Bangla Chronicles - Day 10

We are back from a long and exciting journey to the Northwestern part of Bangladesh called the Rangpur Division (see google map in last blog). In total, we visited 6 villages, met with at least 100 farmers (women and men), visited manufacturers of pumps and retailers of engines and lastly met with a government organization called Bangladesh Agriculture Development Corporation (BADC). We took tons of pictures and videos, conducted various focus groups, watched engines and treadle pumps being operated.

There were some frustrating, sad and happy moments. It was sometimes frustrating to get information from farmers because our perception and their perception of the questions or the answers was always different and getting through the communication barrier was not always a smooth process. This required asking similar questions in different ways. Plus it was a learning experience for us since we had to understand the land, the people and the environment being that it changed village to village.

One particular interview was a sad moment for us. There was a group of women and a group of men. All the men owned their own land and worked on it, while the women did not own land so would work on other people's land. When we would ask any questions, only the men would talk and provide opinions. Many times we had to ask the men to keep quiet in order to get responses from the women. This part was not the sad aspect. The sad aspect was that because the women did not own land, they did not want to provide any opinions or comments. To them, our interview was of no use to them because they were under this constant fear of losing their jobs every season. Because of their lack of a sustainable job, they did not show any intent to buy an engine that could help solve their problems. When you don't own land, why would anyone want to invest in a new technology? This was sad to see. And no matter how we put the question to try and understand their situation better to find an appropriate solution, it always felt hopeless.

There were happy moments as well primarily when farmers would say that they want to buy our product now if available. We saw a lot of interest for our product and were encouraged by the response we received.

Overall, our stay was smooth. The last three days, however we stayed in a hotel that wasn't very clean. I was fine with the living condition, but Angelina was grossed out. She also had a tough time dealing with insects since this city had a lot of flies, mosquitoes, cockroaches, and other bugs you would normally not see. The temperature was pretty hot the whole time. And humidity was high also. When we sat with the farmers, we would be sweating profusely. One particular day the temperature was easily 37 C.

Life here is the same as it would be in India. But Bangladeshi people are very different. Not a lot of work is available so people generally gather around any new event or phenomenon and constantly stare at you. You feel like asking them, "kuch aur kaam nahi hai kai" (translated - "don't you have any other work?") ....lol.... but you tend to realize that this is the situation all over the country whether in the city or in the villages. And it doesn't matter if you are a tourist or a local, they will still behave like that.

I'm having fun and enjoying my stay here. We are now going to be in Dhaka for the whole week, preparing for our next trip. We plan to visit all the regions of the country. This week we will also try to meet with government agencies, institutions and private organizations.