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# What kind of country is Bangladesh? |
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Just as the name of the country suggests, Bangladesh, or "Nation of the Bengal," nearly 99% of the population is Bengal, with the remainder coming from over 20 small tribal groups. Bangladesh has been ruled by various dynasties since prehistory and came under British rule in the middle of the 18th century along with India and Pakistan. Independence first came in 1947 when the Islamic Republic of Pakistan was established. In Western Pakistan (present-day Pakistan), the center of political activity, national policy was being dictated and a strong push emerged to nationalize the Urdu language spoken there. In response, the Eastern states began a movement to establish Bengali as the national language. The independence movement grew from a 1952 student demonstration in Dhaka that ended with police opening fire and injuring and killing demonstrators. After 20 years of the independence movement, Bangladesh emerged as a new nation in 1971.
After independence, aid came from all over the world from both governmental and non-governmental sources. Unfortunately, Bangladesh has not been able to shed its image of a "poor nation" even after 30 years because of political instability, lagging industry, and the damage inflicted almost every year due to cyclones and floods. And although said to have decreased in recent years, about half of the national budget used to depend on foreign aid. In addition, the percentage of secondary industries in the nation has not changed and no new employment opportunities have been created. In the *Human Development Report 2003 published by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Bangladesh is ranked 139 out of 175 nations. Bangladesh has one of the highest urban population densities with a population of 130 million, about the same as Japan, and only about 40 of the land area of Japan.
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*Human Development Report by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
http://www.undp.org/hdr2003/
As a measurement of a nation's development, an independent quantitative index measures basic elements such as per person GDP, average life span, and educational level. |
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As a measurement of a nation's development, an independent quantitative index measures basic elements such as per person GDP, average life span, and educational level. |
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A "Country of Poverty and Floods" is also a "Country of Vigor and Fertile Lands" |
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Before going, I had held an image of Bangladesh as a "country of poverty and floods." But fortunately, that image did not prove true. The capital of Dhaka is brimming with people, rickshaws, and automobiles. The market was crowded with shops offering mountains of meat, fish, vegetables, and fruit. Of course, the difference between the wealthy and the poor was evident with slums here and there and beggars approaching stopped cars. Above all, the street children that we met on this study tour fought to survive by carrying luggage and picking up garbage. Even in these severe social conditions, people had bright and lively expressions.
Everywhere we went, we saw the rich and beautiful scene of farm villages with paddies spreading out to the horizon. The rice paddies can be harvested 2 - 3 times a year. We saw a field being planted while the next field was filled with grain-heavy stalks of rice, while off to a side the fields were being plowed by cattle-drawn plows (or by a tractor, occasionally). On the side of the road, cows would be napping, goats eating grass, and children and their fathers harvesting, washing, and drying jute, a specialty product. Once, when a rickshaw passed on a rural road, a flock of ducks passed before my eyes. The ducks keep the weeds down in the rice fields. And all the tour participants were impressed by the sweet, rich flavor of the mangoes, bananas, and pineapples.
Bangladesh is surrounded by three large rivers: the Ganges, Meghna, and Brahmaputra rivers. Bangladesh is one of the world's largest delta regions and most of the country is alluvial plains. A characteristic of this type of geography is floods that occur almost yearly resulting in fertile soil. And from the time of the ancient dynasties, a unique culture developed amidst exchanges with other nations.
The Bangladeshi national anthem is "My Golden Bengal" composed by Rabindranath Tagore, winner of the Nobel Prize for literature. The lyrics of the song capture the richness of Bangladeshi expression.
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One of things that surprised me when I went to Bangladesh was the wide range of activities of the NGOs.
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Office building of Bangladesh's largest NGO |
The first shop we visited in Dhaka was Aarong, a small department store operated by BRAC, Bangladesh's largest NGO. BRAC primarily carries products made through their life improvement projects, so sales help provide employment for the poor and also activity funds for BRAC. The shop was full of a rich variety of products: women's clothing, sandals, handicrafts, shampoo, rinse, etc. It seemed that many of the customers were of the middle class or higher and were buying products of that quality.
BRAC also manages real estate, a daily products company, and a university and is also a well-known internet service provider. Full-time staff number 35,000. In Dhaka, BRAC also has a large office building and a hotel that can be used for conventions.
A wide variety of cellular telephones
Large NGOs also provide cellular phone and internet service.
