The hand that feeds...

It's interesting working in an office of men. I'm used to working around mostly men from my time at the embassy, and I realized that I get to see a world that lots of people don't see. Unnayan Shamannay works for women's empowerment, women's development, and most of the staff are men. Arguably women have not achieved the kind of status in employment that allows them to seek such jobs. It just takes a little getting used to. I'm fine with being the only woman in my office. It gets to me a little that people keep commenting on how young I look. And all week they've been ragging on my Bangla. I'm improving, though, and I'm working at it. This isn't about me, it's about a lot of other things, and I'll take whatever criticisms come my way and fix the problems because the issues we're dealing with are a lot bigger than my ego.

They've given me a lot of credibility at work. This week I got to meet the chairmen of both the Sirajganj and Patuakhali committees. I will be traveling to both unions to observe the activities of the MDG Monitoring Committees. I've been going through a lot of thrilling research this week (for real), and I will start compiling some thoughts some. Dr. Rahman said UNDP, which frequently collaborates with Unnayan Shamannay, is looking for a report on localizing the MDGs. Thus he was going to use my paper as a basis for this report. That's exciting, but this is about more than that. I want to understand what's going on, what's happening, what can really be done, and what the problems are. And that works another way.

This week has been a lot of fun. My colleagues are pretty jovial and entertaining. It's funny, I can see them be a bit cautious about me, perhaps because I'm a woman, a foreigner, a young person. Whatever it is, I've been trying to make them feel easy around me. The Bangladeshi hospitality is something incomparable. This week, Rony Bhai, my colleague, took me on a tour of Dhaka University. The campus is beautiful, lined with trees and historic buildings. He asked me about being American, we talked about politics, philosophy, languages. I Loooove good conversations.

I returned to the campus today with Palash, an Ashoka fellow. Palash is a good friend of mine from DC when I worked at Ashoka this summer. We had an instant connection, and we've been talking about Ashoka Bangladesh ever since. Palash and I had some fun adventures today. We met a little ways from work to meet with one of his friends at Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council. Ashoka is sort of unofficially looking for a new country director, and Palash thought this guy would be a good candidate. We talked away the afternoon, and I saw the same enthusiasm for his work and genuine dedication in this guy that is so apparent in Palash. It was truly a delightful meeting. Afterwards, Palash and I took the bus (my first experience in public transport in Dhaka!) to Dhaka University and milled around. We talked about entrepreneurship, Bangladesh, politics, while walking around the campus. It reminded me of our conversation a few months ago as we walked along the National Mall in DC. Palash has a good heart, and our friendship has grown these past few months.

I'm out of my comfort zone a bit. At the same time, this is exactly what I wanted. I wanted to be uncomfortable, challenged, threatened, forced to work harder. There are things I'm seeing here that I will never forget. And I know that this is never how I will do it again. I can't study poverty while living in one of the poshest parts of Dhaka. I can't read about equality while watching my relatives treat their servants like doormats. There are certain things I had to agree to in coming, I had to compromise on the conditions of my fellowship. But it will be different next time. And though it's complex, tough, and uncomfortable, I will continue to work on it, now and in the future, because this work is in everything I do and see now.