A boat trip from Old Dhaka

Last weekend we fully intended to write this blog and then with one thing and another we never got round to it.

Actually, it was getting to the end of the week and we thought we wouldn't have much to report on the weekly blog but then no sooner had we encountered those thought and we had a rather interesting weekend....

Let me start from the beginning. This blog covers the period 18th Jan to 25th Jan.

During that week our boss from the UK arrived (I think technically he's the commercial director, or business advisor or something anyway, he basically oversees the business side of what Oasis do). So, it was another hectic time in the office as we were preparing for meetings, attending meetings and getting products ready to discuss with the boss. Andy and his team were desparately trying to get the products ready so our boss would have some positive comments to take back to our customers in the UK. Our ultimate deadline for this phase of the design work has been 1st Feburary because that's when the country director here returns to the UK for more meetings with potential investors and customers and will be taking products with him.

So, despite it being hectic for us there's not a lot to report on the blog on that front.

However, when we got to the weekend it was shaping up to be a normal weekend; we went to church on Friday as usual for the morning study class, lunch and then the main afternoon service. On Saturday we were invited to lunch by a friend over who was soon to be leaving, so a few of us went for a bite to eat. We had planned nothing more other than maybe a swim and a bit of a relax before the evening study class. However whilst at lunch our manager and the UK boss decided to take a trip to Old Dhaka for a boat ride and invited us along.

Old Dhaka is one of those amazing places where it's a hive of small streets, lots of rickshaws and some interesting old buildings intermingled with them all. We drove down in the Oasis car, which was interesting trying to get through this sea of rickshaws.

Nevertheless we eventually made it through to the port. We parked the car up in what was supposed to be a car park but which was a long way from NCP standards and entered the port area. There were loads of big cargo ships moored up. We boarded one to get to a smaller rowing boat.

As we walked through this cargo boat it really was like something from 150 years ago. There were people sitting on the floor in the boat maybe selling fruit, or clutching a rolled up blanket, or selling some nuts or something. There were other folk using it as a passageway onto other boats. There were others loading and unloading cargo on their heads (it's the Banlgadeshi way). The one consistent thing amongst all this was that the majority of heads turned in our direction as we trundled through the boat to sounds of "Boss", "Bideshi", "your country?".

Anyway, when we reached the back of the boat we then saw our vessel. It was kind of like a gondala in shape - very close the water with a man standing at the back rowing using a long padel which went deep into the water. We clambered over the big boat's chains to get onto this little boat.

As we got on we couldn't help but notice the awful condition of the water - it was extremely dark, there was all kinds of rubbish floating in it and other less desirable things. In fact, right next to our boat was a large floating poo (not sure whether I can get away with writing that on a blog but I guess it's done now). You can imagine my concern as I set anxiously on the floor of the boat waiting for the other 3 in our party to get in, who all happened to be 6'3" men!

Anyway, despite some small rocking we made it out into Dhaka harbour and spent the next hour floating between all the big cruise and cargo ships. It was wonderful! So exciting to see such a large working port and there were so many contrasts. One minute we'd be passing the shore lined with rubbish with people looking for any useful remains in amongst it and then we'd see all this beautiful fresh fruit and veg being unloaded, or sorted through. We'd pass these water side slum houses and then see the large red setting sun shimmering over the water. We would pass these large, impersonal, grubby cargo ships and then see a bunch of kids playing around and having fun on one of the fishing boats. So much beauty in amongst so much yuk!

I guess that's the glories of God's creation shining through in spite of all man's rubbish around.

It was a real privilege to be able to see this part of Dhaka and to see it in this very authentic way. Everything about that part of Dhaka really seemed so antiquated it made me wonder how much it had changed since the Brits left and how much it would have changed if we came back in 50 yrs time.

After our tour round the harbour we hopped back on board the big ship again. Unfortunately in the process I dropped my flip flop into one of the engine holes, which was extremely embarrassing, since it is very difficult to do anything discretely around here and I of course caused a lot of fuss and attention. Anyway, the good news is I got my flip flop back and I made sure I gave my foot a good old scrub down afterwards.

After our eventful afternoon out we then went to a quiz at the Bagha club. I am ashamed to say we did extremely badly - clearly need to play trivial pursuit a bit more often to get into Quiz shape.

Think that's about all to bring that part of the blog up to date.

We'll write about this week's experiences in another posting.

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Just another week in Bangladesh.

Seems like another week has flown by. It's been another busy week for us and a particularly important week for the business.

This week we did further detailed planning to our business plan for this year and due to certain circumstances arising we now have quite a significant amount of goods to produce and not a lot of time to do it, so we had to adjust our business plan to see how we could most effectively get the goods to market by the deadline as well as considering long term recruitment, investment and the like - so a pretty important and busy week.

As you can imagine it's been all systems go on the workshop as the prototypes are finalised and the materials are being chosen, which meant a few late nights in the office for us (more particularly for Andy).

Whilst this has been going on I have been doing further research and policy-writing on how our business model fits with Fairtrade and what we have to do to comply with the many many requirements. I had a good meeting with the local Fairtrade forum director, who gave me some useful insights into what we could do to ensure we are complying with the relevant standards.

