Man

Once long ago I sat on top of the earth. I was on a hill, the grass was as soft as I had ever felt it before, or maybe I just decided to feel it that one day on my skin, but I looked down and watched a man, slowly moving in and out between the rows of patties, with water up to his thighs. He swayed back and forth, with the sun beating down. Mountains covered the landscape and the sun shinning so bright, he could barely see. I had never seen such a beautiful scene. I saw him walk out of the field onto the dry dirt bank carrying patties almost too frail to walk back to his bed. He didn’t know that anyone was watching, but I was the only one looking down at earth examining his every move.  I sat all day intrigued with my knees tucked in and my head resting on them. He got up in the morning at sunrise, worked in the pesticide fields, and then retreated walking slowly, calmly at dusk back to his house. And it made me smile. Because really there is nothing that we can do in the world to make God loves us more than He does. And there was nothing that that man would have had to do in order for me to stop watching him. Because I think so hard, all day long about what I need to do with my life. What is the best thing for me? It doesn’t matter what kind of job we have or what we do with our lives, it matters that we value one another as we would value ourselves. 

Why am I here?

Well, some people may be wondering why we’re in Bangladesh, I’m sure if you asked each person there would be different answers. Some want to build their resume, some want to experience a new culture, some want to learn about poverty, some want to serve, some want to be high up in the UN, some don’t want to work in the field, some want to change, some want to be globally minded, and some want to be humbled.

We all have goals. BRAC University in collaboration with Johns Hopkins, Columbia University, George Washington University, Harvard University, Karolinska Institutet, and the University of Amsterdam set aside five goals…

• 1.     Be community-oriented providing experiential learning centered around the public health problems of Bangladeshi communities;
  
• 2.     Emphasize critical, innovative thinking that is rooted in best practice and rigorous research methods;
  
• 3.     Use a multi-disciplinary, inter-sectoral approach to learning and problem-solving;
  
• 4.     Inculcate the values and ethos of its founding and partner institutions (equity, fairness and concern for the poor, women and disadvantaged);
  
• 5.     Build capacity and prepare individuals to become public health practitioners, critical thinkers, researchers and advocates/stewards of public health and policy at community district, national and international levels.
  

So are you still asking yourself, “What the hell is public health?” Because sometimes when people ask me, well I don’t know what to say. “If there is a problem in a community, then I have to learn how to solve it?” Well that isn’t completely accurate, most people who have their expertise in public health usually are just facilitators for generally educational, health, and human rights disparities. So usually people who have knowledge of global health work with vulnerable populations such as, impoverished people, sex workers, women, children, refugees, IDPs, drug users, people who suffer from mental health issues (probably all of us have these), orphans, indigenous groups, and minorities (in the U.S. which has incredible disparities and inequities but also…pretty much every region of the world). So let’s say for example there are communities that are going through a famine, we have to go into those communities and facilitate innovative ways and creative plans in order to assimilate and work around environmental change. Did you catch that?? Environmental change possibly will equate to famines? Sorry I was tricking you; um famines are created by governments. I know I know…I thought that the world was a “good place” at a time in my life at one point as well.  Just look at Malawi or Bengal.

So maybe I would just go into a community that I know nothing about and try to change it. Does that sound good to you? Well it sounds terrible to me…ah too much corruption there, can’t do it. What if the community implemented the intervention in order to stop children from dying from diarrheal diseases? (Well really they’re getting diarrhea from sanitation/water/hygiene issues…or is malnutrition?...okay I won’t give you the answer, you can guess! Won’t that be exciting!?). Oh and just a side note, even if you give people the most nutritious food and in plenty…um it still won’t prevent stunting and malnutrition, yep that’s true. Why do you think that is? Things tend to be a little more complicated than that, which is what people don’t realize.

For instance: the former director of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), dismissed the idea of distributing drugs, telling the House International Relations Committee that Africans could not take the proper combinations of drugs in the proper sequences because they did not have clocks or watches and lacked a proper concept of time (on the topic of HIV/AIDS and ARVs).

We think we have the best solutions….we can just go into a community and implement a solution without researching, without making relationships, and without loving people. Cultural proficiency people, please! So maybe that’s why I’m here…to learn how to not be like the heads of huge American corporations.  OH, that was judgmental, oops.

Maybe we all have to realize that the only way we will change as human beings is from the people who we are trying to change.  It’s obvious that subconsciously we are searching for people to change us, contradictory pervious thoughts.  

Finally I'm writing something...

I have finally decided to write something...I probably cannot promise you with comical or captivating commentary of my stay here; however, I will try to at least entertain you to the best of my ability. I am a first time blog user.

Perhaps I should give you some facts about Bangladesh?

#1 fact: Bangladesh is the size of Wisconsin. Now, take half of the people living in the U.S. and squeeze them into Wisconsin=Bangladesh.

Okay, that's all the facts that you need to know. The flight from Bahrain to Dhaka was interesting, I realized right away that there were only five females on the flight, all GW students. All the men were migratory workers having occupations in the oil industry outside of Bangladesh in the Bahrain/Saudi Arabia region. Incredible flight, I don't think anyone stayed seated, even during take off or the landing. 

I didn't think I would be intimidated living in Bangladesh; however, right when I walked out of the airport I was enclosed by a rectangular fence teeming with people on all sides staring at the people coming out. I couldn't see anything beyond the fence because of the mountains of people who were surrounding the airport peering in through it's slits. Finally I hopped into a car, and exited through a gate, but of course the car couldn't get through the huge crowds, the car finally crawled through and we were off onto the main road! At every stop people would come up to our windows asking for money and staring at us, unwilling to stop tapping at our faces, everyone including children to people with leprosy. I'm pretty sure.... yes, that everyone was silent in my car.