The Journey to Comilla

By Ayesha Parveen

One day we decided to go for a journey to Comilla in the Ramadan month. We decided to go to Comilla after “Eid-ul-Fitar” by bus.

We are three friends; Tani, Munia and I. We went to the bus counter of Cydabad to take ticket on the next day of “Eid-ul-Fitar”.

When the bus started the journey to go to the Comilla we were very excited. We were going out side from Dhaka without our parents for the first time. After two hours we reached at Comilla. Tani’s cousin came to receive us at the bus counter.

When we went to the Tani’s cousin’s house it was 3 p.m. Then we got freshen up. And we took our lunch. After having our lunch we started to visit the whole house.

We gossiped for some times and after that we decided to go out side. But at that moment the rain started. Because of the rain we had to remain at home and we changed our dress. We gossiped for a long time to one another. After gossiping we found that it was 10:00 pm at night. Then we had our dinner. We went to sleep at 12 a.m.

On the next day after taking our Breakfast we went to visit the village. Then we rode on the “sako” [a small bridge]. We were very afraid that the “sako” was thin. Then we decided to ride on a van. We visited the village by the Van.

The villagers were very happy to see us. We were also happy to see them. We gossiped with them and took many photos. Then we went to the river side. It was very wonderful place. We sit at the side of the river and enjoyed the natural beauties. The fresh air of the river side touched our hearts and made us fresh. We walked and gossiped near the river for some times.

After passing some beautiful moments we went to the house. We took our lunch and got prepared to return in Dhaka. Then we decided to ride on a boat and enjoyed the charming place for some moments. We started our journey to return in Dhaka in the afternoon and reached at home at 7 p.m.
The journey to Comilla is a very pleasant experience to me. We were very happy. It is a very memorable journey in my life. We went to visit without our parents.

The natural beauties of Comilla are very beautiful. I really liked the river side, the vast green paddy field and the sako in Comilla. It was a very pleasant journey for us.

Life of Poor People in Bangladesh

By Jannatul Ferdous

Bangladesh is a small and beautiful country. She is over populated country also. Most of the people are Muslims here; some people are Hindus, some are Buddhists and some are christens. Different religions’ people live in our country. Most of the people are poor in our country. Most of them live in villages. Some people live in towns.

Dhaka is the Capital of Bangladesh. I live in Dhaka. I saw how the poor people spend their life in the town. Some people work in Garments, some are day labors, some are rickshaw-pullers, some are street hawkers and some are beggars etc.

In the morning when I go out from my home, I can see many men and women are to attend their Work. You know that most of the people are garments worker here. Every morning they are to attend their work and return home at night. The whole day they work very hard. They always maintain their work timely. Most of the garment workers are child labors.

Sometimes we see old men, young boys as rickshaw-pullers. The whole day they drive rickshaw to earn Money. The Day labors also work hard all day. We can also see some street hawkers as vegetable, fish, flower sellers. We also see that some beggars beg in front of the houses, markets, schools, colleges etc. Some beggars are very old, some beg with baby.

Most of them live in slums. They live in poverty. But they are part of our country and our life. We can change our poor peoples’ Destiny. Our rich people can help them beside some government activities. I know Bangladeshi people are very kind and well hearted. Please help the poor people and save our country from the poverty.

Nari Jibon Project: Three Years of Providing Alternative Skills for Women

From Kathryn Ward, crossposted in Bideshi Blue.

Shuvo Jonno Din ba Happy Birthday to Nari Jibon Project! Three years ago on 1 March 2005, the Nari Jibon Project (women's lives) opened to provide alternative skills to disadvantaged urban women in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Three Fulbright fellows and Bangladeshi staff provided low cost classes in Bangla, tailoring, English, and computers in a cramped one flat space (for our herstory, see the Nari Jibon website). Nari Jibon has now expanded to three flats and more offerings such as three levels of English, more computer classes with broadband access (including repair-graphics-photography-video), and also a website, nari only cyber cafe, tailoring shop, and research cell. Since June 2007 and thanks to a small grant from Global-Rising Voices, Nari Jibon also has two blogs in English and Bangla, which have been read by over 13,000 readers. You can read a Rezwan's recent overview of the blogs and spring in Bangladesh.

Many of our students have gone on to develop their own businesses, improve their salaries from literacy in Bangla and skills, jobs in offices and NGOs, and pursue their higher education with computer and improved skills in English and Bangla speaking, writing, and reading. To learn more about our students and their lives, photographs, and videos, please scroll through the Nari Jibon blog and website.

My thanks go out to the Nari Jibon Project staff and thousands of students who have passed through our doors for various studies. May they have learned many different skills that they have used in their lives, families, income generation, and continued education. Thanks to all our donors and supporters for your time and generosity.

Alas, we still need your support for Nari Jibon's continued success and programme. If you are interesting in donating time or funds, please contact me and/or go to Narijibonusa.org where you can learn what your donation can provide, more success stories and download a donation form for cheque donations to Give2Asia and/or contribute by credit card Give2Asia Foundation for the Nari Jibon Project (tax deductible in USA and Canada permitted by law).

If you are in the Carbondale, IL, USA area, you can attend a Women's History month performance by The Composters, the wonderful feminist oral-media performance duo on 21 March 2008, 8 pm, LongBranch Coffeehouse, West Jackson Street. Donations will go to Nari Jibon Project.

You can follow the pithy advice & adventures of avid Composters Glenda Greenhouse & Mary Mercury as they perform sustainably in their Compostthis! blog. They have also been featured in Spring 2008, Bitch Magazine.

You can also hear me discuss Nari Jibon and blogging on WDBX Radio, 91.1, "Native Voices" radio programme, on Sunday, 2 March, 1:00-1:30pm (central standard time) streaming url, http://wdbx.scientistsuperstar.com/

or the "Big Muddy Media" radio programme, which will be broadcast on the same station/streaming url from 9-9:30am (central standard) on Wednesday, 5 March. On the Rising Voices blogsite, you can hear me discuss the benefits of blogging for Bangladeshi women via an interview segment on mp3.

I hope that all will have some misti (sweets) in honor of Nari Jibon's birthday as well as some fair trade chocolate-tea-coffee on International Women's Day, 8 March 2008.