The Wilson Odyssey: Schoolgirls, Spitfires, and Street Dogs

It’s been a while since we’ve posted, so here’s a summary of some of the things we’ve been up to over the last couple of months.

First off, it seems that Patrick’s transfer to his next post is all but approved. Assuming that all of the paperwork comes together (never a certainty in the Federal Government!), we’ll be moving on 12 April to ... Bangkok, Thailand! Patrick has been working on this since last summer, and we’re very excited that it finally seems to be happening. Bangkok is a fascinating, extremely livable city and one of the best posts USAID has to offer. Patrick will be taking the portfolio for Nepal with him to Bangkok, so he’ll be travelling regularly to Kathmandu, starting immediately. Jennifer hopes to be able to continue with her job, but if she can’t, we’re hopeful that she’ll have many interesting options in our new home.

Jennifer has been working with a group of teenaged girls here in Dhaka, trying to get them set up into an organized group for vocational training, educational assistance, and mutual support. She has been able to help a couple of local Bangladeshi women (Martha and Dolly) set up a group called the Rosey Foundation. Taking a day off from work, Jennifer was able to visit the facilities that Dolly and Martha have rented to host the girls during the day.

As you can see, the place needs a little work, but for Bangladesh, this isn’t such a bad set-up. There are about 30 girls who come here during the day to learn embroidery, eat lunch, and enjoy each others’ company. Eventually Martha and Dolly hope to have some sort of schooling available for the girls as well.

For most of these girls, this is the best option available to them. A girl between the ages of 14 and 20 in Bangladesh is under serious pressure to either get married or find a job to support her family, usually in one of Dhaka’s many garment factories. Often girls end up working 12 hours per day, six days per week, to pay for their brothers to go to school. Girls are seen as something of a burden – if they are to be married, the girl’s family has to pay a dowry to the groom’s family, since they are taking on the “burden.”

On this day, the girls were all happy to have a visit from their “sister.” Jennifer brought chocolate chip cookies that Shanti (our housekeeper) made, and – since it was her birthday – the girls sang the LOUDEST rendition of “Happy Birthday” that Jennifer had ever heard!

We hope that the Rosey Foundation will find its feet and be able to offer these girls an opportunity to develop the skills to help them support themselves and their families. It’s been a shaky start, but we’re trying to stay optimistic in the time that remains for us here in Bangladesh.

One of Patrick’s colleagues recently retired from USAID after 19 years. A group of us decided to throw a party for her, inviting all of our USAID colleagues to join us in sending her off. Knowing that she loved movies from the 1930s and 1940s, we made a theme party, called “The Last Flight from Dhaka.” We celebrated on the rooftop with costumes, signature cocktails, great food and some lovely swing music (with a dance floor!). It turned out to be one of the best evenings any of us has had in Dhaka. We had a lot of fun putting together our costumes from bits and pieces we had in our closet.

Life with Bhago continues as usual. He can be a very sweet dog when he wants to be ...

... but bathtime is not one of those times. We don’t know why he hates baths so much, but it’s gotten worse over the last few weeks. Finally we’ve had to resort to a more – how should we put this? – gladiatorial approach....