The Uncultured Project

It felt like something out of a movie. I was in a car on the way home – it was fifteen minutes to midnight. There wasn’t a soul on the street and the only sounds you could hear were the rain beating down on the streets, the noise of the wind, and the car’s engine. It was pitch black too – every home, apartment, and building as far as the eye could see had no electricity. Then – all of a sudden – a blinding bright light and a roar erupts right next to the car – just outside of my side of the car. My window then gets showered in glowing sparks.

I wasn’t in any danger – it was just a transformer exploding. But, for the first time in this whole time in Bangladesh – I was scared…

I’m writing this on my battery’s laptop power. The glow of the screen is the only thing that is lighting up this room. Now, this isn’t the first time there’s been a blackout – but this time it’s different. This isn’t the first time its rained – but this it’s different. It’s different because, this time it’s caused by Cyclone Sidr. It hit the coats of Bangladesh at approximately 6 pm local time and hasn’t stopped.

The good news… well… ummm… the good news for me at least – is that I’m pretty safe here in Dhaka. It’s just a nasty storm with heavy rain. Although, it’s heavy enough that the streets are getting water logged/flooded, things are getting really cold, and the winds are creating a widespread problem with the electrical grid. From the more modern areas where foreigners live (Gulshan) to old parts of the city (Shatinagar) – all have experienced or are experiencing blackouts tonight.

If this cyclone has this effect for people in the city, I can only imagine how things are on the coastline – where many of the rural poor live. BBC is reporting tidal waves of 3 meters in height with homes, schools, and trees just blown away. Many have been displaced and those who aren’t displaced have lives disrupted.

My latest episode on YouTube talks about being trapped in the cycle of poverty. It seems like even Mother Nature makes it hard for people to pull themselves out of the trap that is poverty.

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I would like to say that everything is okay – but it really isn’t. Lately – for about the past few weeks – I’ve had this nervous feeling at the pit of my stomach. Am I doing the right thing? Is this project – at least the part of it that is online – making a difference?

I guess this feeling first started to creep in after I was able to meet Mikey Leung. Mikey is another fellow Canadian blogger trying to make a difference in Bangladesh. But, instead of coming here by himself, he joined with the Volunteer Service Organization. I actually had a chance to meet up with Mikey in person a few weeks ago and meet some of his fellow friends from the VSO.

How would be the best way to describe my feeling when I met these people? Have you ever run around – when you were really young – with a blanket tied to your neck pretending to be Superman? Now, imagine yourself meeting the real Superman. That’s kind of how I felt. There was no doubt in my mind who the real heroes were. In comparison to them, I felt like a fraud.

While I am walking around with one of my various Notre Dame t-shirts, these guys are wearing t-shirts they designed themselves promoting the UN’s Millennium Development Goals. That’s how hardcore they are. They also have none of the advantages I do. They don’t have family here or relatives here to lend support. They don’t have knowledge of the language before arriving. And, if they get sick (as many of them have), they just keep toughing it out and don’t stop working.

To put things into perspective, these are highly educated people who could have had successful high paying jobs anywhere in the world they wished. I met one of Mikey’s friends who happens to be educated from one of Britain’s best schools (and has a Masters degree), but is working here (like all other volunteers) for 9,000 taka a month. Let me put that into perspective: that’s about $130 dollars US a month. All of them work full time so that averages to about 50 cents an hour.

I wasn’t the only one at Notre Dame inspired by Dr. Jeffrey Sachs. On the Notre Dame facebook, I’ve found tons of people that have since gone off to Africa and other parts of the world to build schools, provide clean water, and make a difference. In fact, Notre Dame recently made a TV commercial featuring Tyler Stavinoha’s work with people in Haiti. You can watch that amazingly inspiring video on youtube at this link.

This isn’t the first time I’ve doubted myself or this project. I also know that this project is a lot about making a difference in just a few lives – and I have been able to do that thankfully. But, I can’t help but wonder how much more I could have done if I wasn’t trying to blog or make youtube videos while I’m here. There are tons of volunteers like Mikey – but very few of them blog. There is a very simple reason for that – when you are working to make a genuine difference, it’s actually very difficult to do much else (like blog or video blog).

