Greetings from Bagladesh - Day 3

I found out the reason the electricity went out a few times during the night. Turns out there was a big storm that knocked out the power and the hotel was running on a generator for a while. I guess I was pretty tired as I didn't hear a thing. I did notice a big difference when I looked out my hotel window, the rain had cleared the smog enough to see the buildings across the street.

Funny third world happening of the day: The elevators were out in the hotel this morning and people had to walk up and down the fire escape stairs to get to their rooms. I got a written apology from the hotel when I got back this evening.

We had an early start this morning and drove about two hours out into the countryside to see some of the BRAC programs that are effecting adolescent girls. BRAC is one of the longest running and most successful aid programs in the country. It was started by Fazle Hasan Abed (who we are hoping to meet tomorrow), who is related to Professor Yunus. This is a crazy successful family, another family member started CMES which we visited yesterday.

Today we met a girl who got a loan to buy her own sewing machine after completing a BRAC training program, we got some great footage of her talking about how the money she is making is helping her family and allowing other siblings to go to school. She was super engaging. We asked her what she would do if she was Prime Minister. She laughed and said this would never happen, but if it did, she would make sure every child went to school until they are 18. She also told us she wants to visit America, she said it must be a nice place because all the Americans she meets can't wait to get home. We met two other girls that are also making money to help their families, one by embroidering and the other opened a beauty parlor. We finished the day at a safe house where girls aged 11-18 can meet to talk, play games, read books or do what ever else they want to do. It is a great refuge for them and it was great to see them having fun.

A strange thing you don't notice at first is that there are no adolescent girls out and about as you travel through the city and the countryside. Most girls under 18 are not allowed out of the house, so you only see them on these special visits or on the way to school, then they disappear again.

We had a new driver today. He was a huge improvement over the last guy, much less aggressive. Also his car was much nicer; the seat belts actually worked, although I have not seen any Bangladeshis wearing them. I have to say that you can't be too passive when you drive in Bangladesh. If you don't drive fast enough, then everyone will start passing you and force you off the road. It's like wild kingdom, the weak are killed and eaten.

If you are looking for a quick divorce, you should plan your next vacation in Bangladesh. Under Muslim law you only have to say "divorce" three times and that's it, you are divorced.

In sports news, South Africa crushed Bangladesh in their cricket match this week. It was a complete route. If you know anything about cricket, this should set the scene: Bangladesh was asked to follow on after their first innings and they didn't even score enough runs to force South Africa to bat again. We have no equivalent to this in American sports, but it is about as embarrassing as it gets. I tried to bring the topic up with a couple of Bangladeshis and they acted like there was no game. They looked at me blankly, like they had never heard of the sport cricket before. The first day we got here the match was headline news, now no one talks about it. It's probably how we'll treat the Bush years, just pretend it never happened.

And finally, although I am living in the future, I still can't tell you if Obama or Hillary won the Ohio and Texas primaries.