Building Hope Between a Bus and a Hard Place

The past couple days, I’ve been a little discouraged.  I have questioned how much I am actually helping people here;  One of the big things I’m supposed to do while I’m here is take pictures and write transformational stories, but I feel like I haven’t been doing a great job.  I’m still trying to figure out how to make the pictures I take clearer, less fuzzy, and to not feel shy about taking the pictures.  I keep yelling at my hands to stop jiggling the camera, with limited success. 

Part of my hesitation when I go on field visits is that if I’m taking pictures, my brain focuses down one path, looking at things in one way.  When I’m listening to stories, I focus down n a different path, and flipping back and forth catches me off my guard.  I experience a situation differently if I am taking pictures, in a way that doesn’t play very nice with the way I do when I’m listening to a story. 

I think it’s because when I listen to a story, I imagine how the person looks doing what they describe, how they feel while they’re doing it and what that shows about the person as an individual.  They are telling me the bigger picture and I’m imagining the details. 

When I’m taking pictures, it’s about capturing what is in front of me.  I don’t have to imagine how a person is feeling; I look at their expression, their body movements and use visual cues to put what they are showing me into words and a description.  I’m using the details to figure out the bigger “picture”.  But, I’m trying to ignore the awkwardness of taking pictures and making the effort to switch back and forth between different experience modes. 

But today was much better, though the pictures aren’t fantastic.  With a new day and some encouraging conversations yesterday, I was able to shake off the feelings of the past few days and I’ve been re-energized and re-inspired by the phenomenal work being done here.  I think the reason I was a little frustrated was because I lost sight of the bigger picture and focused on the small details.  The big picture is about empowering entire communities, giving people the tools they need to build a brighter future for all, to inspire and build hope.  And that isn’t accomplished by super efficient specific task-centered accomplishments. 

Building hope is like the difference between a house and a home.  You need a house, the solid structure and basic support for a successful home, but there is more to it.  You need to be empower and invested in your home and want to share it with others.  When I go on a field visit, that encourages the people I visit, validating their hard work and efforts.  It helps demonstrate that the work they have accomplished here is super, and worth showcasing.  We all want validation, to know that others see our toils, and see our improvements.  Validation gives us confidence and hope to take on challenges.

The community development here sends this message:

I accept you for who you are right now, and I believe you have the potential to create a better life for yourself and those around you.  You have the capacity to do great things and I’d like to help by giving you the tools and encouragement you need to build hope in your community. 

Today I got to sit in on a child-weighing session.  The Community Health Volunteer (CHV) for each group holds these every month; all the women with children bring them to be weighed every month.  The CHV records the child’s weight and compares it last month’s weighing.  She thanks each mother for taking good care of her child.   Then the mothers listen to a lesson on child care.  Today’s was on nutrition, about making sure children get the proper vitamins and food they need to grow strong and healthy. At first, group members didn’t want to come to the weighing sessions, but after much encouragement, they now look forward to coming each month and share the information they learn with their neighbors.

I also attended a women’s group meeting, and the women proudly shared how the group savings they did made it possible for group members to start businesses, buy nice furniture and plots of land in their home villages.  They invested most of the group savings money, and the profits are divided between the group members.  Every member saves 20 taka a month for the group savings but receives 2000 taka a year from profits, meaning that the women are making money as a part of this group savings. 

It is fantastic to be able to visit groups who have taken charge of their lives and that of the community.  And this is only one small part.  There will always more places that need hope, but it’s comforting to know that progress is possible and is happening right now, improving lives every day.

I met Carman today, a young woman from Germany who is traveling Asia for a year after she finished her undergraduate degree.  She had an internship with Grameen Bank, but after six weeks she needed a change.  She said there were lots of interns, and that the employees couldn’t really be bothered by the interns.  They sent them off for field trips but didn’t utilize their time and talent.  It made me realize how lucky I am, that Nancy and Kohima dedicate a substantial amount of time taking care of me, making plans and making sure I experience CRWRC work here.  They are spectacular.

Today while I was visiting the field, I took some video on the rickshaw and in the CNG.  Its pretty bumpy cause riding a rickshaw and CNG rattles your brain a little.  For some reason, I don’t feel as shy about video as I do about taking pictures.  In any event, there is a small glimpse of Dhaka (I will post really soon), though my camera died before we got into the heavy traffic.  We came pretty close to being smooshed by a big bus.  Lots of people here are in difficult situations.  Good thing SATHI is building hope between a bus and a hard place.

There are wonderful smells wafting from the kitchen.  Oron, our cook, made another delicious cake, which can only mean one thing: my mom will be here for dinner tomorrow night!