JTARTAGGIA'S FEEDBACK

I came to The Dhaka Project mid-October 2009 and stayed for three months working on a specific project. Having my Masters in International Development and experience in Policy Development in the Australian Government, the Project Manager and I agreed that I would come and do an operations and service delivery analysis.
This research report bought together a broad overview of the entire organisation in the form of a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) analysis on the basis of interviews and workshops with 50 per cent of TDP Staff, meetings with The Dubai Council, RSF, long term (i.e. more than one year) volunteers as well as observations and community talks.A key research objective was to provide the research and analysis to support the organisation to commence assessing the right combination of strategies and the appropriate organizational structure to: a) address current organizational and service delivery issues and weaknesses; b) to create a solid foundation for increased sustainability, c) to implement effective mechanisms of governance and communication and d) to ensure ethical practices and best practice approach as an NGO influencing the lives of beneficiaries in Gawair. The recommendations in this paper aim to support this objective.
Despite low staff morale, within the staff I recognized that there still burned a fire of passion and devotion to the underlying purpose of TDP. There was a sense of team synergy bonded by common principles. Likewise, the children were full of loving energy and very welcoming, and the community members were warm, friendly and eager to interact. Overall, the organisation does the best that they can with the human and financial resources that they have. I was very impressed with their ability to make the most of their limitations and maximize on their strengths. Also, where they have to compromise or make sacrifices, it is always with the best interest of the beneficiaries in mind and they never sell the beneficiaries short. Staff do not hesitate to go out of their way to take on extra work or responsibility where necessary and in this way ensure that the quality of service delivery is maintained even during times where resources are stretched.
Leadership thus far has been erratic and with a high turnover. TDP is currently experiencing a stage of consistency in leadership which is good for staff morale and the development of long term strategic plans for a more sustainable organisation in the future.
During my time here, I was lucky enough to have the company of two other long term volunteers, as well as Jewel the Volunteer Manager, who ensured a smooth transition and that all my questions were answered. As time went on I really started to feel part of the community, particularly after participation in Eid celebrations and as a long term volunteer I met with various interesting short term volunteers almost weekly.
Overall, the experience was extremely rewarding and I am particularly grateful to the support of the staff and the warmth of the entire community for making my stay in Gawair such a pleasure and my work with TDP so satisfying and effective. In particular, a special thank you to Jewel - the wonderful and helpful volunteer manager, Faria – the ever enduring and endearing Family Counselor and to Rossie – the dedicated and impressive Project Manager.

DAVIDE'S FEEDBACK

I have spent 30 days between December 09 and January 10 as volunteer in the Dhaka project.
I was really impressed with what they have realized.
They provide education for more than 500 students, nursery, medical care and food for all of them. They help families living in the slums. They also build toilette for community without and keep the suburbs clean.
A great job indeed.They have to face many problems, of course, but that's normal. It is not easy to work in a place like that and, my be, the Dhaka project grew up too fast.
When I arrived they were looking for more teachers, in the meantime I tried to be helpful teaching maths and assisting the students in their activities.
As new students apply and are admitted to the school every year, there is a big gap in knowledge between the students that were in the school from the beginning when the Project started and those who joined later. Medium and long term volunteers could be helpful in giving extra classes to those students that need and want help.
I strongly invite volunteers to join The Dhaka Project and give their help.
The Dhaka Project guesthouse is perfect, clean large rooms, hot water, internet, tv, kitchen, close to the school and cheap. It wouldn't be possible to ask more.
I think that The Dhaka Project is very well organized.
All the staff do their job with passion and in a very professional way. Working with them was a great experience for me. I wish to thank all of them.
A special thank to Jewel that helped me, as the other volunteers, a lot.
It would be a pleasure to return one day.
-------Davide Pallicca.

FERRE'S FEEDBACK

Observation TDP
After reading Christiana's blog and communicating with her I thought it might be wise to use my sense organs to observe daily live at TDP.
I didn't go looking around for mistakes or make extra time to observe everything.
I just looked and felt, talked and listened.
Me as a volunteer, I felt I didn't have any authority to check everyone and everything. I wouldn't even feel comfortable doing this.

So the following are just my interpretations and suggestions. By no means
judgements.

Standard II e

Extra classes

I would start extra classes for those students who are weak. Instead of ECA (extra curriculum activities) I would send those students twice a week to extra classes in Maths and/or English.
I encoutered students in class V who couldn't do simple multiplications and henceforth no divisions.

Students in class III who were struggling with the alfabet or with simple English vocabulary.

Standard III b

Punishment of children
If children behave bad action must be taken. Believe me, these children are not the easiest to handle. They are raised without any limitations like, be careful, behave yourself, that's dangerous...
If they are lazy or not attentive you have to stimulate them.
Maybe they are not attentive because they don't know the matter been thaught.
I put them outside the classroom or separate in class explaining why.
Going from door to door showing they behave bad or put them outside with a paper saying they didn't learn their lesson or put children under the table are no optimum ways of punishing children.
You scare them or ridicule them in this way.
This is my opinion, I have no experience in this or in Bengali culture.

Guided tour
One of the first days I was taken for a tour around the project. The person guiding me was phoning the next visiting place warning we were coming. This created unnatural scenes in the pre school and the medical centre.
For me it created a false scene which anybody could tell it was not real. It is bad advertisement. It shows a lack of confidence.
Honestly I don't why because later when I returned everything always was OK.

Standard IV a

Office
In the beginning when I entered the office headquarters there was always made a remark in Bangla that there was a volunteer. This was rather annoying and again honestly I don't know why.
Laughing and joking during worktime is normal!
I had the impression they were sincerely doing their job. Always ready to help or explain.
If there is no electricity so what, there isn't much you can do about.

Clothshop
The shopkeeper always explained his sales without I had to ask. One day I saw dirty clothes because of dust on the street. I made no remark. Some days later I saw the dust was removed.

Groceryshop
Very clean, always.

Standard V

Food for thought coupons
I learned that not every students/parents accept these coupons.
They use all kinds of reason. I learned also that parents demand more and more.
I think it is a good initiative and that parents should respect this.
Maybe a better way or more frequent way of communication with the neighbourhood could create a relationship of trust between the 2 parties.

