Asian Aid - Notes from the Field Issue 1

Asian Aid in Bangladesh

notes from the field

issue 1

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Images and Stories Collected by Joshua and Tammy Moses© 2012 Asian Aid Australia.

Pictured: Fishing boats docked near Padma Ferry

October 2012 // Issue 1

We’ve left Bangladesh and now begins the long and arduous task for me (Field Media Volunteer) to sift through all the images and video we’ve captured, edit it and then present it to


Pictured: Ferry at Sunset, to cross Padma River

you all. I feel the best way to highlight this mass of content is to communicate the trip to you location-to-location, step by step. By the end you should feel that you were with us the whole time.

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Pictured: Busy Intersection near night markets in , Dhaka, Bangladesh

I remember two nights before we left Bangladesh I went out and took some long-exposure photographs of an incredibly busy intersection and as I looked at the image on the screen of the camera and listened to the cacophony of noise coming from the street below, I felt the image communicated everything my senses were experiencing.

I was content. I hope that the images and stories we present to you will give you a crystal clear perspective of the work Asian Aid is a part of in such a beautiful, yet needy country that is Bangladesh.


Getting AcquaintedMaissie Fook Memorial School

This photo (background) was the first Asian Aid supported school we visited on our trip. We learnt this was a particularly special school as the funds for the construction came from the founder of Asian Aid, Maissie Fook.

Students from this school are all below the age of 8, and many come to school with one of their parents, typically their mothers, or their grandparents. Set on a stilt-foundation, the windows afforded a glorious 180 degree view of rice paddies and

many other plots of various vegetables. We were quickly learning how much Bangladeshi folk use the ‘curse’ of the heavy monsoon seasons to their advantage.

The two teachers, a husband and wife who also live in the school, are both in their mid-20’s. They’ve seen the need of rural village teachers and decided as a couple to take this tough placement on board. My wife and I are 25 and 24 years old, and though we’ve taken a placement overseas for Asian Aid, it’s a walk in the park compared to the


Pictured: The stilted school, overlooking rice paddy’s

life these willing individuals have chosen.

Steve, the male teacher, was an ex-sponsor child from Asian Aid him-self, having been sponsored from primary school all the way through college, landing him a Bachelors De-gree in Education, from BASC. This is the definition of giving back from what you’ve been blessed with!

The school has 55 students in it and in the hot monsoon months, when you add the presence of additional relatives, it in can get quite congest-ed. The above classroom is com-pletely sealed, but the downstairs classroom is an open air classroom. On rainy and windy days this be-comes a challenge for children to keep their books, bags and them-selves dry.

Like Stephen giving back to his community, you can create hope for these young children

through sponsorship. Sponsor a child in Bangladesh today through:

www.asianaid.org.au/sponsorchild


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Pictured: Students lined up, ready to go home from school.

Getting AcquaintedBangladesh AdventistSeminary College

Following our early morning visit to the Maissie Fook School, our trip leader directed us to the only Seventh-day Adventist College in Bangladesh, the Bangladesh Adventist Seminary College [BASC]. The campus was built in the 1960s when land was cheaper, & quality labour was easy to come by, which in turn supplied the college with ample land & resources to provide a holistic learning experience for the many generations of students that have and are currently attending.

The college currently supports 53 Asian Aid spon-sored students. Many of the graduates of BASC leave with a highly developed level of English pro-ficiency, and are regularly employed into foreign NGOs and private organisations. The campus is

working towards becoming a sustainable institu-tion through the development of several projects including an animal husbandry program, fisheries, rice paddies, and fruit and vegetable cultivation. As hired help is a considerable cost for the administra-tion to bear each year, the students of BASC are encouraged to build their vocational & practical


Pictured: Main Admin building and classrooms; BASC

Pictured: Students in computer class; throughout our Bangladesh schools BASC has the greatest accessibility to technological

skills through being involved in managing and main-taining the current income-generating projects, and are provided with a small subsidy to help with their every day living costs as well.

Something that is hard to picture in an Australian-based university, is feeding 700+ students with food cooked over large wood-fire pits. The image (bottom left) shows the nightly hostel meal being cooked in enormous ‘patilas’ [Bangladeshi aluminum cooking pots]. The ingenuity of the Bangladeshi people to efficiently utilise the resources available to them is something to be admired.By the way, their food is incredibly tasty.

We were able to interview 7 students of BASC, some pending for sponsorship and some very grateful of the sponsorship they’ve received. The students here are meticulous, they had their ques-tions for the interview memorised and seemed confident and excited to have the opportunity to tell their story of hope. Those stories; not soon forgotten.

There are students pending for sponsorship at BASC. You can help them along their education journey through Asian Aid sponsorship right now. Sponsor a child in Bangladesh today through: www.asianaid.org.au/sponsorchild


Pictured: (above) football field, which suffers from the monsoon rains; often floods. (below left) Student working in the kitchen, where 700 meals are prepared 3 times per day. (below middle) Rice paddy’s freshly planted on campus. (below right) Students having recreation time.


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“If you really want to know about the future, don’t ask a technologist, a scientist, or a physicist. No! If you want to know what society’s going to be like in 20 years, ask a kindergarten teacher.” - Clifford Stoll (paraphrased)

Pictured: Student from Maissie Fook Memorial School

Documents

Asian Aid - Notes from the Field Issue 1