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| Kids on a boat in Bairsal - the woman charges 1 Taka per person to journey across |
So I write this from the Apollo hospital in
Dhaka. Visit number two for our little
boy. We think he must love the
nurses! Last time they thought it was
typhoid. This time – who knows!
The positive from all of this is that I
have some time to write. I am not sure
what happens to time but clearly I’ve not written for a while. I think it’s the fact that we’ve been
watching all those TV series we never used to watch – Breaking Bad, Game of
Thrones, and a bit of Downton. Ah,
Downton. So very relaxing in comparison
with the chaos of the streets of Dhaka.
Anyway, now is time for some updates as a
number of people have been commenting to me on the lack of blogs. We are now entering the summer in Bangladesh
– it is hot. Very hot. And very dry.
When you hear of Bangladesh in the UK you hear a few things. Firstly, it is usually talked about in the
context of floods so I would argue that most people think of it as a country of
too much water. However, there are parts
of the country where lack of water is the challenge, especially during the dry
season. Groundwater is used for
agriculture as well as domestic use.
In parts of the country,
including Dhaka city, the water is being drawn from the water table faster than
it is being replaced during the monsoon.
The water table beneath Dhaka is dropping between 2 – 3 metres per
year. In other parts of the country
there is saline water coming up into the groundwater. So people are either drinking saline water
with associated health risks (hypertension for example), or drinking water from
other sources which are unsafe.
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| Fishermen on a boat on the Padma |
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| Sunset on the Padma - waiting for the ferry |
The other thing I think people would
associate with Bangladesh is the ready made garments industry. Last year, on 24th April, more than 1000
people lost their lives after the collapse of Rana plaza. There is much debate in the media as to
whether this has changed the attitudes of those in the UK and other countries
who purchase clothing made here. A few
links to some interesting articles, including what the UK Government is doing,
below:
So, flooding and garments. Two things we all know about in the UK when
we here ‘Bangladesh’. Bangladesh is
incredibly varied though. I have been
able to get out and about quite a bit over the past few months, to the North
and near the border with India where they grow a lot of tea (and apparently a
little bit of coffee!) and to the south and south west where the cyclones hit
but also where the fish and shrimp industry is huge. I thought I would write a few short posts
about these trips to give you a better sense as to what Bangladesh is like once
you escape the grasp of Dhaka.
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