Teachers
I didn't work enough together in class with the teachers to judge who is good or bad. I don't even now what the standard is for a good teacher.
From the workshop I have an idea who is motivated and who is less motivated. From the childrens reaction I saw who is cherised and who is feared.
I did spend a lot of time with them and as persons I all value them.
They are willing to listen and to discuss. They take more classes now there is shortage of teachers.
They ask how they can improve themself.
If you want to break the cycle of poverty through education then your teachers are your capital investment and that should be treated this way and they should offcourse work accordingly.
There was a lot of stress about job security and an Eid bonus not received?

Standard VI

Food in nursery and kindergarden.
I accidently bumped in on a officeworker who went to this places for checking lunch. I could come and saw that everything was correct. The food was prepared as on the list and children were eating.
Everything was clean on every occasion I visited.

Adult training centre above the nursery.
I only went twice in the very beginning, just after Eid vacation.
So my view might be biased.
This place left a rather bad impression on me. Altough there were people sincerely working there were also woman sitting there and not hiding their disinterest. Actually they behaved very annoyed and arrogant.

Adult training (English and computer) in EK school
Very motivated people (most of them) who sincerely want to learn English and computer.
I was very pleased to see this.
Those who didn't pass testing were not allowed on computerclass untill next examination, this as motivation.
I also saw longterm absences here. I think follow up should start immediatly after short time of absence. It is a matter of good practise for your organisation.

Students counselling

Lunch for children
In the beginning I had difficulties with the fact that only some children are getting rice as lunch and others have to eat bread and banana as lunch, the same as breakfast.
The children didn't complain but i felt inequality.
Changes will be implemented.

Schoolbooks

As an English medium school I at least expect English textbooks for the subject English. In standard II there wasn't any available. in general there is shortage of textbooks so a lot af copying as to be done.

Students Counselling

ECA in liveskills (eca extra curriculum activities)
This is just an idea.
Often when I asked someone to answer in class they said they couldn't answer without even trying. Also when I surveyed examination some choose to look at others' papers instead of trying themself.
I told them they were fooling themself not me or the teachers.
That this are vital liveskills for later when they are adult, then you have to solve problems without looking with your neighbour.
I told them you develop these skills as child partly at school but also at home.
Some understood other gazed and most of them carried on.
Actually the last day of my teaching I asked a student to answer. Apparently she didn't even had her book on the table.
WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE!!! Aiming my eyes to heaven asking God for assistance.
Just to indicate that a change in attitude would be helpful for weaker students.

FERRE'S JOURNAL

My time in EK school, The Dhaka Project.
Before I left my home country I felt particiularly more tensed about my forthcoming holiday then on previous occasions.
The difference was that now I had engaged myself to do volunteer work.
An area where I have almost no experience in.
After some communication with TDP I expressed my preference to do more practical things because teaching is not my thing, I thought.
Once I was in Gawair, Dhaka, I came to know that at present the practical things like building toilets or planting trees weren't the most urgent things on the list.
We went on a survey to look in the slum if toilets were needed.
I learned a lot about toilet culture in Bangladesh.
Like if you build a toilet you also have to hire someone te keep it clean. People will not clean it themself, they also rely on the annual floodings to wash away excess excrements.
With all repect but people who daily have to worry about their primary needs don't have a fancy toilet on top of their want list.
There I was, still with a jetlag in my body and the knowledge that I was't going to do any practical things.
What am I doing here I doubted! Teaching wasn't an appealing alternative for me.
I agreed to give it a go.
The first classes I was together with other teachers which helped me a lot.
Mahmuda gave me some Bangla vocabulary with which I could draw attention when needed.
Because of shortage of teachers I was soon giving classes on my own.
English, maths, science and computer class were on my list.
I became classteacher of standard II-E. This involves that you register who is present, which children feel sick and which children have lunch.
As an English medium school I at least expect english textbook for the subject English but for standard II there wasn't any available.
Teach them anything I was answered but I honestly believe that as a school you should try to follow a curriculum.
Once you get in a routine of having the same classes over and again you know what to expect from the students and they know what to expect from you.
The first days I put a lot of time in getting some discipline in the students. They were talking, running and doing as they pleased. This was disturbing me and others students were easily distracted.
I remember one of my first classes alone I went to a girl in the back with her head on the table.
Like a woodpecker I used my board marker on her table to draw attention but she started crying, I had to get another teacher to explain and comfort her.
It was only later when I realised what an enormous creature I must have been these first days.
Whitin one class you have a big variety between students. Some very clever other lazy or just not smart enough.
It was also important to involve every student. The easiest thing, is to go with the smartest and fastest students.
It was new for most students because I didn't let the good ones always read or answer.
I also explained why, because I could see their disappointments.
To the other I explained why they had to answer and that if it was wrong I would help them.
Showing them that they were here to learn not for knowing everything already.
I explained in simple everyday things why maths is important e.g. going to the baza, possible cheating by others,...
The better students helped them orally in Bangla on the white board doing devisions.
So after a coupple of weeks some of the weaker students started to blossom and take initiative to show themself instead of hiding in the back.
There is still work in getting their level of knowledge to the same level as the better students but extra classes woud be very helpfull.
These children are very spontaneous. The more I worked with them the more I got mesmerized by their natural way of being.
They never seem preoccupied and they instantly forget when you reprimand them.
They don't doubt in their acting towards each other or you as a foreigner.
One day in class 2-E I raised my voice to Masadul that he had to stop talking or that he otherwise could do his talking in front of the class.
OK, but may I do it in Bangla, was his answer.
The next 10 minutes he was talking with a big smile on his face. The others were listening with staring eyes and open mouths, sometimes a massive laughter escaped.
In class VI there was Al-Amin who sang with a lovely voice in front of the class and Sumon from class V he enjoyed singing his whole repertoire while we had to wait for our lunch donated by Emirates.
But in one class I encoutered a lot of struggle. I had to teach English but their level of English was really miserable.
Their behaviour was like lacking any respect.
With a bideshi (foreigner) as teacher it is partytime they presumed!
I was troubled and thinking why the behaviour was so different from other classes.
I was told that these are children from criminals and that's why, they don't have any example at home. That's no excuse!
Maybe it was to hide their lack of knowledge they behaved like this.
It costed a lot of effort to get some authority. Sometimes I had to force myself not to laugh with their brilliant imitation of myself. I knew that I gave in I had to start all over again.
Once they started to try to cooperate they all wanted to be as good as each other.
Altough it was a difficult class till the last day I have fond memories of them. So young, Zahirul, Ranju, Yasin and Rasel and already such a macho behaviour, even the girls had a lot af character.
Sometimes a workshop was organised for to the teachers. The aim was to improve their spoken English.
I don't know whether they liked the workshop or that it was a better alternative to giving extra curriculum activities. Anyway the time spent at this workshop was worthwhile and at times very animated. A pity that only took word those who were already good in it.
There is also a lot of absence by students. Most of them keep it by 1 day a week.
One day we went on studentcounseling, talking to parents of students who are absent for a long period.
For me it was quite an experience. It revealed everything that the teachers said about student absence was somehow true.
Major factor is economical reason. Some of the parents suggest whitout any shame that house rent paid by TDP would solve this problem.
So some children go out working. One girl prefered this to going to school.
Then you have disinterested students and/or parents, they don't really care about long term effects.
The environment is not very stimulating for children to go to school or even to study at home.
Other have really lame excuses. E.g. I have a sore eye. There is free healthcare for you I responded.
I can imagine that this counseling becomes demotivating but it should be a standardprocedure very soon after prolonged absence e.g. 1 or 2 weeks absence.
A special class was the adult (ranging from 20 to 53 years) English class.
The older students were really keen on learning English. As an excercise they had to tell their favourite memory.
Some unbelievable stories were told with a lot of nerves in this simple Bengali English.
One person told about his childhood adventure on a train.
As a child he always dreamt about a train journey.
One day he was about 9 years old he had the opportunity. What went wrong I don't know exactly but he always mist his station and as a result he was on this local train for 3 days whitout any food till somebody helped him.
From this people I learned that they are really concerned about the future of their children.
They wondered if the teaching was OK, if there are similar projects as TDP in the world.
They asked if TDP was able to provide the A or O level certificate. Explaining that this is a long term process which is the responsibility of the school, the child and also the parents I further accentuated that at present TDP is giving your children a better childhood.
You just have to look at these happy children with their eternal smiles.
As conclusion I want to express my gratitude to Maria and everybody who is involved in making this project running whether in Dubai, Bangladesh or any other place.

