A land of contrast and contradiction...

It has been wonderful to see Ally again and to see her in this environment which we have been hearing about in bits and pieces since last July. She has looked after us, booking us flights and trains and trips here and there.

One of our most memorable experiences so far has been visiting the hospital where she has been working; ICDDR, B . We took a rickshaw for the trip which took us through some of the slum areas of Dhaka, and through the bustling Mokohali Markets. We were reminded of our time in Old Delhi, when we visited a friend who works in a drug rehab centre. The streets were narrow and potholed, and life was happening right before our eyes on the sides of the road. I have been struck by the public nature of life in Bangladesh, particularly for the poor. A bit different to our private, fenced off (and in our case buzzer-bound!!) world of Melbourne!! Our rickshaw ride, and our visit to the hospital certainly gave us some insight into poverty in Bangladesh. The hospital was a whole new experience. I have always said I could never be a nurse... this probably confirmed my suspicion, albeit a particularly intense experience of hospitals. The wards are large rooms with wall to wall rows of beds covered in plastic sheets. A large majority of the beds are occupied by children (60% of patients in this, the "cholera hospital", are under 5 years) with mothers and other family (mostly aunties or sisters or other female relatives) crowded around sharing the bed, nursing their sick child. It was confronting, and humbling, and inspiring and challenging all at once!!

Similar to some of our experiences in India, we have once again been struck by the contrasts and contradictions in Bangladesh. We have been left wondering whether visitors are confronted to the same extent by the contrasts and contradictions in Melbourne...??? Later in the evening, after all these experiences, we sat debriefing our day in a flash upstairs ice-cream sundae shop surrounded by women who looked as though they had stepped straight out of a Bollywood film set, and were all acutely aware of the contrast and of our priviledge. Some familiar discomfort sat with me. However, I want to make an effort not to allow white, middle-class western guilt to overwhelm my experience, but rather to learn what we can about the poverty we see, to do what we can to honour and be in solidarity with the poor, and to make the most of the opportunities our priviledge affords us.