A long due step forward! We’re going to start building! I’ve had a meeting this morning with some local village heads (Karbari’s) and ALO management & staff to start planning (don’t worry about the looks in the picture, they are all happy but it’s not allowed to smile in pictures). The building should be ready at the end of February, although this is of course a Bangladeshi deadline .

The team: Arun Kanti Chakma (ED ALO), Kula Ram (Karbari Para no. 8), Ama Ram Tripura (Karbari Shailatuli Para), Fulesh Chakma (Karbari Machalong), Sudha Bindu Chakma (ALO employee), Sawmen Talukder (ALO PC)

Aidboard. Oneworld. Duurzame vacaturebank. Devex. Devnet. There is an endless list of sites to browse that contain development jobs. It’s what I do quite often now. I need to get an idea about what I want to do after Bangladesh. And it’s not easy, not easy at all. The first question is already impossible to answer: what is the priority in development? Do I want to work on food security? Without food you die but that chance is pretty big without safe drinking water as well. But in the end it all doesn’t really matter if you get ill and there is no proper hospital. So health? Or is everything we do in those areas useless unless we create a great education system? Or put an end to climate change?

Seconds, minutes, hours. I know I should sleep. I know I’ll wake up tired tomorrow. I’m pretty sure my responses tomorrow will become a bit shorter and a bit more harsh. I will not be able to sleep tomorrow night because I’m awake again. Unable to get from the couch to my bed. The place I want to be. I’ll keep staring at my screen, browsing Facebook, the internet. Reading, adding more information to a mountain I can’t process. Worried about a to do list that is daunting.

One of the activities in my training today was to do a short play on the inequality between boys / girls or men / women. This was suggested by the organizing club, Sassna. We asked every club to prepare a short one or two minute play. This is the result! But first the picture of my whole training group, it’s a though crowd:

The whole group!

Wow! What a first week back in the Desh. It took a couple of days of going up & down before I decided I was really happy to be back. Khagrachari is home now. It’s where my beautiful palace is, it’s where my work is and where my social life takes place. In one week I’ve been in tears and seriously happy with the amazing life I live. And the last feeling is still present. Most of the time .

Dreaming of school

At this moment I’m travelling home. With three donated camera’s (thank you Helen, Ronald & parents!), an ipod (thank you Willemien) with awesome music (or so I hope, Rick), 3500 dollars for the school (thank you everyone!!!) and a lot of great lunches, dinners and drinks in my stomach (again, thank you everyone). They’ll probably hang around for a while according to the scale .

But mostly thank you for the party at the airport with chocolate milk and a cheese sandwich. Ok, 2 cheese sandwiches. Ok, ok. Two bricks of cheese and a bit of sandwich. Thank you for taking me shopping. Thank you for taking me to awesome parties (or organizing one for me & the school!). Thank you for talking & listening to my stories. Thank you for not forgetting me. Thank you for thinking with me about my future, about the world we live in & the change we can create. Thank you for keeping me grounded. Thank you for giving me new energy. Thank you for letting me know I’m doing the right thing.

On the eve of another departure to Bangladesh, the end of my holiday & the beginning of a new year, it’s time to make a list. A list of things I want to do this year. And at the end of this year, I’ll see what happened…

Build the school
This can’t be a big surprise. There is enough money now to actually start pushing people & start building. There’ll be a lot of money travelling with me tomorrow to actually start. I do hope I can get to the village soon and get some more pictures, hopefully of people actually building.

Almost fifteen months ago I left home after an amazing party! In leaving the CHT now I left behind scared friends, a place where everyone was grounded by my director. The day before I left the CHT a Bengali settler was found dead, causing riots that injured 11 indigenous people and killed one woman. No-one knows what happens when riots start, the memory of what happened in February 2010 when riots spread quickly is still fresh, as are many other incidents. People couldn’t travel on their own and the bus I travelled in was almost empty except for some Bengali’s. Busses are never empty here.

It’s almost six months since my last overview in pictures. Since I’m a bit scared that people will not recognize me next month, I’ll show all off you some more recent shots! And also to show that I’m still laughing a lot in between my whining (here and here for example). For the older updates, look here: part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4. For everyone interested in more pictures, check the Khagrachari Youth Clubs Facebook page.

I’ve done several training sessions in the last few months. On volunteerism, budgets and this one on facilitating meetings. This is me together with Thuila, one of the club members, who is translating for me.

The famous dancing parties of Khagrachari. The whole month of October was one big party where clothes are donated to the monks for the cold winter months. In the evenings lanterns are lighted and sent off as a sacrifice to Buddha while everyone dances! Pretty awesome.

I love the RSA animate movies. And sometimes there is one I just have to share. Worth watching for everyone who has an opinion on education. Or for whoever is involved in it. There are so many truths in this movie about the education system. And why we should change it!