Ferre

GABRIELLE'S FEEDBACK !

An amazing month…
Thank you, thank you, thank you!
It’s coming to the end of a wonderful month for me of volunteering at the Dhaka project. I’m writing the blog to thank everyone here, including all the staff, the children and to Maria for having founded such a wonderful project.
Before arriving I had not read the previous blogs and was unaware of the current state of the project and some of the problems that it was experience… I'm glad this was the case as it meant my opinions were not swayed and I had no prior views and expectations. To try and help the Dhaka project along I have noted some of the following. No remarks on any particular persons are intended poorly.Pre-school
I was meant to spend one week in the pre-school. I grew very attached to the children and staff and recognized the help that they needed and ended up staying for two weeks. There are three teachers in the pre-school, all of which are at very different education standards. This ranges from competent to unable to successfully read, write and converse in english. I held teachers training classes every day. In these I helped to; enforce more creative tasks to aid student learning (making playdough, painting, drawing, etc), to make the teachers more phonetically aware (with help form my good friend Philly Carrick who is studying teaching back in Australia), I also ran group reading sessions, the improvement over the two weeks was outstanding. The quality of teaching however still remains poor.
The children got fed a breakfast of milk and bread, a banana as a snack later in the day and then a meal of rice and curry at lunch time.
I know that the children could excel in their education rapidly with adequate teaching and I hope that they get given this chance.
The Dhaka Project School (TDP)
I spent my last two week at TDPS. The atmosphere in the school is wonderful. The people are all happy and the children are very eager to learn. Without the extremity of the pre-school I am of the same opinion with the teaching staff.
The children get served bread and banana for breakfast and then some of the children, not all, get served curry and rice for lunch. It's been explained that the children who go without are new students, they get served bread and banana again for lunch. This is all changing and the children are getting sent home for lunch with food. This also includes the EK student who are currently getting bread and banana for two meals a day.
Due to the nature of these children I can see them sharing out their food with the the extended family that many of them live with so whether this will work or not I'm unsure.
Unfortunately my time here was not long enough and I was unable to stretch myself out over the 4 schools. Spending two weeks at the Pre-school and TDP school was not enough and I still missed working in the nursery and EK sections of the Dhaka project.
What I've noticed over all:
-What was a small project increased by 500 students almost overnight. This sudden influx has triggered a domino effect of small problems that all add up.
- Staff are constantly coming and going, thus having new members all the time and making it difficult to build up a strong staff and employee network that is crucial for any successful work place.
- Teaching standards are poor and children are getting taught incorrectly. This is a general statement as there are a select few who do a wonderful job.
- Many students are not attending school on a daily basis. Some student that where on the register did not attend any of the classes that while i was there.
- The administrative team have a very laid back, casual approach.
- Many staff are afraid to speak of the problems that have arisen between them and Maria as few have already lost their job in doing so. This is their view and what they have explained to me.
- The project is till unregistered. When it was a small 100 person project this could have been acceptable, now due to the size it would only make it easier in the long run to register it.
- I was invited by a student back to the womens' shelter. It was clean and well contained with 5 students living there along with their house mothers.
- On two separate occasions I visited the sewing work shop. Both times it was very quite and on the second we woke a lady who was asleep in front of her sewing machine.
- On mentioning my profession in dental care many student approached me with oral problems that had been unseen to.
My wish list:
- Improve the quality of teaching staff
- Employ a strong, professional administrative team who follow expertly laid out strategies and objectives.
- Build the relationship and trust between employees and employers.
- Know which children are attending school and which ones aren't so that their places can be taken buy children who would thrive on the opportunity.
- Build up the intake of volunteer. I for one will be recommending it to as many people as I can. The more volunteers the children are met with with more understanding they gain from different cultures. It is also great to get a variety of people from different fields and professions to broaden our general knowledge.
- Register the project
- Create a board of decision makers, be it in or out of Dhaka, who visit the project regularly.
I wish you all the best Dhaka Project and you will be seeing me again!

