Our Big Day

The ceremonious end to our arsenic awareness campaign proved to be a dazzling success as local media, villagers, government officials, and most importantly, the children and families of arsenic-affected Golaidanga gathered on what was a sunny and very beautiful day.

Quick summaries from the local media outlets in Bangladesh:

Daily Star Coverage

Financial Express Coverage

Pictures:

The schoolchildren performed a skit emphasizing proper use of arsenic contaminated water (its OK to use the water for showers, but not OK to use the water for washing dishes or cooking) and how arsenicosis is not a contagious disease.

A candid shot with the Union Chairman.

The children anxiously awaiting the start of the show! The festivities included speeches, musical performances, skits, a quiz contest, and the formal handing over of the filters to the public entities.

The singing of the Bangladesh national anthem “Amar Shonar Bangla” (means “My Golden Bangladesh”)

Minhaj’s family joining in on the fun.

Shuborna, a 12-year old, sang “Choi Mash” (six months), the story of a young girl, her mother, and how arsenic-contaminated water changed their lives in six months.

The Union Chairman giving a few words on the impact of the project. He was sincerely touched by our presence and said he and the local district council would do everything within their power to sustain the focus and hope instilled within the villagers for attaining an arsenic-free district and eventually, an arsenic-free Bangladesh.

High Schoolers join in (towards the back, boys dressed in white, girls dressed in red) on what was a packed event.

High School headmaster with a few words, emphasizing the importance of educating our youth with the knowledge and know-how of how to attack the most pressing development problems in Bangladesh (clean water, sanitation, and diarrhea remain at the top of this list).

The President of Drishty Chittagong with a few words. Emphasis was placed on how high school and college students within the local community are an untapped pool of resources that can serve as the real agents of change when it comes to impacting village life in Bangladesh for the better.

Minhaj talking about the overall success of the project, and how he hopes to return to the village yet again to continue a capacity-building movement that can ensure self-sustainability and empowerment from within resulting in an arsenic-free Golaidanga, as well as an arsenic-free Bangladesh.

Paul (speaking in Bengali!) thanking the villagers for their kind reception and stressing the importance of maintaining and prolonging the use of the filters so that more may come, and the filters can be seen as a true solution to arsenic.

One of the recipients of our filters, an arsenic-affected father of two (a local rickshaw driver, too).

We gave a total of 6 filters to “public entities” within the village for the benefit of everyone. (2 – High School, 2- Primary School, 2- Mosque).

A quick update

Sincere apologies for the delay.

A lot has happened since Day 16. Paul is back in the US. I (Minhaj) am still in Bangladesh. We have finished the distribution and capped off the experience with what was a truly amazing closing ceremony filled with music, skits, speeches, media coverage ( the Financial Express article is online here).

There are many pictures and videos still to be uploaded so please do check back Friday July 3 for the next picture/video update.

[Day 16]: Distribution Day

VIDEO UPDATE: Two new videos have been posted in the videos page regarding the Sono Filter arrival and the panel discussion.

The big day has finally arrived as we began our 100 filter distribution throughout the village. The morning greeted us with excitement as classrooms in the primary school were packed with mothers, heads of households, and elders eager to finally have a chance at drinking clean, arsenic-free water! As the process is a long one, we gave each household a “slip” that was required to redeem their filter. Before the villagers received their filters we hosted a seminar educating a member of each recipient household about how to properly use the filter as well as general knowledge about arsenic and arsenicosis. Upon the conclusion of the seminar, each family arranged for a flatbed rickshaw or van (shared with two other families) to transport the filter from the school to their respective homes. The filter is personally installed in each home with the help of Shikha, our field-agent who will maintain and answer any questions regarding the filters for the coming year. The distribution process went extremely smoothly, yielding no problems and an efficient distribution of over 94 filters in the span of three days.

[Day 14] Surveying the community and receiving the filters (finally!)

Today was quite the eventful day as we enlisted the services of the high school volunteers yet again. 20 students were selected to survey the community regarding arsenic awareness.  All households that are going to be receiving the Sono Filter were interviewed regarding their socioeconomic status and their baseline knowledge of arsenic and its dangers. The filters also finally arrived (not without a little drama as the truck had a hard time driving through the tree-filled roads leading into Golaidanga). Finally, we organized a panel discussion regarding arsenic bringing together religious (the head Imam from the mosque), educational (primary and high school headmasters), and political leaders of the village (Chairman of the Union). Sustainability of arsenic awareness programs like the ones we introduced to the village, and prioritization of health education initiatives were the primary topics at hand (be on the lookout for a full transcript of the discussion in the coming days). Before heading to the village , we networked with stakeholders in the private sector as we met with the Chairman of the Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry, an accomplished businessman whose work centers on corporate social responsibility and funding for sports and entertainment programs for the disabled (he started the Blind Cricket League of Bangladesh):

We first hit the Dhaka Club yet again for some entertainment and schmoozing.

Upon arrival to the village, the high school teachers insisted that we speak to each and every classroom about our project, they were not only excited by our presence but also became restless when they learned about our plans in engaging with them through seminars and programs.

Getting ready for the day’s work ahead.

The filters were stuck approximately 2 miles away from the village when the truck needed to be unloaded (a bit) so that the truck could safely travel through the bumpy roads into Golaidanga.

The truck itself featured a very detailed painting of a US Air Force fighter plane flying over the Opera House in Sydney, Australia, an interesting painting on a Bengali truck.

The yellow racks are what keeps the two parts of the Sono Filter together, as they were stacked up high along the truck, the racks were what made the truck immovable past a certain point.

After splitting the filters into two batches we were able to finally start unloading the filters into a primary school classroom for temporary storage (distribution days are monday/tuesday).

