The Uncultured Project

Last Friday was, by far, the most surreal day since arriving here in Bangladesh over six months ago.

December 21st was Eid here in Bangladesh. Eid ul-Adha is a religious holiday which is as important to Muslims as Christmas is to Christians. Like Christmas, it’s a time when people get together to spend time with their family. What that means for someone like me – living in Dhaka City – is that most of the city empties out as people head to the countryside and rural villages to spend time with loved ones. It was very weird seeing all these empty streets that are normally filled with bumper to bumper traffic. I was able to get from my uncle’s home to my grandmother’s home in under 10 minutes. Any other day it would have taken anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour.

Eid, like Christmas, is also about giving. But, there are no presents under a tree for this holiday. Instead, it’s all about feeding the poor and feeding family. Those who can afford it usually buy a cow, a goat, or lamb. They then divide it so that a minimum of 1/3rd goes to the poor, another third goes to loved ones, and the rest is kept for oneself. Early Friday morning I had gone outside of my home to a very odd sight. Every few feet there was a cow or other farm animal tied to a fence or post. It’s like how you find bicycles in Toronto tied down to almost anything that doesn’t move. Except it was farm animals instead of bikes.

So the busy streets of Dhaka – normally full of the sound of cars honking and rickshaw bells – was eerily silent. Except for all the mooing. What came next though was really something.

As part of Eid, it’s a religious tradition that the family that buys the farm animal divides the animal up themselves. And by “divide” I mean that Dhaka basically became an open-air butcher shop. I have photos but, in good taste, I’m not uploading them. Friday morning started off waking up to the sound of mooing instead of the sound of cars. Friday afternoon that mooing was replaced with the sound of knives cutting. Along the roadside, every few feet, there was someone cutting and slicing. The streets were literally filled with blood. What was even weirder is that those parts of the city that had gated communities had their gates all closed and locked up during the day. Outside those gates stood dozens upon dozens of homeless and poor – hoping to get some of the meat that was being chopped up inside.

As shocking as such a sight was, upon reflecting on it for a couple of days, I think it’s been more good than bad. No wait – don’t close your browser window just yet – hear me out. First off, for me personally, I’ve become more respectful and mindful about where my food comes from. Back home, it’s sometimes easy to forget that a life had to be taken for you to enjoy that steak on your plate or that burger in your hand. After all, the meat from the supermarket comes prepackaged, vacuum sealed, and saran-wrapped. It’s also a refreshing change to see a religious holiday where the gift of giving is not just extended to friends and family – but also to random poor strangers.

Giving meat and beef away to the poor is actually something the poor need. Malnutrition is actually a major problem in Bangladesh. The most common issue with malnutrition is a lack of protein – particularly among the very young and poor. The poor in Bangladesh usually can only afford to buy foods which are high in carbohydrates and low in protein. Some may not even buy food. Before coming to Bangladesh, I saw a news report on BBC World News which showed that a lot of the poor in Dhaka simply boil up leaves they find near their homes and eat that for dinner. For many of the poor that had gathered near the various gated communities, Eid was the first time this year they were going to be able to have a meal with protein.

And since anyone partaking in this tradition has to give a minimum of 1/3rd to the poor – it also makes you more mindful about the plight of poverty. Can you imagine what kind of world we would have if 1/3rd of the presents we were buying during the holidays were to be given away to poor strangers?

Tweet This Post Post to Facebook

Literally and figuratively – I am sick and tired of this country’s corruption. Corruption alone maybe what keep this country firmly entrenched in its third world status. Here are five facts that bring my blood to a boil.

Fact #1: Paying the Bills Isn’t Enough.

I was at Notre Dame College the other day. Notre Dame College is a middle school and high school for Bangladesh children that provides education to middle class and extremely poor Bangladeshi children. It’s founded by the same Catholic organization that founded my alma mater in South Bend, Indiana. Some of the staff there used to be Rectors at some of the Halls at the American Notre Dame too. I’ve spent a lot of time there during this trip – makes me less homesick. My last visit there I was surprised to find the phone lines were cut – and it had nothing to do with forgetting to pay the bill.

In fact, the bills were paid on time and in full. It turns out that, in Bangladesh, paying your bills doesn’t get your service. I’ve talked about the corruption at the local water authority. The sad news is that this type of corruption isn’t limited to water. This corruption exists at the phone company and the electricity company too. If your water stops flowing – you need to ask for the water company to send a water tanker to your building. If the phone lines stop working – you need to have a technician come to your place. And, rest assured, every phone technician, water truck driver, and the middleman you need to deal with will be asking for a “commission” (which is just a nice term to legitimize bribery).