TOMOO OKUBO'S FEEDBACK

Hello, I am Tomoo Okubo, a volunteer to The Dhaka Project from Japan.
I would like to share my special experience here in Dhaka for the
supporters and the college students who have interest in developing
economics like me.
I am staying here for two weeks as a volunteer to teach English, Social
Science or General Science to elementary school children.
As I had spent 20 years in Japan, I had rare chance to learn how the
slum was, how the children are in developing countries or how the
schools are. Of course, I did know that I had to something for them, and
I saw a lot of pictures of the school and children smiling to the
camera, but honestly speaking, I thought that those pictures are only a
small part of their life, and the education for children from a slum
must be quite different and difficult.
I really appreciate all the members of The Dhaka Project, (of course
including kids!!) for giving me an opportunity to change my mind.
In this school, every child is really always smiling, curious to talk
with me in English. That's why I really love my days here.
Some one said 'Work Hard, Play hard', but I have never found people
following this quote than the kids here!!
They do not have textbook, what they have is only a small notebook and a
single pen, but still, they try to learn everything from me.
I have one another week to stay, so I am very motivated to teach older
students the basic idea on what is happening in the world, like global
warming, since decades of years later, I believe that they are going to
change the world. For younger kids, I will teach them basic English
conversation for their future and some English songs as well to let them
love English.
The Dhaka Project itself, including education for kids, providing living
condition to families and trainings for men and women are also organized
so well, with the passionate works of the friendly staff here. I have to
especially thank Jewel for always being a help for me as a volunteer
manager.
I will try to find out some ways to help this project even after I go
back to Japan, since I think Japanese people can easily help this
project in many ways. If you are thinking about working in a developing
country to have an new and exciting experience, I do recommend you to
fly here, since all the kids are waiting for you with their lovely
smile.

Tomoo Okubo

SOLANGE'S JOURNAL I

I am Solange Barros Piñeiro, living with my husband and my 13 years old son in Dubai, and I have an older son who lives with his wife and my grandson in Brazil.
I'm beginning this first feedback, to report my experience along these few months while working as a volunteer with The Dhaka Project directly from Dubai.

Now a days I dedicate all my spare time to The Dhaka Project taking care of the store contents, getting it tidy, sorting items, cleaning the store, preparing the products to be sold out with Brazilian friends, etc...

We are managing to expand the donations to another countries, Brazil included. Now we have a donation to the Cancer Hospital in Rio de Janeiro-Brazil that will be administrated by Luciana Takagi, who lives in Brazil and who is wife of another captain with Emirates.

I've been dedicated to doing awareness to earn to another places in Brazil that is a very large country and where there are many people in need of help.

I used to help my friends by yielding my garage so that they could sell personal things without their profit, because my garage is very well located in front of poor dwellers' houses what brings excellent results.

Luiz Ogui who got to know about the need of making money with the donations of The Dhaka Project asked me to take some items with Maria on the day before a personal sale. And also asked me to look for all products in big suitcases and organize them the best way. And I found a huge amount of suitcases in the main avenue in Dubai, Sheikh Zayed Road and not having an idea on where to start the work I began it with a good sense, good will and good heart. Luckily, Fernanda Laço, also wife of a pilot with Emirates like me, helped me from the beginning to to end as well as her mother Maria Helena who had come from Brazil to visit her daughter during her holidays.

The result of this work was better than the expected and the amount has already been reported. Just to remind I repeat that we reached the amount of 20,000 Dirhams in only two weekends, what means a rate of four thousand items sold because we set each item to be worth 5 Dirhams and considering that each customer bought an average of 5 items we have attended around 800 customers. All was set up in my house; I inspired several Brazilian expats who, due the extremely hot weather were frequently needing a shower and changing their cloths, I yielded my personal rooms and also my cloths so that they could bear along the working day as least tired as possible and best motivated, offering them juices, water, lunch, cake, coffee, etc. We felt very happy about the results and I thought that we would have this level of sales every month, but the government sent three representatives at my house who informed that the sales were forbidden unless we had a license emitted by the Emirate.

I became thoughtful and I've been trying to find a way to raise funds from the received items.

What most has impressed me in these two weekends was when some of who live in the worst condition handed 5 Dirhams from their pocket and donated it to the project without taking nothing with him. I proposed him to choose a shirt and he said 'thank you' but that it was charity and that he didn't want nothing against the money donated. I had never witnessed such a noble behaviour from who has so little but was able to help from his heart so causing tears flooding my eyes and from this new experience on I realised that I could have helped much more than him with my resources of knowledge and I had needed half a century of life to see that most people don't help those who have nothing because they have never had an opportunity similar to this I am having now, in their way; one needs to live literally a heart touching example.

Another example came from a construction worker who handed me 100 Dirhams asking to donate 24 Dirhams, I gave him the change and he didn't take any item with him. I think this amount is perhaps a percentage of the salary, already in set by any religion because we are surrounded by muslims, hindus, etc. religions from all over the world.

At the time we have three stock spaces occupied beyond the allowed space to be used that consequently uses three extra spaces. (The room of Emirates captain Marcelo Taborda's servants, the old CBC that has 40 full suitcases, and the bathroom of the building where Maria lives that kindly I asked the doorman to yield it to us and he heartedly agreed but we don't know until when he can do it); in gratitude I have given him some donated items so that he doesn't feel used once he is a low salary employee with a hard life in Dubai.

On each new day I have a new experience from the behaviour of those who buy, who help, who try to create holes in the way because they don't trust in volunteers' dignity nor in the sincere objective of this project or they haven't been touched yet in their hearts so not knowing how they could help with a simple gesture of not creating barriers not needing even to do nothing to be summed to our fundraising; not demotivating us will be considered as a great help.

Contrasting with the construction worker who donated his sweated little money I have to stand up with Philippines' women most of them trying to steal items and taking advantage when we were doing the sales at our store.
All this is enhancing my knowledge of the behaviour originated from each country's culture. And the Philippines' women are on top of this negative rank so far.

Maria has offered me autonomy at work as the results have appeared along these three months and has acted with much maturity due to her three years of acquired experience in this project. I checked and confirm at each of her procedures that she is prepared and skilled to acknowledge negative people, those who turn up only to take advantage. She has to act very fast and always feeling a huge overload on her shoulders, what prevents her to always be available for the most significant contacts of the moment, that would take her to get funds donations, because the items donations need to be sold in an act that is almost a magic trick because we aren't legalized in Dubai.

I know that Maria needs to be available to get donations because when I arrived in Dubai and having seen notes in newspapers I tried to find her and I couldn't; a volunteer has gone at my house to collect 500 Dirhams as a sponsorship to a child whose file we have, however we don't know nothing about this kid and it has been promised that we would receive a report about his/her life in the project; due to this lack of info I kept trying to find Maria to believe that it was all true but she never met me or answered to my mail. So not knowing how to deliver the money we stopped to sponsor that child!
Because I lived this experience, now I know that most of who look for Maria and can't have a personal attendance end up stopping their donations.

Together, we need Maria can keep acting, by directly meeting people and making awareness of the project, but I still don't know how to make her aware of that once she doesn't like to expose herself to people who make many questions and demand concrete and repetitive proof of the results what is tiring under Maria's perspective.