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One of the two five-star hotels in Dhaka
This hotel was built with Japanese ODA funding. |
Although I believe it is important to have independent management without the need for foreign aid by creating employment through projects and obtaining operation fees independently, I also felt that there was a gap with the living environment of the poor that BRAC was aiding.Even so, I was surprised at the corporate-group scale. Lead by BRAC, Bangladesh is home to a variety of NGOs, both large-scale NGOs that can pursue the economies of scale, and small-scale NGOs that support detailed, individual causes.
Aparajeyo Bangladesh, a partnership with Shapla Neer to help street children, is a local NGO (currently managed only by Bangladeshi) that was established in 1996 as an independent organization from its Swiss NGO parent. Currently 10 foreign organizations, including Shapla Neer, contribute capital that operates 6 drop-in centers and 22 street schools in Dhaka.
Also,because only 1 in 3 graduates of Dhaka University, Bangladesh's top university can find work soon after graduation, NGOs are sometimes simply seen as a good employment opportunity. In other words, being hired by an NGO in Bangladesh is similar to finding employment at an established company in Japan.
Mr. Shirahata, Shapla Neer Dhaka Office Manager |
According to Toshio Shirahata, the Dhaka office manager, many of the international NGO in Bangladesh are Christian organizations. Although small in scale, Shapla Neer is a Japanese NGO that acts independently without any religious affiliation. Recently, Shapla Neer has displayed initiative in networking by sponsoring a meeting that brought together Bangladeshi NGOs and officers of Japanese ODA, all built on a base of trust cultivated over many years.
Walking the sites is also important, and the Dhaka office staff goes out to the sites once a week; Mr. Shirahata visits all the sites once every two months. In addition, the staff has an opportunity to get together twice a quarter.
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No repeating of the chain of misfortune: From the international cooperation site |
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The purpose of this tour was to see where the NGO, Shapla Neer, operated. Shapla Neer is an original Japanese NGO that has been working for improving life in farming villages since 1972, right after Bangladesh gained independence. Currently, focusing on assisting Samity , a mutual support group targeting the poorest economic layer, Shapla Neer is involved in activities to improve primary and adult literacy education, health and welfare, and income. Activities are led by the six Community Development Centers, which enjoy participation from 12,000 households. With the exception of the two Japanese in Dahka, the on-site staff consists of Bengali natives and numbers over 120 when the staff from partner organizations is included.
Support for the street children in Dhaka began in 2000. This support is offered through Shapla Neer's Bangladeshi partner organization, Aparajeyo Bangladesh.
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Those who need the most help: New efforts in farming villages |
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We visited the Community Development Center in Iswarganj, Mymensingh, which is located about 110 km north of Dhaka.
Children who work at the market and in shops |
Youth using a sewing machine perfectly |
We observed Shapla Neer's Samity activities, literacy classrooms, and new programs. These new programs include a discussion group for young women facing puberty and the uncertainties of the future, a club for young girls and boys to learn what is not taught at school and play with children of their own generation, and a program for children who work at the bazaar. These programs just began a few months ago, but I hope that it creates possibilities for the children.
In the past, Shapla Neer focused its activities on the poor such as landless farmers and day laborers, but recently it has started programs for people in especially difficult circumstances*.
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Young men's and young women's group for youth of the same age to discuss health, the future, and other topics not taught at school |
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*People in especially difficult circumstances
"People in especially difficult circumstances" refers to anyone subjected to abject poverty such as widowed or divorced women, the physically handicapped, or elderly. Because rural villages have fewer work opportunities, these people are reduced to begging or working for food. In these cases, not even Samity activities can help.