Fact #2: People suffer when this happens.

Believe it or not – there are honest people in this country trying to make an honest living here. But, rest assured, they are given a hard time by those a bit more corrupt. This is the Muslim month of Ramadan. For those not versed in Islam, it’s basically as important as Christmas is to Christians. A lot of people are buying and shopping at this time of year. It’s a time when those shopkeepers – who want to be able to survive for the rest of the year – need to be able to do business. This was made impossible for shopkeepers at the Bongo Bazaar in Dhaka (I found this great video of some foreigners shopping in the Bongo Bazaar if you want to see what it looks like). Despite paying their bills, the shop keepers didn’t have access to electricity. This wasn’t like a rolling blackout – that’s quite common here. This was a complete shutdown of electricity. Most of these shopkeepers could not afford backup generators. In much an enclosed and non-ventilated space – even local Bangladeshis couldn’t tolerate the heat there for more than two minutes.

No electricity means no fans. No fans means no shoppers. No shoppers means no business. No business means no income. No income means that it’s impossible to bribe the electricity company so that the power gets put back on. Sometimes I feel Bangladesh does a good job of keeping itself trapped in the poverty cycle.

Fact #3: People get sick when this happens.

In medieval Europe, people would put the contents of their toilet into a bucket (or just use a bucket as their toilet). When it needed to be emptied – they’d go near the window and dump it all out. This is how people lived when indoor plumbing didn’t exist. It’s good to know that corruption helps to keep the medieval spirit alive and well. Because, when there is no water, my neighbors in the adjacent apartments sometimes scoop out their toilets with a bucket and dump the contents out the window. This would be less disgusting if the entrance to the place I’m staying didn’t happen to be where they dump their stuff. Disgust aside – with medieval practices come medieval diseases. It’s no surprise that everyone who lives here has had pink eye, typhoid, and stomach related illnesses.

And like the bazaar that had no electricity, Notre Dame college which had no phone lines, or my residential block which (once again) has no water – this all is happening during the month of Ramadan. A time when people need extra cash to shop and spend on their family. And it just so happens that the electricity, phone line, and water all magically come back when you give the right person the right amount of bribes. Corrupt people need to shop for their families too – but it’s innocent victims that line their pockets.

Fact #4: Corruption disproportionately hurts the poor.

I was visiting someone who had an apartment in a region of the city called Baridhara. Baridhara is a diplomatic zone – it has the US Embassy (along with other embassies from other countries) and is the home to many foreigners and rich locals. Many of the apartments there would put most homes in North America to shame. LCD TVs in every room, each room with its own independent A/C, marble flooring and countertops, and all the fancy fixtures and accessories to go along with it. If the power goes out – there is a generator that can power everything for up to a day. If the water goes out – houses and apartments there come with massive reserve tanks. And when bribing is necessary, the apartment building manager pays off the right people and adds the cost to the apartment fees. Bribing for a flat rate – how convenient is that?

The same is true for the stores that cater to the rich. At a local supermarket called Lavender, one of the few places where white customers out number Bangladeshis, a small bag of cookies costs about 8 US Dollars. In local terms thats over 500 of the local currency – or about 4 times the daily income of over 80% of the population. But, unlike the Bongo Bazaar, the shoppers there never need to worry about a lack of electricity for the A/C. The high price of goods helps pay for the bribes. Not every store can be like Lavender and add the cost of bribes to the price of the products.

Fact #5: Corruption is so bad, even aid agencies don’t trust the locals.

One of the United Nation’s Millennium Development Goals is to stop the spread of HIV, tuberculous, and malaria. To help in this cause there is a Global Fund – literally called the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculous and Malaria. The Global Fund helps many countries – but when they decided to try and help Bangladesh, they decided not to work with the government or most local NGOs. When it comes to purchasing things like mosquito nets, the government and or an NGO needs to place a request to a foreign agency like the World Health Organization. The UN then acts as the honest broker and makes the purchase ensuring that money meant for poor people doesn’t get pocketed by corrupt officials.

I don’t think anyone really understands what kind of corruption this country has until you come and live here. Where is Don Corleone when you need him? The man would be a saint in this country.

Tweet This Post Post to Facebook