Back to work...

Ever since I reached Bangladesh, I have been trying to get out to the rural parts to get work done. Between Ramadan, hartals, political strife, and occasional rioting, my work got delayed quite a bit. Anyhow, FINALLY, after a long wait, my project is taking off. I have been working in Chakaria, Bangladesh. Its rural....very very rural out here. After two months of negotiating, coaxing, arguing, I finally got to administer my survey. It actually worked out well, because there was an existing project in Chakaria and they tacked my male survey onto their research plan. Without getting too much into the technicalities, my research is underway. I spend every other week in Chakaria. At first, I thought it was going to be pretty tough to be out there for a week at a time, but actually I have found it to be pretty peaceful. No phone or internet and the power is out for about 10-14 hours of the day. Makes you appreciate comforts of home that much more....

This is the center. Its essentially a huge brick building in the middle of a village. The facilities are actually quite nice here... For example, I thought my room was going to be a small hut in a field. It turns out, I get the comforts of home. A bed with a mosquito net....



We have a staff that prepares and served food three times a day...great guys except both of these two have asked me if I could get them a visa to the U.S. I changed the topic quickly by complimenting their food...


























Yes and even fresh clean water....
If you look closely, yes, the water is almost...well pretty much a muddy color. This is not mud. Actually the water in Chakaria is heavily enriched with iron. It tastes like huge freagin rods of metal have been immersed in the reservoir. Whats even worse is that the people in the villages drink this water w/o any filtration. They drink it in the mud form. DELICIOUS! Its very common here to find people with a great deal of hair loss, resulting from the heavy iron intake. I should change the project to "THE EFFECTS OF ROGAINE ON CHAKARIA RESIDENTS". Somehow, I don't think the thesis committee will accept that one. Anyhow, because there's huge amounts of iron in the water, they have to filter it at the center. Surprisingly, it tastes pretty good without any hint of iron. Moving on....

These are the guys we hired. I had to train them in survey-taking techniques. All in Bangla. That was an interesting challenge. Thankfully, I wasn't the only one doing the training... One thing I have noticed about people in Bangladesh is that noone likes to smile when they take pictures. Literally, they could be in the middle of the funniest conversation, but as soon as the camera rolls out, they will put on their most stoic faces. I told them all that I would get them visas to the US if they smiled.....now you know who wants to go and who doesn't.....Whats up with that?

The villages are actually very nice. IN a rustic, no electricity, running water, hut structures sort of way. There is another guy out here, who is a French Doc working on Ricketts. He lives has been living out here for the last 8 months. If you ever visit Chakaria, you would know how dedicated that is....its pretty rural. Anyhow, Guillaume Deauchamps (if you haven't guessed, he's French) and I have been going running in the mornings. The villages are absolutely beautiful then. I have to take some pics and post them, b/c it really is a whole another world that I have not seen before. Of course, people are pretty mesmerized by a dark brown man and a white guy running through the villages in the early morning hours, but hey...its fun that way!

Anyhow, all that's my life in a nutshell right now. I have so much more to say. I will be better about posting in the future. There is much left to do. I am looking forward to coming home in June, but until then....

ps. Saeed recently got to visit India. We were there for a few days together. I corrupted him. This is by far one of my favorite pictures since I have been here.....ahh Americana...how I love thee...I apologize in advance to all my public health friends working on obesity issues.