Curious kids looking from above.

Meeting with the Chairman of the Union and preparing for the panel discussion.

The very informative and engaging discussion featuring:

From left to right (bottom row): high school teacher, high school teacher, primary school headmaster, NGO representative, village chairman, high school headmaster, head imam, imam.

We rode around the village on motorbikes…

The rack upon which the Sono Filter is to be stored for use.

Signing the documents approving the receival of the filters (all 104 of them, 2 of which are “institutional” which are to be given to the primary and high schools).

It’s late (2:00 AM in Dhaka right now) so we will be posting updated videos within the next day, stay tuned!).

Surveying On Arsenic

[Day 12] Surveying the Schoolchildren

Today we surveyed the schoolchildren to gauge their initial baseline knowledge about arsenicosis, how prominent they felt it was in the village, and the linkage between clean, arsenic-free water and good health. All in all, we surveyed 50 primary schoolchildren and 50 high school students. We are currently going through the surveys and will post a few of the answers up once we are done!

The primary school faculty.

The high school faculty.

It is tradition in Bangladesh to stand up when a teacher walks into the classroom. We received the same reception every time we entered too! Upon entering the classroom, the students say “As-Salamu Alaykum” (meaning peace be upon you in Arabic).

Joining in on the fun in a 3rd grade class.

High schoolers taking the survey.


Both the primary and high schools stand directly across from each other, with trees standing in the middle.

Our color, more detailed map of the village


The tubewell for the school, located 30 ft away from the bathroom. Tubewells need to be at least 30 ft away from bathrooms so they may steer clear from the bacteria present around the bathrooms. The red stains on the floor are visual markers of just how contaminated the water is. We will be giving 2 filters to the school in order to keep up with the heavy traffic (there are over 550 students in the primary school and 400 in the high school).

[Day 10] Manikganj: Meeting the Schoolchildren and Making a Map

Building off of our first visit, we began to survey the community and plan the distribution method of the filter. Upon arrival, the schoolchildren invited us into their school and were extremely excited, to the point where they all came out of their classes to see us!

In order to properly survey the community, we needed a map. As the map given by the local officials was not specific enough, the main objective of the day was to design a map that clearly showed the households and tubewells within our region of work. We are working in Golaidanga, a village in Manikganj that has over 700 households (according to the school headmaster). Our region contains approximately 100 households, and is considered to be the poorest, most arsenic-affected region in all of Golaidanga. This claim is based off tube well testing results performed by GSS last year. The region is also home to the only primary and high schools in the village as well as a mosque (there are three throughout the village, but the central mosque lies in our region as well). We will be giving filters not only to households but also to the schools and the mosque as well.

Driving through Manikganj

It is currently wheat season so during the day, many of the workers are out plowing the fields.

The schoolchildren were very excited by our presence

in the third grade classroom

Some of the primary school faculty

Primary schoolchildren

The original map of all of Manikganj. Since we will be working only in Golaidanga, this map did not display enough detail so had to make a new one, paying special emphasis to the location of tube wells and homes.

Getting ready to map the village.

Distributing materials for map making.

A traditional “oven” that can be found in the village homes, used for cooking and boiling water.

Drawing the map.

A traditional village home.

The tube wells in Golaidanga were once painted red, meaning one that contained contaminated water (either from iron or arsenic), or green, meaning the tube well contains safe drinking water. The Department of Public Health Engineering painted these wells about 20 years ago. Since then, the paint has worn off but prior studies done by an NGO last year have found that out of the approximately 700 households in Golaidanga, every single one of them are victim to arsenicosis as every tubewell in the village is contaminated with arsenic.

Jack fruit.

A traditional “three-kolshi” filter. Before the Sono filter, this was the best option.

One of the nicer homes in the village, one made of bricks and a gate. The disparity of the quality of homes is very apparent.

Mapmaking

A closer look.

Another one of the nicer homes in the village.

[Day 8]: Manikganj

Because today was the first time we visited the village we spent the majority of our time acquainting ourselves with the villagers.

GSS is an NGO based in Manikganj, they along with MSUK supply us with local volunteers and expertise.

We caught a rickshaw in the village as well.

A glimpse into the many cows around the village.

Paul eating palm fruit.

As we were enjoying the local food, a crowd started to form…

eventually…

the crowd blocked off the street, Paul now enjoys celebrity status in the village.

Bangladesh is a young country (est. 1971) and so a lot of the “freedom fighters” that fought in the war are alive and well today. One of Minhaj’s uncles was a freedom fighter, the ID they are given for their services are shown above.

on a bus


Some spicy street food. `

[Day 4]: Before the Work Begins

Before starting work  in the sweltering village heat, we decided to take a dip in the pool and visit the Dhaka Club, the oldest club in Bangladesh founded in 1911 by the then occupying British.

 

 

 

We also visited Minhaj’s grandfather’s nail factory:

All of the rickshaws throughout Bangladesh have intricate paintings and designs, the one below (coincidence? I think not) symbolizes peace:

The Bengali people are very proud of their air force as Bengali pilots are considered to be some of the best in the world due to their intense training with old, outdated aircrafts (the government can’t afford new ones, so they rely on 40-50 year old aircrafts sold by other nations). This prepares them for anything and as a result, keeps them calm when things go wrong in the air.

Drove by the Central Lab of the  Department of Public Health Engineering, a federal agency that develops and maintains tubewells among other public health projects throughout the country. 

and BRAC, Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee, a non-profit that many believe to be the largest in the world (still haven’t figured out what they base this claim off of)

an interesting billboard:

View of Dhaka from the top floor of the Westin Hotel, a common establishment that serves as a temporary home to many diplomats visiting the country:

[Day 1]: Intro to Bdesh