The road (and village) that Motiar built

A long day of travelling not very far.  Where as yesterday's long journey took me half way across the country (literally), today's similar amount of travel time took me a little way out of the city and back.  Of course when I say a little way out of the city, that is really as the crow flies, and not factoring in the almost constant traffic jams.  We left at 6am to try and beat them, and didn't do too badly, we got there in around 3 hours, much better than the 5 it took to come back.

Today's trip was to the visit of Bandhabari, a leprosy village outside Dhaka.  The story of the village starts in the late '70s/early '80s with a group of leprosy patients from Dhaka who met in hospital at DBLM.  Although the stigma was even more severe then than it is today, and they know that coming back to Dhaka would not mean being reunited with their families, they decided to come back and stay together, and make a living begging.  At that time there really weren't any other options for people affected by leprosy, especially with some of the disabilites some of these patients already had.  So they moved back to Dhaka, and lived by begging, sleeping rough usually on station platforms, but people kept making them pay 'rent' for sleeping there, and one of the community, a very determined man called Motiar, decided that enough was enough. He went to see the leader of the Opposition to ask for some land to build their own village.  Some years later the Opposition became the government, and land was granted to the community.  Although it being for people affected by leprosy, it was far, far away from the city, in the middle of a forestry planation.  The army built them houses, a community hall and a couple of barns, and dug a well and put in a water pump, and they moved in.  They quickly realised that one important thing was missing - a road to connect their village to the 'main' road, a real problem for a community where many had serious disabilities.  Motiar got on the case, and in 2002 the road was built.  He is currently the chairman of the village, and continues his work trying to improve the lives of the inhabitants.   He is also a nominee for a Wellesley Bailey award, which marks significant contributions to improving the lives of people affected by leprosy.  No-one from Bangladesh has ever won before, so TLM Bangladesh is really hoping that he will.

The village is supported by The Leprosy Mission Bangladesh through their Dhaka Programme, with a number of children supported to attend school by either Dhaka Community Based Rehabilitation Project (CBRP), which is funded by the Scottish Government, or by an associated education project supported by donors from the Netherlands.  All the students were chosen to receive support by the community themselves.  The students academic marks are displayed for all to see in the community hall, and several of them are doing very well indeed - in fact the Scottish supported students are doing better!  To be fair that is probably because they have been in school longer, as the academic year had already started when the funding came in from the Netherlands.  But their parents are so happy and proud that they are studying, and will have many more opportunities than they did.  There is also some sewing training which started recently, and one man has been given support to start a cloth trading business, which is going well.  Sadly the first time he started the business, he broke his arm in an accident and has had to take out a further loan, but the project staff are confident he will pay it back well in time.  Afterwards, we had a wee tour of the village, and met some of the inhabitants, including Munnah, who, in spite of serious leprosy related complications over the years which have led to deformities in both of his feet and the amputation of his right hand due to an ulcer, remains a very positive man, with a great sense of humour, and has real hope for the future.

We then spent several hours working with the community on a funding application we are submitting to the UK Department for International Development.  We have had our concept note accepted, so are writing up the full application for an expansion to Dhaka CBRP to increase the support for livelihood development.  In project planning, it is vital that the community be the basis of any project, as without their ownership it will fail, so we were keen to get their input on what kinds of income generating activities they would be interested in learning and think could work in their unique context.  They are severely hampered by their distant location, but creative thinking is both essential and commonplace in communities like these, so we have come away with some very interesting ideas.  The children were quickly bored in such a long meeting, and had great fun playing outside with their parents' and grandparents' wheelchairs while the grown ups talked.

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.