I am waiting for an opportunity to visit Dhaka.
I am getting ready to know the project in its place as well as the result of our work.

Solange

PEDRO FEEDBACK (Final)

THE DHAKA PROJECT

OFFICE:
Data: 1 project director; 1 project director assistant; 1 education director; 1 volunteer director; 1 accountant manager; 1 project activities manager; 4 staff members not defined; other (cleaning/door guard staff).

Firstly, the power cuts and the internet breakdowns were, many times, an excuse to do nothing and there have even been cases of people sleeping (there is even a bed in the place).

The number of people in the office seems to be more than the enough, once it is not clearly known what is the duty of each one, and more important yet, what they are responsible for. Much of their time is spent using informatics tools “Facebook”, or on the other side, they didn't even turn up in the office, showing illness as an excuse, “Sick”.

Second, it wasn't possible to foresee the results obtained with the basic needs shop, the clothes shop or the sewing shop once, as we have been informed, these three activities had had their start on 1st July, 2008. Later we came to know that the person in charge – BABU – had assumed his post in the same day and didn't know about nothing ocurred before.

A money sponsorship given to provide food to The Dhaka Project students is being used in the basic needs shop, to implement the “Food For Thought” programme that consists, basically, in the distribution of 20% discount cards in rice, dahl and oil only for the students present in the schools for 5 consecutive days.
It happens that, from the target public (the students and their families), only 50% have joined in the first week, percentage that has decreased along the following weeks. From which we can conclude that the programme hadn's had the desired effect.
(There are 2-day gaps without food).

On the other hand, the people in charge were yielding a discount on the selling price of the products and not on the cost price. This take us to the conclusion that part of the money from the sponsorship would remain in the shop profit so not going to who it should go, i.e., to the students in the form of food.

NURSERY:
Data: 41 kids; 3 educators; 3 cleaning staff

The children were dressed with dirty clothes many times and sometimes had some bad smell.

Washing powder and more missing items filled a long list such as cleaning products, nappies, and the lack of milk powder and baby food to the children.

Nayan, who was responsible for the shopping, when we showed him the list of missing items, said that he had only been in that duty for 11 days and didn't know what had happened before. But when we showed him the items missing he let out saying that the shopping depended on the money received from the office.

Also in this case we didn't realise who were truly responsible but there is no doubt that the kids are who suffer, not having the deserved conditions, the conditions kept in mind by the project and announced to sponsors/donators.

Even after Maria had contracted a nutritionist to build a menu for the children, the lunch was always rice and vegetables.

There are children in the nursery, who are old enough to be in the preschool but this is not cared by who should manage this the project.

PRESCHOOL:
Data: 28 students; 2 educators; 2 auxiliary staff

Generally, there was a permanent concern in keeping the children clean and dressed with their uniforms in this school.

However, when we counted the students to take pictures the people in charge seemed nervous when reporting 26 existing students and they assumed that there were only 23 effective students.

There are children here, who are old enough to be in primary school but it isn't cared by who should manage this project.

THE SCHOOL IN THE HEADQUATERS BUILDING OF THE DHAKA PROJECT:
Data: 136 students; 6 teachers; one principal;
Concerning to the staff we couldn't find out, once we were in the main building.

In this school, the classes took place in rooms where the desks and chairs were very close, preventing the kids to walk easily between them. One of these rooms didn't have a window, but there were empty rooms with windows in the building.

Here, the kids were guaranteed to have their lunch in an improvised canteen having a scanty room to have their meal. The menu was always rice and vegetables. However, classes rarely took place in the afternoon period.

THE NEW SCHOOL:
Data: Students: about 374; Teachers 22 + 4 students teachers; cleaning staff: 6 + 3 street sweepers; doormen: 3; at least one director, one principal, one principal assistant...; 16 classrooms; one computer lab; one teachers room; one director room.

The school opens at 8 AM and closes at 15:30 PM, having a lunch break from 13:30 to 14:30 PM.

This school provides the students with two meals, during two moments, one in the morning and other in the afternoon, and these meals consist in the delivery of bread and banana to each one of the students. During lunch break, the students who leave closer go eat at home, the others stay by the school even without food.

Following an exhaustive identification work with this school's students we concluded that from the 427 students claimed by its director no more than 360 were present, that the teachers don't know the names of the students and, maybe due to that, they've never been able to tell us where to find he missing students.

We found strange situations, for example, while we were taking photos in a certain classroom we found out that one of the students had conjunctivitis, so we thought, but in such a condition that he couldn't open his eyes and he could do nothing but crying. We had to make this student go to the medical centre immediately though the teachers would only allow him to go during next break.

According to books we looked in the number of students enrolled in a class should be 44 but the classroom where they should be, has chairs for only 32, we found small classrooms with many students and large classrooms with few students.

If we take in account that the available classrooms are only 16 we can take the conclusion that there are 8 teachers with no students in a daily basis. This, not considering the presence of the volunteer teachers present daily in the school, at the time there were 3.

CONCLUSIONS:
The human structure of the project direction not only has a great number of unnecessary staff but also works without a sense of responsibility, where the status of the job is considered as the most important achievement. So, there is neither effective connection between the human structure nor efficient control on each one's responsibility.

The vision of the project, providing food and then providing education, appears distorted from the real situation once not all the students are provided with food and the standards previously defined aren't being followed.

FINALLY, THE NUMBERS CLAIMED, SOMETIMES 650, OTHER TIMES 750 STUDENTS, ARE REALLY NOT MORE THAN 579.

(Observed from 21st July to 4th August, 2008).

