us when absolutely necessary, "Yes, just 10 minutes more, you are almost there!" "Do not worry, just gradually uphill...").  After about a day, they began telling us about their personal lives - regaling us with stories of their families, teaching us Nepali and trying to teach us Nepali dances.  I think we were a slight oddity for them...there were 9 of us teachers, very excited to finally be outside of our building for an extended period of time - in the beautiful, pristine, healthy mountains of Nepal, no less - and we were determined to carry our bags for as much of the trek as we could.  At first we all refused their help, by the end of the trek they had quite a number of bags on the trail - but nowhere near the amount that other porters had to carry.  Our guides kept joking that we were giving the porters a holiday.  

Getting to know our porters and guides gave us a small glimpse into Nepali culture.  All of them were pretty young (I think the oldest was late 30's), but had been married for almost half their lives.  Two had arranged marriages, two had love marriages (and received quite the hoots and hollers from other Nepalis upon such proclamations).  One of our porters, who seriously looked like he was probably 15, was actually 34.  He'd been married at 17 (love marriage), but his wife began having children right away.  HIS 17-year-old daughter was just married (arranged), and she's pregnant.  MEANING, he'll be a grandfather at 34. Which blows my mind. Also why we nicknamed him grandpa for the rest of the trek - a name he proudly wore as we continued through the Annapurnas. 

The last night on the trail, in Ghorepani, our guides found some musicians and coaxed them into our tea house to play music and dance with us for a few hours.  While we were all a little more sore than usual the next morning (at 4:30 am...we woke up early to hike to catch the sunrise), it was an amazing end to our trekking journey.  Not to mention that our guides and porters let loose - were singing, dancing and playing music more passionately than anyone else in the tea house.  I don't think it's often they get such a group of laid-back, twenty-something, female volunteer teachers.  

Back in Kathmandu we did a little sightseeing, but mostly spent our time searching out good food (plentiful throughout Nepal, so that wasn't difficult) and catching up on sleep.  Trekking was my favorite part of the trip - save the wonderful visits we got to go on the day before we left.   We'd been in contact with Anjana, the Nepal Country Coordinator for the AUW/Access Academy and had asked if it would be possible to get together with some of the parents of our students --- we wanted to be able to bring things to their parents, and bring packages back to Bangladesh with us (it was the least we could do, they were pretty torn up that we were going to their home and they couldn't come with us).  

After meeting Anjana, she took us to a school on the outskirts of Kathmandu proper.  The second we walked into a large, sun-filled room the parents started buzzing.  Obviously we were put in the front of the room, in a line, and introduced ourselves and which students we taught; the families did the same.  And once we asked for questions, hands shot up, "how is my daughter's behavior? Is she causing trouble? Is she doing well in classes?" --- they were all about how their daughters were doing academically in the classroom, all asked with the expectation that we would have negative things to say. 

just the opposite, actually.  I think all the teachers have found most of our students very well-mannered and well-tempered.  The problems we face aren't usually behavioral, but situational, students upset at the structures of the Academy, or not equipped with the time management skills to take on a heavy course load and additionally, extracurriculars.  And so that is what we told the parents.  We were taken, one by one, and placed with parents of students we personally had.  We exchanged packages with them (we left with many more to bring back to bangladesh) and shared what we could.  There wasn't too much too tell - so much of what we know are those, "well, you just had to be there" stories - but I think just getting to see us, in the flesh, helped to calm the parents' fears.  Although, a few of us were crying at certain points, and I think that might have scared a few of them...those crazy westerners...

That night we were personally invited to one of the students' homes to meet her family and take tea (read: massively large meal less than 90 minutes after Anjana took us out for a gigantic lunch...the westerner conundrum...i don't want to be impolite but i honestly can't eat a single bite more...).  The minute we showed up we were rushed into the living room by her parents and 4 sisters, shown family photo albums, told stories and fed. and fed. and fed and fed and fed. welcome to nepal, please eat. 

Getting to meet our students parents was, by far, one of the most touching and memorable experiences of working at the Access Academy.  As a teacher, with a small amount of savings and a monthly (plus some travel) stipend, i've been dealing with a bit of guilt about going away on vacation during the term breaks - especially when i visit the home countries of my students.  It's difficult because our students are really homesick, most of them have never lived away from home before now, and would give anything to go home for just a few days.  Unfortunately they don't have the money or resources to be able to do that.  Since getting back though it's been lovely to see how our Nepalese students have responded to our love of their country - they continually thank us for going there on vacation.  If every country I visited was as welcoming, beautiful and friendly as Nepal...well, I probably wouldn't ever stop traveling. 

