Haphazardly Trying to Make the World a Better Place. Inspired by my time as a student at the University of Notre Dame.
These past 14 hours have served as an example of one of the many frustrating challenges a project like this faces. What many non-Bangla speakers sometimes don't realize, is that there are many variations of Bangla. There is city Bangla, Bangla used by those who emigrated away from Bangladesh, and rural village Bangla. Each one comes with different accents, meanings, and translations. This can be a lot of trouble when trying to translate words I've heard for the first time in rural villages. This was exactly what happened when a local villager tried to explain to Paul that Cyclone Aila had destroyed ...
[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="482" caption="A Young Villager Talks to Paul About His Experiences with Cyclones Sidr & Aila"][/caption] When my friend Paul stepped off that plane at Zia International Airport in Dhaka, he thought he was going to get away from it all. For the past several months, Paul has been living in Nepal. He's seen regular riots, curfews, day-long power outages, and frequent water shortages. Bangladesh, by comparison, was a place he assumed he could get away from that for a bit. Being the great friend that I am, his experience was more like jumping out of the frying pan and ...
[caption id="" align="alignright" width="146" caption="Country Director for Save the Children USA in Bangladesh"][/caption] “This is development work,” he said to me as I sat across from him. I was in the offices of Save the Children USA with Kelly Stevenson – the country director. I had lost count of how many meetings I’ve had with him – though I was grateful for every single one. My view of development work and fighting poverty has certainly changed a lot since I first started this project. For one thing, I had come into this project with an overly consumerist ...
[caption id="" align="alignright" width="180" caption="Slum Lady Washes Clothes by the Pond"][/caption] When it comes to my work in Bangladesh, I tend to focus a lot on rural villages. This probably seems strange since there is so much poverty just outside of my door here in Dhaka City. A few days back, along with a more adventurous friend, I decided to take a closer look at one of these slums... I've seen people in slums wash their hands, do their dishes, and use the bathroom in ponds adjacent to slums. Until this walk, I always assumed that this was their primary (and only) ...
This is what I mean when I say I want to “YouTube with a Purpose”. If it wasn’t for YouTube, most of you wouldn’t be reading this. If it wasn’t for YouTube, I’d never get to meet Hank and John Green. If it wasn’t for YouTube, Hank would never have thought to donate to some guy with a crazy idea for a project in Bangladesh.
Photos, deleted scenes, and much more after the jump.
Continue reading ‘Hank, John, and a Journey Through the Chittagong Hill-Tracts’
… or how much of my family in Bangladesh doesn’t give a damn about me.
I try and avoid writing about negative family issues because it kind of feels like I’m airing dirty laundry. Although I’ve tried my best to minimize how much I talk about this issue, the fact is the single biggest emotional toll I have had on this trip is discovering that most of my family here simply doesn’t give a damn about how I’m doing here or if I need their help. That’s not universally true of course. My grandmother has completely blown me away with her endless compassion and generosity despite her unemployment and her limited fixed income. But, as she often points out, “big wallets don’t always mean big hearts”. This also connects to what I’ve been saying earlier about many wealthy Bengalis living in an “aristocratic dome” (something thicker than just a bubble).
This ended up being a much longer article (rant?) than I imagined. So the complete article is after the jump.
Wow! I knew rural Bangladesh was beautiful. But the natural scenery and beauty of the Chittagong Hill-Tracts was a whole other level of beautiful. The people (like these kids above who asked if they could take a photo with me) were friendly and welcoming too! And, best of all, because I was in a mostly Buddhist village – I could finally wear shorts! I can’t really do that in most parts of Bangladesh without getting scolded (or getting stern looks) from the local Muslim population.
More photos and details after the jump.
“What about the taxes?” asked one of the students. It was my last day of talks at the American International School in Dhaka. I was in the middle of recounting my experience doing Cyclone Sidr Disaster Relief. Everything seemed to be going well – but this question kind of threw me off.
“Uhh… taxes?” I asked. Before the student replied, I quickly gave him one good look and realized that he – unlike most of the students in the classroom – wasn’t an expatriate. Rather, he was among the small percentage of Bangladeshis that were actually rich enough to be able to send their children to this school. Judging by the expensive and fashionable Western clothing, perfectly matching accessories, and perfectly styled hair – he was from a rather well-to-do family.