PEDRO AND CRISTIANA'S JOURNAL 5

Last Wednesday we finished our work, described in the latest 'posts', on what concerns to updating the students' files. The method to take this task on, proposed by us, consisted in visiting the schools and their classes, day after day, taking pictures of the students who were attending. We took notes about the differences between the number of enlisted students and the number of students attending not regarding why some of them were not attending school ( temporary or definitive absence ). In the second part of our work we proceeded to the identification of the photos by writing the name ( the first name and parents' name whenever possible ) on each photo with the help of a student of each class in the new school (EK College). In the nursery and preschool we have been helped by the respective managers.
In the afternoon, we attended a party on the top floor of EK School in which some of the students danced and sang for an audience of teachers and staff of The Dhaka Project. We came to know that it was The Dhaka Project Education Director's birthday party. First of all we felt surprised by the fact that we could hardly see a few students among the audience. Second, we felt very sad because the students who had been entertaining the audience (or at least the most of them) were sent out after eating a slice of cake and before the ordered food have been served. Not feeling identified with this behaviour we also left the party.
In Bangladesh, the weekend is on Fridays. And people work every other days. This could take us to conclude that they work for more time there than we do in Portugal or other western countries. But this country has many holidays what causes lots of lost time and, for a project like ours, this means students without support and without food, not only one day per week, but two. This was what happened on 31st July (government day) and 1st August (Friday).
On Thursday, though it was a holiday and The Dhaka Project Office was closed, we have gone with a local team member - Jewel - to visit a company in the Sector 12 of Dhaka. We got the contact with this company because Cristiana had kept a business card given by a guy who had been in the same flight with her some time ago, owner of a company in Trofa-Portugal that had contacts in Bangladesh. After meeting them we realised that the idea was sending items to Dhaka through this company in Portugal but it dimmed out because the company only imports from Bangladesh.
During these two days we visited some family houses, hanged around, not forgetting to drop by the old Dhaka. In this city we realised that the streets (narrow ones, even much narrow) are divided by activities. For example, construction materials in a street, butchers in another street, pan traders (different pan shapes from the ones used by us), in which they cook rice and Dahl (a kind of lentils) or simply to keep or carry water.
When the distances were farer than 2km, our transportation means were tuk-tuks, kind of taxis even with taximeter that had practically no effect. In all trips we were warned before starting that the price would be the settled plus 20 Tk, allegedly for the rising fuel prices. But at moment of the payment, we had to argue with the drivers because they used to 'forget' about the change most of the times.
In a narrower street, the driver caused one of 'our' tuk-tuk's wheel to get stuck to a rickshaw wheel in the middle of the street with hundreds of tuk-tuks, cars, rickshaws and many hundreds of people walking. The interesting thing was that while they were trying to work out the problem, people passed inddiferent over the rickshaw as nothing had happened. Meanwhile the intensive traffic became chaotic in that street. For some moments I thought about Portugal, and in the Portuguese custom that consists in everybody stopping to see the accidents so causing chaos in traffic. The result is practically the same, (chaos in the traffic) except for the fact we don't walk over the cars in an accident...

Pedro and Cristiana

PEDRO AND CRISTIANA'S JOURNAL 4

It's keeping very warm in Dhaka during all day and night. It has rained sometimes but, incredibly all the lanes we daily use keep allowing us to go on our visits to the nursery and the preschool.
Its fantastic to see these so little kids in the morning and realizing that they already recognize us, and fight for a place in our lap or on us. We offered them racket kits, golf clubs (all plastic made) and many balls. It was funny to see how they felt amused when playing with so simple toys.
We have kept working on identification/file updating, by inserting the each one's photo, now in the new school (EK) with more students and demanding a little more work getting in touch with directors, teachers and students. And we have achieved some good results and soon are expecting to finish the job.

Added to the above, in the afternoons, we have helped the local team members of THE DHAKA PROJECT to develop administration procedures, in my case and now, I'm developing a presentation sheet to basic needs shop where the "FOOD FOR THOUGHT PROGRAMME" is taking place. Soon I will give more details. Cristiana keeps working on supporting in accountability field.
The power outages are a continuous problem and are always forcing us to stop working not allowing more efficiency as well as preventing us from sending daily news from DHAKA.

Pedro and Cristiana, from DHAKA!

PEDRO AND CRISTIANA'S JOURNAL 3

In the evening of Saturday we were members of the audience in a party running in The Dhaka Project school. This party had been organized by "Leo Club", in direct cooperation with The Dhaka Project, and enabled our kids to show their abilities in dancing and performance. These youngsters of "Leo Club" taught the kids to dance on stage and set up the play "Snow White And Seven Dwarfs". The performance has been totally passed in English and the kids did it very well. The others took part in the audience and were really amused following the performers in some songs.
For the first time since we arrived in here, it rained in Dhaka. Though it hasn't been a heavy rain and didn't last for long, as we were away from home we realised how it is easy to flood the streets, lanes and houses so fast.
On Sunday morning we visited the preschool where we gave some souvenirs brought from Portugal to the Kids. Small cars for the boys and hair holders and hair bands for the girls. And the first reaction of the kids was to hold their presents and share them. In a short while we could see boys wearing hair bands and girls playing with the cars, very funny indeed!

Just as I said in the last post, we keep working in updating the students file. Cristiana is taking pictures of all the kids including the name and the photo of each one in the file. This has been intensive work once we do several visits to the nursery and preschool to avoid leaving kids behind for the possibility of staying at home for being sick or any other reason.

At the same time just finished helping the member in charge of Micro-Finance, Babu, doing spreadsheets and reports on how the process is running. The Micro-Finance Programme aims helping the families of The Dhaka Project Students through loans to help them setting up a business or to face the immediate needs, and then they will pay the money back and some residual rate. Until now 11 people got help, for example, to buy Rickshaws or to set up sweets or cloths businesses.

We have had some problems with internet access, not even talk about the continuous power outages but spite of this we hope to be able to send more news as soon as possible.

Pedro e Cristiana.

PEDRO AND CRISTIANA'S JOURNAL 2

The humidity and the heat cause the work in Dhaka to almost unbearable. However, our bodies are getting to be used to this rhythm (if someday it will possible...).
Our daily meals routine starts after we get up at around eight in the morning (local time) with a breakfast in The Dhaka Project canteen, having lunch after at 1 PM or later and as for the dinner it's up to us when and where. Sometimes, we order some food (having more than all types of precaution...) choosing from a very short menu, and all, absolutely all, based on chili.
Lately we have made the option of eating some fruit at night. The streets between our accommodation and The Dhaka Project are overcrowded by street sellers, small shops and small places to eat which they claim to be restaurants.
We have bought a kind of bread, cooked under our sight made of flour and boiled oil, sometimes in ovens, other times in oval shaped pans on the flames. Due to my academic skills and professional experience I've been asked to help a local Dhaka Project member - Babu - in establishing procedures and sending reports of almost all activities at The Dhaka Project such as the Micro-Finance, the basic products' shop, the cloths' shop and the sewing centre.
As for Cristiana, due to her past in this project, she has been asked to cooperate with the local accountant manager - Munna - so implementing the necessary procedures to adequate the accountability to The Dhaka Project's needs.
Meanwhile, and specially in the mornings, we visit the nursery and the preschool. We have spent hours in the nursery and this dedicated time is is being reflected either in the kids or in us. There are kids who already know our names, spending their time holding us, playing or simply enjoying our lap. Being us sweating and tired, they manage to grasp us in very small spaces of our body, and when we leave the nursery we feel really rewarded by knowing that this trip is achieving all our expectations to that level.
Added to that, we try to understand which students are absent and why they are absent, at the same time that we count the presences and try to know about their families and their brothers/sisters. In The Dhaka Project, there are kids from the same family in the nursery, in the preschool and still in the school what makes it easy to know, for example, why a baby is not in the nursery or the older kid is absent from school.
Also, Cristiana is trying to take pictures of all the kids (ID type) aiming to build an updated database file containing data related with the kids in the nursery, the preschool and the schools. So, The Dhaka Project will have files with names and photos and some other useful details in its archive.

