On the road again

And this time literally!  A long day driving today, just over 12 hours, but with two lovely stops off in the earlier part of the day.  I was travelling with a lot of luggage belonging to some staff who will be leaving DBLM later this year and Rev Matthew Halder, the TLM Bangladesh Country Leader, so it was a good day.  The first stop was to a project in the Rangpur area called the Hagar Project, probably easiest described as a refuge for vulnerable women.  Their heartbreaking stories include being abandoned by their husbands, rape and sex trafficking, all made so much worse by being rejected by their families and communities after surviving those injustices.  They all have beautiful children, and I had great fun making faces to entertain them.  In the photo, the two ladies in the back left are project staff, which is a tough job, as they spend so much time helping their clients deal with the tragedies they have faced, and also work with the communities which almost always side with the men rather than the women. 

Ladies of the Hagar Centre

Farida, the lady in the spotty red and white outfit was due to find out today the decision in the court case which project staff and some volunteer lawyers and another NGO partner had helped her to bring against the husband who abandoned her.  We gave them a lift part of the way, and I hope to hear the result soon.  A past successful case has been a great encouragement to her and the other ladies who are in a similar position, with one lady having won significant compensation as well as ongoing child support.

The next stop was pretty special too.  TLM's Gaibanda Jaipurat programme runs a project where women and girls who are either leprosy affected themselves, or have family members who are, and so face stigma and difficulty accessing traditional means of gaining education, skills and experience, are trained in tailoring in their

Presenting Shumaya Akhtar with her new sewing machine

community over 6 months.  Upon graduation, they are given a sewing machine, allowing them to set themselves up in business and earn money to support themselves and their families.  Five of them graduated today, and Matthew and I shared the honour of presenting them with their new sewing machines.  They are very heavy indeed!  The next lot of girls are already well on the road to becoming skilled tailors too, and it was great to meet them, and the project staff.

We then hit the road, and just kept on driving, stopping only for a late lunch.  Unfortunately we hit Dhaka as the garment factories were closing and spent several hours in a traffic jam.  I had dinner with Matthew's family, and then was driven back to the guesthouse, which took perhaps 10-15 minutes for an 8 km drive as by this point rush hour was well and truly over, though Dhaka being Dhaka, it was still buzzing.  He told me that it usually takes him at least 1 hour in the morning and usually 2 hours at night by car.  I may moan about my commute, but at least I cover a somewhat larger distance!  Tomorrow is a very early start, so I am off to bed very soon indeed.