Bangladesh09 Friday
Friday 18th September
This was our last day in Horintana before we headed off to Khulna to visit the Home Of Joy. The first thing that caught my eye as we got off the boat was a number of men working on the banks of the river, carrying mud up from the low tide mark to shore up the banks. I asked if we could walk down to have a closer look, after all I’d seen it on the BBC a couple of weeks previously so it had to be worth checking out. I climbed down the bank and got the okay from one of the workers to walk down to the pits that were being dug out.
These guys work in hot humid conditions with basic tools. They cut away the mud and put it into baskets and carry it on their heads up to the banks. Each basket must weigh in at about 40-50 kilos – it looked like back breaking work. I felt like I might be in the way so I stepped back a little too far and my foot sank into the mud. I looked like I’d been to Glastonbury, at least on my right foot!
I had some video work to finish so I pottered about pointing a camera in people’s faces. One of the workers that I’d made friends with was a guy called James. He lives in the village and is employed as a kind of handyman. He called me over to where he was carving away on an old piece of wood. I asked him what he was making and he turned the stick in a stirring motion. So this was where their kitchen utensils came from. Who needs Ikea?
After giving the finished stick a quick soak in the brown pond water he walked into the kitchen and gave it to one of the cooks who immediately started using it to stir the curry. The second cook was outside washing the lentils in the same pond. Well, maybe it adds to the flavour but later John White explained that Global Care are looking at ways of collecting clean rainwater for cooking use.
One of the dishes prepared was hot-pot, a nutritious mix of rice, fish, prawn, potato, spinach, pumpkin, papaya and chilli. This was especially for the school children that day because we were there. Love Bangladesh would provide this meal regularly if it had the funds to and it’s one of the things on the wish list.
The children sat on the floor in two lines around the building with a tin bowl and mug. After a prayer of thanks Stu got stuck in with serving the hot-pot to the children, a task that he’s particularly good at due to his Lancashire roots. Stu had been excellent with the children, who had all learnt that the way to say hello in English was to stick you thumbs up.
Chris and Marg had been busy painting a bedroom, which was looking great. We were fed exceptionally well again. I didn’t let the others know about the pond water. What you don’t know can’t hurt you!
After dinner we headed back into Horintana to do a spot of shopping. We descended on a sari shop and Chris had a good look through some of the materials, presumably for his wife. Marg chose some as well and Margaret was there to barter for us and got a tidy little discount. Jared and I headed off with James to the drum shop to get something loud to take home. We settled for a pair of tablas and waited while the stall owner prepared the drums. It was fascinating to watch as he cut some of the skin back and stretched it using wooden pegs. James tested the pair out for us and then bartered a price of 1500 thaka. We were happy with that. Next was another sari shop and I decided to buy something for my daughter. John was there trying his best to get the price down but he was doing more damage than good and fortunately Margaret showed up just at the right time.
We headed back to the school in time to pack up our things before a special farewell gathering that John Bose had organised kicked off. Once again we were asked to say something, this time what our thoughts for Love Bangladesh Ministries were. We’d all been very touched by the things we’d seen there and by the friendships that we had made. It was a fairly emotional goodbye and I took the opportunity to give the guitar that Guitar Aid had donated to John.
With the staff and helpers at the Love Bangladesh project
There were few dry eyes as we gathered our things up and made our way down to the boat for the last journey back from Horintana. The boat was run by Rushti who has owned it for five years. It was amazing to see how he negotiated the currents in that large, fast flowing river. He asked me if he could wear my hat and in return I got to steer the boat. That river was so wide it was hard to make out where we were heading but with a little help I got us some of the way at least.
It was a good end to that part of the trip. We’d made a lot of friends and seen a lot of amazing things. But there is a lot that needs to be done and a lot to think about as we got back on the Mongla bus for the last time.