The trip was absolutely amazing, so amazing in fact, that there are multiple teachers that have looked into jobs in Nepal post-Bangladesh.  While I don't know if I'm ready to move there right away (I think i've promised family and friends 6 months in the US?), it's definitely on the list of countries I could easily move to. easily. 

The view from the top of Pun Hill (45 minutes above Ghorepani), at sunrise. yes, there were hundreds of other tourists there sharing the moments with us. very romantic.

Some candles lit at one of the temples in Durbar Square

The Pokhara Valley (day one, 1 hour into our trek)

angela capturing the sunrise at Pun Hill

Pohkara Valley at 5am. Day one. Thanks anti-maoist government protestors.

 

Beggar in Durbar Square

The group at the top of Pun Hill

beautiful, beautiful mountains (day two)

view of Fishtail (day one)

Durbar Square

*more pictures to come. the internet's been uncooperative in loading them onto the blog*

grameen

At one point during our visit to Jobra, I had a quick premonition (luckily unfulfilled) of headlines reading, "american teacher comes to bangladesh and ruins grameen bank"...like everything i've encountered thus far in Bangladesh, nothing is written in stone, except those things that are, unless you're with the right people - so they're not, unless the 'right people' you're with aren't the right people after all - and so they aren't not...and the cycle continues.  thus was my monday last week when i went with my class to Jobra to interview borrowers.  we didn't go through Dhaka, the head office, because we had some personal connections and we didn't necessarily need to get to interview the bank officers. 

apparently grameen wasn't down with that. after about two hours of calling people, who called on our behalf to grameen, we were given official permission to speak with officers, see the main branch office, see transactions taking place, the whole gamut.  and it was fantastic.  more info to come, plus examples of my students work.  first, though, here are a few photos i took while we were there.   i don't have many of the borrowers themselves because it's Ramadan and most of the women didn't want to have their picture taken as a result.  but i did get a few pictures during the day.  

one of the greatest quotes from the day was from one of my students who turned to me, after speaking with a few borrowers and with a bank loan collector, "if it's THIS HARD talking to villagers about personal issues like this now, how hard must it have been for Muhammad Yunus 30 years ago?"

oh teaching. 

i'm off to nepal tomorrow, but i'll be back October 5th, so expect more updates then!

where it all started...

Grameen Bank that is. yup. in that little brick house.  backstory: 6 weeks ago i was on a train to dhaka with Angela (roommate/fellow teacher) and Peter, who was visiting for 2 weeks.  i HAD assigned a 'thursday project' (a project to worked on throughout the semester, every thursday) but was re-reading Banker to the Poor by Muhammad Yunus, and i had an epiphany. literally. 

fast forward to class that week. i told my class that i recognized we'd already started one project, but i had this idea...if they were interested...and we could scrap everything we'd done thus far and start fresh...

well, my class is awesome.  i think these 12 girls have gotten used to my spontaneity, even in the classroom, even when maybe teachers shouldn't be as spontaneous as i am.  the project we've been working on is based on Banker to the Poor.  In a few weeks the AUW will have it's official opening in Dhaka, and Muhammad Yunus is our keynote speaker.  He's been a friend of our founder for a long time, and has been involved with the university as it's grown.  I thought it would be great if my class could read the book, read some critiques, do a simulation, meet some borrowers and end up putting together a presentation for the rest of the school on microfinance/Grameen before we go hear Mr. Yunus speak. 

THEREFORE, yesterday (Friday) we got to go to Jobra, the original Grameen village.  Mr. Amar Hossein met us and gave us an overview of Grameen and his experience with it --- he was one of Yunus' students when the project was started, so it was a firsthand account of how everything progressed.  i had a complete 'teacher' moment when i was watching my students take film, take photographs and ask this guy questions.  They were so interested, so well spoken, so in control and made a fantastic impression.  

We're hopefully going back later this week to watch transactions and get to interview borrowers!! exciting!!

In other news i had hoped to give you a glimpse into the life that is here...via a movie i made while walking down the alleyway next to our building.  i constantly call the children that live their my little saviors, because they re-instill my faith in humanity, and children, every time i walk through the alley (it's our shortcut to the main road behind our building).  however, the movie's refusing to upload, so you'll have to settle for some photos.

Not only are they ADORABLE, but they are genuinely excited when we see them.  they yell out "HI! HI! HI! HI! HI! HI! HI M'AM!! HI M'AM!! HI HI HI HIHIHI!!!" when we started speaking to them in the little little little bangla we know, they got even more excited so now it's more of a flurry of basic bangla greetings, 'hihihihihihihi's' and attempts at english phrases "how you m'am?!"

compared to the countless beggar children we confront any time we walk through the streets around us, they are, literally, a breath of fresh air. 

latest article on the AUW - pretty exciting stuff

http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/articles/2008/09/09/the_education_of_kamal_ah_mad/