As true as that is, that’s one of the reasons I want to be blogging and making youtube videos while I am on this project. Although there are already so many people trying to make the world a better place, there are even more that would love to be able to do so but can’t. Blogging and video blogging can be a way to share this experience. There are also those out there who might be the kind of person who would want to make a difference – but have not yet been inspired or informed on how to do so. If I can inspire others like Dr. Sachs inspired me – all the better.

In many ways, I guess meeting up with some real heroes has made me question my own project because their work is so unambiguous. You can’t question the humility, dedication, and purpose of someone who works for next to nothing (in a country he or she doesn’t know) all while doing it all in relative obscurity. They can also take pride in their work in a way I can’t. My project is a bit more ambiguous. I am trying to make a difference on the ground while trying to make a difference to others online. But, when it comes to the internet, it’s hard to tell whether you are making an impact or just talking to yourself in the dark.

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The winning streak is over. For 43 consecutive games, Notre Dame has always beaten Navy. Navy hasn’t won against us since the 1960s….. until today. The only thing I can be happy about is that – despite being thousands of miles away in a country where you can’t watch the game on any TV station – I was able to watch the game live and support the Fighting Irish.

It’s all thanks to a little bit of technology called the Slingbox.

I’ve talked about Bangladesh and their cell phone network before. Bangladesh has an EDGE network covering almost all of the entire country. And it’s this internet connection which allows me blog, upload photos to my flickr page, and upload episodes to my YouTube channel. But, this connection (when it isn’t be blocked due to government censorship) is also good enough that I can stream video from my Slingbox Pro back home in Canada. Slingbox is this little box that you can hook up to your cable or satellite TV and your home internet connection to stream your TV to anywhere you have a decent internet connection. The quality isn’t that bad as you can see from the screenshot above.

Being able to watch Notre Dame football isn’t just something I like to do as a fan. I was a student there before I came to Bangladesh and started this project. The players on the field aren’t just faces on a TV screen but are flesh and blood people I would see on campus all the time. I even got to know a few of them like David Bruton (#27). I was his TA for Intro the Sociology. I have to admit I became a bit nostalgic and homesick when I saw him.

What pisses me off though is that if I wanted to do the same thing in Canada – I couldn’t. Canada does have an EDGE network but it’s data rates and restrictions make heavy use like using a Slingbox economically prohibitive and practically impossible. In many respects, Bangladesh’s cell phone plans and pricing is more in line with the developed world. Canada, on the other hand, has pricing that is more in line with the third world. It’s actually cheaper to get a data plan in Rwanda (or here in Bangladesh) than it is with Rogers Wireless in Canada.

One more screenshot after the jump. Those fellow Fighting Irish fans who want to avoid further trauma may not to see the final screenshot.

Continue reading ‘Using a Slingbox from Bangladesh to Watch a Moment of History Live’

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Like most blogs on the internet, this one exists in a great deal of obscurity. But I am fortunate that the few readers that do come by take the time to write thoughtful comments. Some of those readers maybe wondering why their recently submitted comments haven’t shown up.

Apparently, my comment spam filter was auto-deleting comments it had labeled as spam. Usually it lets me double check before deleting – and in the past I’ve found many false positives. If your comment was one of the ones that was accidentally blocked because of this – I apologize. Unfortunately, there is no way for me to recover those already deleted comments.

Because of the small readership this blog has, I’ve left comments unmoderated. If you leave a comment it should post right away. The only reason it won’t is unless it’s been identified as spam. Apparently, a blog can never be too small to be targeted by spammers.

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There is a new photoset up on my Flickr page called “The Urban Poor of Dhaka City”. These were photos I took about a block from where I live. There is this sidewalk thats been basically turned into a shanty town or slum.

I once had a friend in college who would scoff at my focus on Third World Poverty. “There are homeless in Toronto you know!” he would tell me (Toronto being my hometown). I would just shake my head and tell him he doesn’t understand. Yes, there is homeless in the developed world – but you can’t even begin to compare the two.

Maybe if he saw this in person he’d understand better.

These homeless don’t have the luxury of a soup kitchen.

More photos here.

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