Yarg!!!
December 1, 2009
It hasn't been as long as I thought since I last wrote. Yea!!!!
Well since then I have been in Dhaka a lot...too much of the time. Three...
December 2, 2009
Ok so started this yesterday. Didn't get very far.
Since last blog, I have:
From November 12-15 we had All Staff training in Savar. It went really well. It was all in Bangla so it was very hard to pay attention in 2 full days of sessions. This year's focus was on cultural issues. We had sessions on indigenous persons, bideshi (foreigner) cultural issues, peace building, conflict resolution, etc. The person that had been put in charge of the bideshi cultural issues section left Bangladesh and the person in charge of delegating the task to someone else didn't. I ended up taking on the task by force, a day before the training started. It ended up ok. I don't like to talk, so I kept it as interactive as possible. It actually ended up that we didn't finis 2- of 4- of my planned activities, but I think the ones we did finish opened up some good questions. I also hope that the discussions and openness to question one another that occured there carries on out of the session.
There was also a “talent” section done by each office and then the bideshis also did one. The Bogra office's was the BEST. I am not simply biased, it's just plain true. We did 10 one and a half minute skits. My part was to be a bride from a village. The apparently funny part about it was that it was 2 Bengali/American couples; mixed couples are funny. It was super spectacular. At the end everyone just free danced on the stage. I think it was the single most happy moment in Bangladesh. Not the most fun- and I am not saying it wasn't fun- but the most “warm and fuzzy feeling towards everyone and life in general” I've experienced anywhere outside family gatherings. Yea!!! The Bideshis have been having sort of a rough time of thing, so we did a “shortened” version of last year's dance. It wasn't short in time, but the people that did it were short. Phil Robin and Daniel were in front and then Nate, Ben and I stood behind them and were their arms, while they used their arms like feet. Maybe there will be a video if I can figure out how to hyperlink....hmmm. Well, all in all it was a good meeting.
I spent many extra days in Dhaka trying to meet with the Commissioner of Artificial Insemination and Fodder Cultivation. He gave us the run around for a while, but finally yesterday he officially met with us!!! Yea!!! We have given our staff training on artificial insemination but need a reliable cheap source of semen and other AI consumables. We want to get that from the government b/c it is subsidized (40Tk per straw as opposed to 100Tk). It turns out that for us to purchase the subsidized equipments from the government we must first have someone trained (2month in house 1 month practical) by the government. It makes sense as you don't want someone purchasing the semen and charging farmers for AI service if they don't know how to do AI. We already trained our staff, but we will have to send 2 of our staff to this training then the government will equip them and they will be able to purchase semen from the government. The training will be at no cost to us; we need only provide food costs. It wasn't our exact plan, but it means there will be at least 2 village stationed AI techs with a sustainable, stable, local supply of AI consumables. Yea!! We win!! This commissioner may even come and visit the project.
December 13, 2009
Well, sorry this blog is taking so long things have been busy. People from Akron were here and I was in Dhaka a lot for holidays and meetings. The people from Akron brought a turkey for us for Thanksgiving and fresh cranberries. It flew in checked luggage. It was a grand old feast!! The Thursday of Thanksgiving was also the weekend before the Eid Holiday. Joyce, Robin and I had a bus to the Banderbans that evening. We left Dhaka at 1115pm. The bus was supposed to take 8 hours. At 7am we weren't even to Comilla- normally a 2 hour bus ride away. We got off that bus and hailed a bus that was going back to Dhaka. We arrived in Dhaka at noon. The traffic we saw on the way back was nothing short of horrific. Almost the whole way back to Dhaka. Of course, like in any good South Asian country, our traffic going back to Dhaka was also slow. Not because there was a lot of traffic going that way- there was next to none- but because the traffic from the opposite direction had come onto our side. In parts they took up both lanes. That however proved not so good for some, and people revolted and tore cars/busses apart. Anyway, some people from my office in Bogra took 33hours to get where we were going. Rohima and her CHILDREN spent 22 hours on a bus, no place to use the toilet and no food!!! Yikes.
So...I ended up in Dhaka. Most of us at the guest house bought enough food so we wouldn,t have to go outside for the 2 days of Eid slaughtering. In the end however, I thought, “What if I never get another chance to witness this” so I went out. I will tell you. I will take my non-Halal slaughterhouse captive bolt meat any day. I don't think it is a bad holiday or cruel really, but the cow we watched get sacrificed kept bellering long after its throat was cut and they kept trying to stab/cut the spinal chord after that, but the thing just wouldn't give up! A coworker's 6 year old son was watching from the balcony. He said, “I like my beefs.” (He calls cattle beefs since he has figured out that's where beef comes from). The landlady invited us over the next night for dinner. The fresh beef sure was yummy. I thank God for the life of that animal that provided me such yummy nourishment!
Hmmm. I am making a new movie. This one on urea treated straw and feeding leaves. Oh and I am in charge of planning our MCC-Bang spiritual retreat. It is fun but time consuming. It is however nice to feel like I have too much work to get it all done again. I do better with an overload of work than I do with too little work. There is not a great financial situation now and most contries don't get an out of country retreat, but MCC-Bang expats have been hit by a number of blows by people leaving and moral is pretty low. We are having sessions and I hope we will be able to renew as well as come away having learned something to help us when we get back. We shall see.
Ok I'll stop for now
Merry Christmas
Jodi
It hasn't been as long as I thought since I last wrote. Yea!!!!