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Farming village development activities
http://www.shaplaneer.org/english_site/bangladesh/bangladesh.html |
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Learning to read by lamplight |
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Using a Shapla Neer original textbook to learn letters. The contents focus on practical matters. |
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Changing the future of children by giving back the confidence of being loved: Street children of Dhaka |
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Over 300 thousand street children are said to live in Dhaka. Many of these children have left their rural village homes because of problems at home such as poverty, divorce, or domestic violence. They come to live on the streets of Dhaka still embracing their pain. They work at car maintenance shops, sell water, carry luggage, and even prostitute themselves in order to live. These children work long hours for little pay, have their money stolen, and often get sick because they live in an unsanitary environment. Because they are children, they are constantly exposed to danger. Most of these children do not go to school. We visited a "Street School" and "Drop-in Center" for these street children offered through Shapla Neer's partner organization, Aparajeyo Bangladesh. |
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"Street School" is held in a rented part of a bus terminal building. Four staff members, a project manager and three teachers, hold classes every morning and afternoon. When we visited the school, about 50 children ranging in age from about 3 to 15 were gathered into a space about 3 or 4 meters wide and 15 meters deep. The head boy quickly brought the children who were excited over our visit into line. On this particular day, the school had rented the terminal building for a musical recital, and the children were practicing their songs and performances. The children gain confidence and feel that they are being recognized by the surrounding adults when outsiders, such as us, watch them. |
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The Street School rents space in a bus terminal |
Children excited by our visit finally settle down and school begins.
Besides reading and writing, they study Bengali songs, poems, and dances
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The "Drop-In Center" is located in a building at the end of a poorly lit alley between a banana wholesaler and a wood processing plant. Places to cook, clean, and sleep are offered along with lessons up to the third grade and a place to watch TV and play games. A children's bank has been opened where the children can safely save their money. While viewing historic facilities, the children learn about their country's history, imitate the work of their teachers and program officers, and learn about the view point of other people and responsibility. For the children who are prostitutes, lessons on safe sex to prevent sexually transmitted diseases and HIV/AIDS are available. The center is looking to begin occupational training and community building through involving regional residents. "However," says the Drop-In Center manager, Mr. Shah Md. Rejaul Islam, "the most important thing is that children get back the confidence of being loved." |
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A kitchen is available for cooking |
The children gathered to greet us |
Lockers are important for these children without homes. |
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Ms. Ayako Fujisaki, staff member at the Shapla Neer Dhaka Office, spoke about her work.
Ms. Fujisaki of the Shapla Neer Dhaka Office |
"I met a girl of about 14 at the Drop-In Center. She was a prostitute. I saw her several times and we became close. But one day, she just disappeared. I heard that her parent's ordered her to get married, but that her mother-in-law made her prostitute herself even after marriage and she was cast aside after becoming pregnant. Now, because there is a possibility that it would be a bad influence on the other children or that local residents might misunderstand, she can't receive care from Aparajeyo Bangladesh. When I heard that...it was unbearable. I know that the situation of the children that are here now won't dramatically change soon. But, I want to cut the chain of misfortune before it continues to their children and grandchildren. I want it to end."
Someone once taught that "developed" and "advanced" meant that you could make decisions for your own life and had choices available to you. I believe that these children's futures will change because the Street Schools and Drop-In Centers will teach them the things they need to know to live, to regain the confidence of being loved, and to change the adults around them. |
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The Dhaka parliamentary building and government dormitory and the street children doing business around the parliament. They said they were from Aparajeyo's street school. |
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# What I learned on the study tour |
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They are not posing for a picture. They lined up to look at the Japanese group. |
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There was a time when the tour participants stopped to think about a question a student at an adult literacy class asked. He asked:
"I am happy that you are visiting us. But, why did you come all the way from Japan?"
I had doubts about joining this study tour. About 10 years ago on a reforestation tour, I felt uncomfortable with the attitude of the Japanese participants who "gave help" and with the attitude of the local people who "wanted someone to help." But, with this tour, I thought that the participants came to "find out" and "learn" rather than to "give help." Of course, as long as there is economic disparity, words like "support and cooperation" will be used. At the same time, decades of international support activity have shown that self-sufficiency does not arise from outside support. |
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Children playing soccer in an open field in a corner of a slum in Dhaka |
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But, now is a time where everything is global, not just information, but what we eat, what we wear, and even what entertains us. And even the old practice of neighbors helping neighbors will be extended beyond national borders. This will also be the time for international NGOs, which are not limited by national borders and supply "what is necessary to where it is necessary," to develop. |
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By seeing with these things with my own eyes, I, who had doubts about this tour, was able to re-acknowledge the larger story behind the information we get in reports. |
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Three-wheel taxis are called "baby taxis." The diesel engines were the cause of air pollution. Dhaka switched to natural gas cars last year. The air became cleaner.
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Colorful rickshaw designs |
| Report/Photographs: Mariko Harada, Think the Earth Project |
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In August 2003, I participated in a study tour to Bangladesh organized by the nonprofit, non-governmental, international support organization, 