...directly from The DHAKA Project,

Pedro and Cristiana

PEDRO AND CRISTIANA'S JOURNAL 1

After having spent a night in London and flying for 9 hours in a British Airways flight, we arrived in Dhaka. We had to wait for more than one hour to see our visa issued and get our luggage back. During this hour we realised that there were properly more police officers, airport staff and others than passengers like us.

We got our luggage and went out quietly...
Out of the airport we felt the first shock with the Bangladeshi environment. The temperature and the smell were feeling like a kind of gum on us. It leaves an intense and warm taste in our mouths. While we got in a taxi we realised that there were many people pushing one another, hanging on the bars so making it difficult other people to get in the airport.
We then met a Dhaka Project founder staff member waiting for us, Jewel, and got directly to the Guest House.
After leaving our luggage in the Guest House we had a tour throughout the project: the new school, a preschool, a kindergarten, a sewing center, a basic needs shop, a cloths shop and the building where part of the school is running as well as the Dhaka Project administration.
There are many volunteers from several nationalities in the project such as English, Australian, one from Ireland and us from Portugal. There is also many local staff members who work for the project.
Some volunteers help the local teachers in planning and giving classes to the children or in teaching the women to take care of the children in the preschool and in the kindergarten.
We are feeling happy for being here.
I (Pedro) have been detached to give support in the management of almost all the projects inside The Dhaka Project.
Cristiana is giving support in the accountability field, not forgetting the visits to the nursery, where the smaller babies are, as well as to the preschool.
We have visited the preschool and the nursery regularly, sometimes paying long visits to provide some lap to the children. In some occasions we have so many children with us or over us that we can hardly breath. They like it and we get feeling much better re-energized to start a new day.

Pedro Montez and Cristiana

GEORGIES JOURNAL II

Since my last “blog” things have changed a lot in the office. The newly introduced staff structure seems to have motivated everyone and after spending four days in Nepal the change is really evident. Faria, our counselor suggested that she should run, along with the new female doctor Fatema, a session educating young girls about menstruation and puberty. It seems that this has been a topic attracting much stigma and many of the girls have been scared or confused. Dr Fatema and Faria conducted the session and it was incredibly rewarding sitting at the back of the EK library watching forty or so enthralled girls who, after the session, had enough confidence to stand up and ask questions in front of the group. Not only will this encourage the girls to contact Faria or the medical centre if they have any problems or worries, but it will facilitate important discussion between the girls and maybe even younger girls to dispel some of the mystery surrounding menstruation. With the house rent situation under control Faria now has more time to concentrate on her role as a counselor and she’s doing a great job.

Korvi took us out to see Jaago, the “sister” school to the Dhaka Projects schools near Dhanmondi. It was really inspiring to see young, educated Bangladeshi students giving their time after work and study to provide education for kids in slum areas. Jaago is in its early stages in comparison to the Dhaka Project but it is evident that it has much insight and energy behind it; it has such potential to change the lives of many children. The kids at Jaago are so lucky to have teachers who have perfect English and are university educated. Marcelo, an Emirates Pilot had helped to raise funds in Dubai to provide the school with chairs, desks and computers and it was great to see how money raised for the project is implemented.

JENNA'S JOURNAL II

I am sure that I have forgotten friends’ birthdays since I have been here in Bangladesh. I apologise now for forgetting but not for trying to find the sketch the bigger picture, etch by etch. Please accept my apology.

Personal Development Seminar
Georgie and I have just returned from a personal development seminar which was presented by Faria, (TDP Family Counsellor) and supported by Fatema (TDP Doctor). Faria mentioned to me about one week ago that many of the female students were scared and confused about some of the changes that were happening to them emotionally and physically; however were without sufficient information or support (or knowledge of whom they could approach). We decided to hold a seminar on personal development for girls aged 10 and above to discuss puberty issues such as menstruation, physical development and emotional maturation. It was a very successful seminar. The girls were very attentive (scattered with a few giggles) and flooded Faria and Fatema with questions. It has been suggested that follow up (or more advanced) sessions be held in the future and that the boys be given the opportunity to be exposed to the same puberty discussions. Finding a male teacher or staff member willing to put up their hand may be the limiting factor. I get the impression that men here what to shy away from these realities. All in all, it was a really positive seminar to be involved in! It is scary to think that generations of young adults are not exposed to this information about health and hygiene (except through trial and error and vicarious information that trickles down). What is even more confronting is the acceptance of young pregnancy and marriage and the appearance of dissociation between personal development education and these realities.

Rent
There are even more plus sides to the personal development seminars. Indirectly, they have alleviated Faria from the role of rent determination and refocused her on her actual responsibilities: counselling and health development (mental and physical). Faria has run through the proposed criteria for rent and determined that of the 38 families receiving rent only 21 would qualify under the new system. The aim is to abolish rent entirely and encourage a sustainable community through enterprise programs such as those established by Kate and Babu. A community meeting was held yesterday covering issues such as absenteeism, counselling and enterprise. According to Mr Asad said it was a great success and rent was not even mentioned! Things are looking up!

Pressures on TDP Families
My current task, which is likely to continue when I return back to Australia, is to write articles for media in Bangladesh and Dubai exposing the very real, daily pressures that families of the Dhaka Project encounter; covering issues such as the ever increasing price of rice juxtaposed with the stagnate incomes of TDP families. The aim of the articles is to address the problems that people of the slums face and how TDP aims to ameliorate these problems; however also revealing some of the problems that TDP faces when it comes to helping TDP community as a whole and not just focusing of the children’s education and nutrition. I have started research into this. Trying not to get too bogged down in stats. We are currently trying to make a simple model of the income and expenses of TDP families and see who is breaking even, coming out with surplus or not even making the bar. Interesting times.