I have also been contintuing my research into potential shelter homes for our trafficking survivors to come back to from India (they are currently in a half way house waiting to return). I went to a great centre in a village about 1.5 hours outside Dhaka, which is a purpose-built village for vulnerable women and their children. They have a school, farmland, fishing lakes, vocational training, a psycho-social building and income generating activities - the whole package. What was so good about it was the holistic feel to the centre. For example, most of the food consumed by the beneficiaries is grown on site and some of the waste is used in their income-generating activities. For example, the onion shells are used to make dyes for the paper and woven fabrics they produce - how wonderful!

I have also visited a shelter home specifically for trafficking survivors but also for children who have been victims of sexual exploitation. Whilst the centre was great I found it really upsetting and deeply challenging. As I walked round and spent time with the young people they were just like any other normal child - playing with toys, studying, running around and then my mind kept coming back to the fact that these children may have been raped, trafficked or sexually exploited. Such happy innocent faces masking a whole world of horrific injustice - it grieves me to think that children can be treated in such a way and worse stilll to know that most of their families won't want to or won't be able to take them back.

Some of the children performed a song and dance that nearly reduced me to tears because there were these beautiful young children perfoming songs about the kind of lives they should have had but will never be able to experience. One of the folk songs they did talked about flying like a bird in the garden free from cares. This particular song / dance was performed by one girl, who can't have been more than 12 years old who had been raped only a few months earlier! Thinking about it now as I write is really stirring my emotions.

Anyway, besides these visits we've both enjoyed the new challenges we're facing at work, especially now the projects are both really taking off.

Outside of work we've also had a great week. We spent a lot of time on Saturday around our local Bazaar (market), lapping up the atmosphere and playing the haggling game with the shopkeepers. They love to haggle here and I think they feel a bit cheated if we haven't haggled. I must admit Andy's much better at it than I am and much more enters into the spirit of it. It's not long before I get bored of haggling and just agree to the price but Andy drives a much harder bargain!

So, after an exhausting bazaar trip and then we rewarded ourselves with lunch at an art cafe near us and a much-needed lassi YUMMM!

In the evening we went to the bible study group that we attend every week, which was really good. I think the locals appreciate having us around and we certainly love their company. They are so hospitable and every time we go we learn what it means to have a servant-heart.

I think that about sums up our week. We have of course done the usual church-going on Friday and study group on Monday and Tuesday, so we're keeping ourselves busy. This week we even managed to squeeze in a game of pool and some toffee and apple crumble at the Bagha club, which was a lovely way to relax.

So, all in all a great week and we looking forward to the new challenges that this week will bring.

Much love

Nic and Andy x

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Back to work with lots to do.....

Hi everyone,

Hope your all well and dandy?! We've had a good week back at work with lots and lots going on..

Most people in the office returned from their Christmas break on Sunday so we had a day catching up with emails and sorting out things for a big new years planning meeting on Monday.

Nicola and I were both involved in the meeting on Monday which took the whole day. We discussed how the business plan was progressing and what our aims were for the coming year, as well as ironing out a few kinks and details along the way. This is a big year for Oasis Transformation Ltd as we hope to start production of products around June.

So my design colleague and I need to finalise our products spending a lot of time considering how they can be manufactured in bulk. We're planning to use some machinery in our factory along with hand skills so key process and methods need to be well thought through. Our boss is heading back to the UK in a month so we also need to develop some more samples for him to show to investors and buyers.

Nicola is also hard at now looking at achieving Fair Trade status and dealing with some compliance issues for our factory and products. Shes also had two meetings this week relating to the anti-trafficking work she is doing. This is also a big year for our community programs as the school has employed some new staff and Stop the Traffik work is set to start after a long time researching and understanding the key issues and where we can best provide support.

We were also joined by a 'Global Team' from the UK. They're a group of students who are here for 3 months helping out within the Oasis, especially its school and also some other projects in Dhaka.

Away from the business of work we attended a home bible study group in someones home on Tuesday which was great although I had to keep running out to help my parents sort out some Visa issues!

On Friday we went to the wedding of one of the Christadelphian church members. It was at a local Bengali Church called St Thomas and was a really nice occasion. There were loads of decorations all over the hall and afterwards we all had our photos taken with the 'happy' couple before we shared a meal.

I say 'happy' couple as the bride was quite upset - as is often the case at Bengali weddings the bride has mixed emotions because she is often very sad to be leaving her family behind and moving in with a new family. The traditional custom here is for the bride and groom to live with the grooms family from here on in so it can be quite a change for the bride to cope with!!

After the service we headed on to the oldest church in Dhaka to see a carol service. This was situated in old Dhaka with its tight streets full of people, rickshaws, sellers of every kind and general chaos and mess!! We stopped the CNG close by and took a walk to get to the church. It was an impressive Armenian Church (who celebrate the birth of Jesus on Jan 6th) and was very traditional with pews and lots of candles and incense stuff.

Cantemus choir sang and we joined in on the Carols, afterwards sharing some food in the parsonage.

Today (Saturday) Nicola and I are hosting the team for some lunch to get to know them a bit better..

Love to all,

Andy and Nic

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