Into All The World

We've been in Bangladesh for 9 days now, 5 more days to go. We've had a chance to see many of the projects that World Vision runs in this area. Some of them include:

- PD Hearth sessions, Positive Deviance - teaching women proper hygiene, nutrition, how to take care of their babies, etc.

- HIV/AIDS session, thankfully HIV/AIDS is not prevalent in Bangladesh but has the environment for AIDS to spread quickly. So World Vision is trying to prevent this from happening. The session that we attended was geared towards Rickshaw drivers who are in a high-risk category.

- LSBE session (Life Skill Based Education), this program educates youth about cultural practices that hinder the development of their country, i.e. dowries, polygamy, low status of women etc.

- Safe Motherhood Program, for women who are pregnant as well as for mothers with children up to 36 months. This program includes a monthly check up with a nurse and also provides midwives to those who choose to give birth at home.

- CBO/DG Forum, I don't remember what the initials stand for, but it's community based group of women who all have their own businesses and assist each other with business loans, etc.

- Village Preparedness session, This session was at a village by the Bay of Bengal, literally across the road from the beach. This location is prone to flooding every year and they have had to endure terrible cyclones. In 1991, they lost several of their villagers in one of the worst cyclones that they had ever had. The Village Preparedness session teaches Disaster Management, what to do and where to go if they know that a cyclone is coming or if their village floods.

We are holding 2 workshops over a period of 5 days for several of the WV children. One is a photography workshop and the other is an art workshop. On Friday we will be having a gallery showing at a local hotel to display all their art & photography.

World Vision Canada is still fixing some glitches in their new website before they officially go live with it, but if you would like to preview the website already, you can check it out at: https://www.mychildsponsorship.ca but please be aware that you might run into some glitches as you are surfing through the site. The community that we are in is called Patenga. If you do run into some glitches, can you email me at lilysemail@yahoo.ca and let me know what glitches you've noticed and I'll pass your message on to the IT staff so that they are aware of it. Thanks. Also, when you sign up, you are suppose to get an email with a temporary password. If you do not receive this email, please let me know and I'll have the IT guys reset your password for you. Thanks.

I've been sick the past few days, but I don't think it's anything serious. I usually get Hay Fever this time of year in Canada, and I think it's just a combination of that, and the fact that people smoke indoors in Bangladesh, which I'm allergic to, and the difference between the extreme heat outside and then the cold air conditioning inside all the buildings. I have medication with me, so hopefully by tomorrow I'll be feeling better already. I took the day off today from WV duties and am going to just hang out at the hotel. I don't want to be coughing around the children.

I'll be back in Toronto on Monday the 26th. I'm not sure how long I'll be in Toronto, probably for a week or 2 before I drive back to Thunder Bay. I left my car in Toronto.