Well since then I have been in Dhaka a lot...too much of the time. Three...
December 2, 2009
Ok so started this yesterday. Didn't get very far.
Since last blog, I have:
From November 12-15 we had All Staff training in Savar. It went really well. It was all in Bangla so it was very hard to pay attention in 2 full days of sessions. This year's focus was on cultural issues. We had sessions on indigenous persons, bideshi (foreigner) cultural issues, peace building, conflict resolution, etc. The person that had been put in charge of the bideshi cultural issues section left Bangladesh and the person in charge of delegating the task to someone else didn't. I ended up taking on the task by force, a day before the training started. It ended up ok. I don't like to talk, so I kept it as interactive as possible. It actually ended up that we didn't finis 2- of 4- of my planned activities, but I think the ones we did finish opened up some good questions. I also hope that the discussions and openness to question one another that occured there carries on out of the session.
There was also a “talent” section done by each office and then the bideshis also did one. The Bogra office's was the BEST. I am not simply biased, it's just plain true. We did 10 one and a half minute skits. My part was to be a bride from a village. The apparently funny part about it was that it was 2 Bengali/American couples; mixed couples are funny. It was super spectacular. At the end everyone just free danced on the stage. I think it was the single most happy moment in Bangladesh. Not the most fun- and I am not saying it wasn't fun- but the most “warm and fuzzy feeling towards everyone and life in general” I've experienced anywhere outside family gatherings. Yea!!! The Bideshis have been having sort of a rough time of thing, so we did a “shortened” version of last year's dance. It wasn't short in time, but the people that did it were short. Phil Robin and Daniel were in front and then Nate, Ben and I stood behind them and were their arms, while they used their arms like feet. Maybe there will be a video if I can figure out how to hyperlink....hmmm. Well, all in all it was a good meeting.
I spent many extra days in Dhaka trying to meet with the Commissioner of Artificial Insemination and Fodder Cultivation. He gave us the run around for a while, but finally yesterday he officially met with us!!! Yea!!! We have given our staff training on artificial insemination but need a reliable cheap source of semen and other AI consumables. We want to get that from the government b/c it is subsidized (40Tk per straw as opposed to 100Tk). It turns out that for us to purchase the subsidized equipments from the government we must first have someone trained (2month in house 1 month practical) by the government. It makes sense as you don't want someone purchasing the semen and charging farmers for AI service if they don't know how to do AI. We already trained our staff, but we will have to send 2 of our staff to this training then the government will equip them and they will be able to purchase semen from the government. The training will be at no cost to us; we need only provide food costs. It wasn't our exact plan, but it means there will be at least 2 village stationed AI techs with a sustainable, stable, local supply of AI consumables. Yea!! We win!! This commissioner may even come and visit the project.
December 13, 2009
Well, sorry this blog is taking so long things have been busy. People from Akron were here and I was in Dhaka a lot for holidays and meetings. The people from Akron brought a turkey for us for Thanksgiving and fresh cranberries. It flew in checked luggage. It was a grand old feast!! The Thursday of Thanksgiving was also the weekend before the Eid Holiday. Joyce, Robin and I had a bus to the Banderbans that evening. We left Dhaka at 1115pm. The bus was supposed to take 8 hours. At 7am we weren't even to Comilla- normally a 2 hour bus ride away. We got off that bus and hailed a bus that was going back to Dhaka. We arrived in Dhaka at noon. The traffic we saw on the way back was nothing short of horrific. Almost the whole way back to Dhaka. Of course, like in any good South Asian country, our traffic going back to Dhaka was also slow. Not because there was a lot of traffic going that way- there was next to none- but because the traffic from the opposite direction had come onto our side. In parts they took up both lanes. That however proved not so good for some, and people revolted and tore cars/busses apart. Anyway, some people from my office in Bogra took 33hours to get where we were going. Rohima and her CHILDREN spent 22 hours on a bus, no place to use the toilet and no food!!! Yikes.
So...I ended up in Dhaka. Most of us at the guest house bought enough food so we wouldn,t have to go outside for the 2 days of Eid slaughtering. In the end however, I thought, “What if I never get another chance to witness this” so I went out. I will tell you. I will take my non-Halal slaughterhouse captive bolt meat any day. I don't think it is a bad holiday or cruel really, but the cow we watched get sacrificed kept bellering long after its throat was cut and they kept trying to stab/cut the spinal chord after that, but the thing just wouldn't give up! A coworker's 6 year old son was watching from the balcony. He said, “I like my beefs.” (He calls cattle beefs since he has figured out that's where beef comes from). The landlady invited us over the next night for dinner. The fresh beef sure was yummy. I thank God for the life of that animal that provided me such yummy nourishment!
Hmmm. I am making a new movie. This one on urea treated straw and feeding leaves. Oh and I am in charge of planning our MCC-Bang spiritual retreat. It is fun but time consuming. It is however nice to feel like I have too much work to get it all done again. I do better with an overload of work than I do with too little work. There is not a great financial situation now and most contries don't get an out of country retreat, but MCC-Bang expats have been hit by a number of blows by people leaving and moral is pretty low. We are having sessions and I hope we will be able to renew as well as come away having learned something to help us when we get back. We shall see.
Ok I'll stop for now
Merry Christmas
Jodi
posted by Jodi Crossgrove at
4:50 AM
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