So far in my experience of working in development, I have found that development work can deliver you to the extreme highs but also to the burying lows. Within the last 24 hours I have reached both extremes.
Whilst I can go on about the great highs that we continually reach here at The Dhaka Project – which is often the case for the information we put on this blog. In today’s journal I just want to give all our readers an idea of the struggles that the team and I deal with everyday; in particular the last 24 hours that has just gone past.
Electricity
This has to be one of the most frustrating problems here at TDP HO and it climaxed yesterday with only 3 hours of current between 8am and 5pm! So much so that I wrote a blog entry (Electricity Problem) out of discontent before my battery ran out on my laptop! Whilst this slows HO’s operation, it has greater effect on the schools and the kids learning.
Medicine
Unfortunately our previous medicine sponsor has decided to rotate the focus of their CSR campaign, leaving us to fill the gap of providing us free and highly discounted medicine for our kids. In the heat of summer the kids have unfortunately had an outbreak of scabies and other annoyingly easily treatable diseases, but without access to medicine we cannot do much.
Child Electrocuted
Kids will be kids wherever in the world they are! Unfortunately one of our kids was intrigued about some wires in his house and was quite severely electrocuted last night. Fortunately, it was not life endangering.
Staff Shortage
Whilst here at Galwair we have had the celebration of a wedding - where 2 brothers in our staff having their sister married on the weekend; it has unfortunately meant that we at TDP HO have been running 2 man short for a few days this last week whilst they were on leave. Unfortunately this is a problem because we operate here on as little overhead as possible, ensuring as much of the funds can go directly through to benefit The Dhaka Project families.
Internet
Bangladesh Government is full of incompetence, corruption and bureaucracy (I feel comfortable to make that statement after working for 12 months heading up an IT department in a Govt Agency here) and one of the worst departments is the Telegraph Board – the providers of internet to Bangladesh. They continually seem to be able to break the only cable/connection to the greater world – of course it again happened today!
Visa Bureaucracy
When you think of travel destinations, Bangladesh probably sits quite low on many westerners list (however it shouldn’t – it is truly amazing, intriguing and untouched). However you would think that friend of The Dhaka Project should find it easy to get a Tourist Visa here, but we are forever having problems like Rufus had the other day (The Odyssey of Acquiring a Visa)
And even as all these problems that come with running an NGO can get us down, we have great offers of generosity – and the last 24 hours have been no different. I have had 4 different people approach me with gifts that I have to pinch myself to believe! Such kindness that it makes you feel so proud to be a member of the human race!
Unfortunately I can’t announce any of the great acts of kindness yet… but they will no doubt be on the blog over the coming days and weeks.
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