24th
Bangladesh
I’ve not been the best blogger as of late… but it hasn’t been for any lack of things to talk about! I just finished a short trip to Bangladesh with Stromme Foundation. It was a short trip, with a mere 5 days in the field. Anyone who does any kind of Intl humanitarian work knows that things most never go as planned… in fact usually we end up laughing at our poor attempts to put our experiences in systematic boxes… (though don’t hear me saying plans are bad).
This particular trip was no different! Our mission: document the Shonglap Program (a program for adolescent girls living in poverty in rural Bangladesh). We had a goal of leaving with some solid footage of the girls, their lives, and the program. We also hoped to gather as many images as possible in order to portray the sweetness of these girls.
I will talk more about the girls in a future post… but for now I will share how the trip went. Basically, half way our first day in the field, our videographer (Jon Smith) started feeling ill. By evening time he was admitted in the local hospital (soooo sketch) with dehydration and a possible bacteria infection (I don’t think they really knew, so they just pumped him full of Cipro).
This meant that I had to lay down my 5D and become the stand in videographer. Thank GOD we were using the Canon 7D, so I at least could understand the basics… but let me tell you—-in no way am I an accomplished filmmaker. Oh man.
Let’s just say our editor (Austin Flack) will have his hands full when he begins to cut together a few short pieces of media for Stromme.
I don’t envy him.
But at the end of the day, I was just amazed at the resilience of the girls. Many of them had escaped childhood marriages. Some had been kept inside their homes, as they have no value as a young woman in their family.
The Shonglap Program (of the Stromme Foundation, Norway) is working to change the perceptions of the community, and provide these girls with education and skills that make them marketable, and self sustaining.
Girls who were once a burden to their family, once cast aside and forced into marriage at as young as 11 years old are now speaking out. They are becoming self sufficient. And in many cases, they are carrying the financial responsibilities of the household.
In the coming days and weeks I will share more about the specific girls we came to know during our short time in the field. But in the mean time, the photo below will have to do.
