No Palin? The verge of? Development?

Palin hasn’t been here!!! 

It was a scene unlike any I’d ever scene or heard of before. In a huge tent in the grounds of the local Buddhist monastery 300 plus Marma tribal women all squatted on their haunches entranced by the endless yards of yarn in front of them. In huddles of about ten, their hands were a constant blur at they wrapped, spun, wound, stretched, hung and weaved the yarn through a variety of intricate wooden instruments and then onto a bamboo rack where it slowly took the form of a blanket. The women would stay like this for 24 hours in a frantic attempt to weave a decorative blanket in 24 hours to gift to the monastery (I choose to over look the potential ‘slave labour’ aspect of this religious festival as the women all seemed happy, were laughing and chatting and a band accompanied them throughout the ordeal!). This festival – – went on for two days and in addition to the weave-athon, each night the darkness of the sky was lit up by hundreds of mini hot air balloons each powered by tiny fires which, when the balloons drifted on the breeze, lit up a trail of glowing yellow and orange against the blackness. The final morning saw the all 300 plus monks leave the monastery and forming a saffron and orange line of over 400 metres long they slowly walked throughout the town to the sound of the tribal band whilst local people lined their way and deposited small amounts of rice into their baskets. (As mentioned, a malfunctioning camera stops me from sharing any of these amazing scenes with you, hopefully I might be able to get some copies off other VSOs based in the Hill Tracts who might have seen the festival in their town. If not, you’ll just have to take my word for it. It was truly something else, and something amazing.)  

 Opportunity knocks or punches? 

As I’ve been in my placement for just over 3 weeks now I have begun to get a slight idea about what the organisation I’m working at is about and the possibilities for my year here. Bolipara Na – BNKS, an organisation founded by local people who wanted to do something to help the indigenous people of the Chittagong Hill Tracts. The indigenous people are distinct from the rest of Bangladeshis having more in common with the people of Myanmar and the Assam, Tripura and Mizoram (the bit of India which hooks round the north and East of Bangladesh). They have been resident in this area for as long as records/memories go back, but through a combination of historical factors (many in the name of ‘development’, others supported by the demands of the rest of the worlds needs) they, like many indigenous people (Aboriginals of Australia, Bushmen of Botswana, Awa of Brazil amongst many others) have become excluded and marginalised from society (I realise this is a woefully inadequate explanation of the reasons for their situation but I hope to fill you all in when I know more). So, these people find themselves in poverty, unable to live the lives they want to, access the lands and resources they once could. So BNKS work with them, particularly women and children, through providing opportunities for education, access to medical facilities and water and sanitation, whilst raising their awareness of basic rights they have as citizens.  

BNKS have a great knowledge of the local people and their problems and importantly the local people trust and respect them. However, like all non-governmental agencies working for those with little income, BNKS are reliant on donations from larger organisations – be then governments like the UK, international development agencies such as Action Aid or Oxfam, or generous and concerned individuals. As these donors want to ensure that their money has the maximum positive effect they want to see reports, data, information on the transparency of the organisation (quite rightly as a enormous amount of development money has fallen into black holes of unreliable organisations). Yet, the combination of a language barrier, a work culture based focused more on the needs of the poor and not those of donors and little experience of concepts such as strategic planning, BNKS has difficulty meeting donors requirements, capturing all the knowledge they have generated or ensuring they remain focused on identified objectives. I feel I can work with them, sharing my skills I learnt at Village Aid and during my MA to really make a difference to the organisation and ultimately the indigenous people they work to empower. However, my own language barrier (massive, try explain strategic planning using pictures!) and the shear scale and number of the tasks mean it represents both an opportunity, but also a huge challenge, one which gets bigger each time I think about it. I’ll try and nibble of small chunks.

 The confusion of Development 

I’ll avoid the never ending debate on ‘what is development’ with a basic question(s) – ‘who defines development, what is their interest and how have they come to this decision’. As, I don’t pretend to know the answer, but instead just wanted to share a thought provoking comment (not definitive wisdom) from one of my fellow staff members. Sat in a friendly bamboo hut in which we were sharing some rice wine he leaned over and said ‘We are simple people here’. Before I could launch into the standard response of the ‘development worker’ that simple is only a matter of definition and more a label given by ‘us’ thus unintentionally implying ‘we’ are developed, he continued speaking of ‘simple’ as a positive term, he added we are happy, we don’t have much, but we have each other, our culture, why do we need all these strange things, can’t we just have the things we really need and not those we are told we need? I agree with a lot of what he says, I wish the resource hungry world did too (or is allowed to?).

 A couple of language glories

There are always a few words which mean different things in different languages or when spoken by a foreign tongue. The national language of Bangladesh – Bangla, has thrown up a few of which I will now share two which have particularly amused me – not for their direct meaning, but more the situations you can use them in/my incompetence. The first is the number 60 – translated a ‘Shite’. The best use is responding to CNG drivers, who always try to overcharge you, when they quote a price of 100 taka. Here you are quite within your rights to look annoyed and in bartering loudly respond ‘Shite’! The second is the translation of somosa (the little tasty meat and veg snacks). It’s almost identical in Bangla – ‘Somo – Ja’. But if you pronounce it in the English – Somosa, in Bangla this means ‘a problem’. So, when I wandered round the local food stalls trying to get Somosas but mispronouncing it and saying the English pronunciation I was in fact doing a Robert De Niro and asking everyone – ‘You got a problem?’ – which explains the confused and startled responses.