There have been some hard times and lonely times. But right now I don’t want to go home. There is some much to do and so much of it has to do with the beautiful smiles of the wonderful children here that we are trying to help. That is the being and end.

Jenna Dennison

KATJA FEEDBACK II

Dear DhakaProjectarians,
I am doing fine, back in Germany. Berlin is a good place to be in summer anyway: lots of open-air concerts, chilling in beach bars alongside the Spree river, and interesting people: Barack Obama will come and speak at the Brandenburg gate on 24 July - should be interesting. Nonetheless quite a contrast to my time at the Dhaka Project in Gawair, and still it makes me very thoughtful of what the common Bangladeshi citizen would think of our life here: food thrown away carelessly in garbage bins, not only one car
but 3, kids dressed in clothes worth a yearly Bangladeshi salary - still, I am sure they would think that people look grumpy and are not very friendly with each other a lot of times. Back in Berlin, I also look at poverty - that does exist very openly in Berlin - in a different way. To live in a rich country unfortunately is no guarantee to live a good life. But at least you can be sure that your basic needs will be covered. Still, so many children grow up in certain parts of the city of Berlin totally neglected by parents and society in general. That`s the sad fact: in Germany as well as in Bangladesh and everywhere else in the world, children always suffer most, they are the most vulnerable of a society and rely on our protection. At the same time, they
can't make their voice heard and are often overlooked. An important corner stone of a country's future wasted!
That is why I see as my personal goal in life: to help make their voice heard, to help children unfold their potential and become responsible, happy citizens of their country, who develop a sense of fairness and justice. At the Dhaka Project, I saw even more clearly that education is the only way to achieve a better life for children and break the cycle of poverty. I was very impressed with the staff of The Dhaka Project which works under very difficult conditions. I was welcomed so warmly, and was always well cared for ( I am still smelling the lovely ginger-tea that helped ease my cough - thanks!!!). And the children were amazing: so full of natural curiosity, so keen on getting feedback and attention, not always easy to handle but impressive little fighters in a surrounding that was - except for the Dhaka Project itself - everything but child friendly.
I did what I could within my one-month-stay, of course time was flying. Still, together with the wonderful, and very motivated teachers I started a few things that will hopefully be taken further: we discussed innovative teaching methods to come up with ideas of how the classroom routine can be made more interesting for students. Also, the teachers are now more familiar with children's rights and have - I was sooo happy to receive the pictures!!! - already established so called classroom-contracts that make rights and duties of students and teachers visible. A great result of our teacher's day!
My time at the Dhaka Project was very rewarding in many ways. The children taught me, that you can blossom and grow even in the most difficult conditions: all I can say is, keep on growing! I want to see you live your dreams. And thanks a lot to the Dhaka Project team for making this a wonderful experience. I admire your work and hope that you will be able to help many more children! I will continue to help "change the world" in my way - I know it's going to be a long journey, that's why it's good to know you have travel companions.
All the best and Auf Wiedersehen ( and I really do hope that I will see you again)!

Katja

KATE'S FEEDBACK 2

Before coming out to the Dhaka Project last week I had no idea what to expect. What I’ve experienced here in the last week has been truly uplifting. It is incredible to see what has been accomplished here over just a few years. From two small rooms and less than forty children, the project has grown and flourished, and at the 3^rd year anniversary celebration this week the room was packed with the laughter and enthusiasm of the vast number of children who are now benefiting.

As a teacher, it has been really interesting to come and work with the teachers here to begin developing strategies and teaching methods that are appropriate for the unique situation of the project. As many children have not received formal schooling until recently there are large differences in ability between children of the same age. What stands out here is the huge desire of the children to ‘know more’ – like sponges wanting to soak up information and ideas. The dedicated staff at the schools are showing enthusiasm for discovering new ideas to use within the classroom and we are supporting them in using more interactive and creative methods. So far we have looked at using reward systems and monitors within the classroom, building self-esteem using circle time, golden agreements, display and making and using puppets in the classroom. Many of these ideas are new concepts and it will be a very gradual process but it is great to see star charts and colourful posters beginning to appear around the building!

I’ve had a fantastic experience and hope to return. I have learned a lot from the children and staff at the Dhaka Project and I hope that they have learned some new things from me too.

Kate McCleanaghan

RICHARD'S JOURNAL - 3 YEARS AND COUNTING

This week has seen The Dhaka Project blow out 3 candles on the cake. Whilst it has been a week for us to celebrate, it has also been a week for us to reflect upon what we have achieved and look forward to the future as how best to proceed.

In the recent weeks the project has experienced some turbulent times: from asking some of our staff to leave because rice was left to go to waste (yes, as we saw rice prices doubling throughout the world and our families struggling to feed themselves); seeing more female students tried to be married off at early ages; a large drop in student attendance after the summer break; and recently an upset parent population not grateful with everything that The Dhaka Project had already given them and their kids.

So upon reflection, I found that we (including myself) have somehow lost the focus on what The Dhaka Project is trying to achieve and we were getting too focussed on growth and change that we lost our priority of ensuring these kids will reach their dreams. I realised that before we continued to expand further, we need to consolidate the great work we have already established.

Due to things changing so quickly here at The Dhaka Project, I forget that it was only 6 months ago that I arrived here at The Dhaka Project to see a plain brick building with no windows, no internal walls, no sign of the life – just the sad skeleton of a garment factory! This building is now the wonderful Emirates Foundation School – our ladder allowing our children to climb even closer to their dreams!

All the amazing feats we have achieved over the last 3 years have happened at warp speed. To ensure the continuation of this great work we are now at a stage where we need to consolidate; we need to make sure that we have the team to make it to the next step; we need to make sure that we are running our current operations as efficient as possible; we need to make sure that we learn from our last steps, allowing us to take our next steps more effectively.

But most importantly we need to make sure that our focus at all times remain on the children – the future leaders of Bangladesh, the businessmen that will pull their compatriots out of poverty, the doctors that will ensure that their parents will live past the age of 60, the honest politicians that will remove the smear of corruption from this country's name.

So as I sit here and reflect on the wonderful years that our 3 year old baby has lived –
I am proud of what has been achieved.
I am excited by the potential.
and I know that it won’t be easy.

BUT to continue the wonderful sucess that The Dhaka Project has already achieved we must focus on creating tomorrow’s leaders of Bangladesh, not getting distracted by all the little things that try to take our attention away from these little gems.