“Yeah, you see,” he started to explain, “if local families wanted to give aid to the Cyclone victims using their own name – they weren’t allowed to do so. They had to give it to the military to distribute instead. And, anything we gave could be taxed. Don’t you think that’s a problem? A lot of people didn’t give aid because of that,”
I made a slight groan underneath my breath. Find out why after the jump…
Continue reading ‘The “Expat Bubble” vs. The “Aristocratic Dome”’
What great disapointment [sic] Mr Shawn .. All talk and no action
This was actually the fourth message I received from this person (not counting emails). At first it was just a few form letters and forwarded messages. But, eventually, the messages became more and more frequent and less and less professional. I eventually decided to block this person. Who was this person? Believe it or not, this was a founder and chairperson of a small but internationally renowned charity here in Dhaka.
I’d like to say that I got off on the wrong foot with this person… but the fact is I didn’t even have a chance to properly correspond with this person. It’s been increasingly hard to keep up with all the messages and comments people send me via YouTube, email, and Facebook. I try my best to reply to as many as I can. But, what often goes on the backburner are messages that are soliciting me to collaborate on a business (or social business) venture and/or requests to give some of the money that I have recently raised.
I know it’s important to team up with larger organization and like-minded individuals. I try and do so as often as I can. It’s just that with so many new people trying to contact me, it’s hard to keep up. Even my speaking event at the American International School in Dhaka took three months to arrange. I’m just one guy – it’s often hard to juggle everything that’s been going on as this project gains more and more interest. It’s for this reason – and my desire to avoid more messages like those I’ve recently received – that I’d like to mention a few things to any potential solicitor:
Finally, please keep your correspondence professional. As much as I’ve disappointed some people due to my lack of replies, the greater disappointment is finding out that many people believe that they are the gate-keepers for action and making a difference. Respectfully, even if I don’t pursue anything with you, it doesn’t mean I’m not making a difference.
In this episode, I talk about starting to accept donations, paying it forward, and what it’s like to talk to high school students at the American International School in Dhaka about The Uncultured Project.
“This maybe the day that I finally pay it forward” I said to a group of students just minutes ago. I’m writing this at a desk inside the American International School in Dhaka. I was invited to talk to the students here and, after a very long day, I just finished talking to over 200 students in both classroom and large auditorium settings. The photo above is a one I took after spending about an hour and half talking to a group of high school science students about my work and the work of Dr. Jeffrey Sachs.
It is a strange reversal of roles. It wasn’t long ago that I was a student listening to a man passionate about ending poverty. That man was Dr. Jeffrey Sachs and I was then a grad student at Notre Dame. Fast forward nearly two years – and over 8,000 miles away – and here I am (a passionate guy about ending poverty) talking to a group of students. I got to talk to middle school and high school students of virtually every race, ethnicity, religion, and nationality. It doesn’t get more amazing than that.
It was also the first time in my life I got recognized off YouTube by a stranger. One of the students in the first class I was speaking to asked me if I make videos on YouTube (I was so nervous with my first talk that I entirely forgot to mention that my work involves YouTube). Apparently, this student had searched for Bangladesh on YouTube before his family moved here and found my Christmas Day video. It was surreal. What was even more surreal was how amazed some of the teachers are about my work.
“He’s the only one in the world that’s doing something like this right now!” exclaimed High School Science Teacher Rick Davis to his students. Hopefully, whether it’s by a someone inspired here at AIS Dhaka or somewhere else in the world, I won’t be long before I am not the only one doing a project like this.
(And if anybody at AIS is reading this – why not add me as a friend on facebook?)
I'm Shawn - a 28 year old Canadian from Toronto. Before starting this project, I was a graduate student on scholarship at Notre Dame University. My life took a turn after I met Dr. Jeffrey Sachs (author of the book "The End of Poverty") when he came to give a speech at Notre Dame. That speech inspired me to withdraw from grad school, liquidate my savings, and begin this journey to try and make the world a better place - one meaningful difference at a time.
This is Matt - a friend of mine from Notre Dame. Matt was able to bring a little bit of this project to Uganda as part of his two month summer internship with a Ugandan NGO. With the help of the online community that is supporting this project, he was able to help several grandmothers become sustainable self-employed farmers. Unfortunately, you won't find Matt on this blog as often as me because he's back at Notre Dame finishing his undergraduate degree.