We also went to Grameen Shakti, a sister company in charge of providing renewable energy across the country. Bangladesh has an energy crisis. I have experienced it first hand on too many occasions. Several times a day, the entire grid shuts down leaving the city with no electricity. Offices, hotels, and nicer houses, have back up generators that quickly (within a minute) restart most operations such as lighting, fans etc. But most people have nothing. And by nothing, I mean either no generator, or, for 60% of the country, no electricity whatsoever. This is the first problem. The other issue is that Bangladesh is such a low lying country, that if global temperatures rise by 4 degrees over the next few decades, which is apparently a not unlikely event, 2/3 of the country will be underwater. And this is one of the most densely populated countries in the world already. Imagine. So obviously for these reasons renewable energy is a big deal out here. Because of its hot climate and huge agriculture industry, solar power and biogas are the big players. We saw mud-hut houses with solar panels on the roof (which a villager pays for using the principles of microcredit) and a contraption that converts chicken excrement into usable energy. Grameen has training centers, where women villagers become proficient technicians with the equipment. They use these skills to provide immediate assistance to people who are having trouble in their own village, and make a good income stream at the same time.
On the weekend 18 of us took a 5 hour train to Shrimongul in the north east to visit the tea plantations. We walked through a rain forest and hiked a mountain for pineapples, which were deliciously sweet. We also swam in a lake, which we probably wouldn't have done normally, but saw two fat chinese men swimming in it, so figured it must be OK - I take full credit for that line of reasoning. More alcohol was smuggled to dinner, but it didn't last long. The next day we did a 7km bike ride, which would have been 14km if I had turned around and rode back like everyone else, but instead I convinced a friend to hitch-hike back into town on a truck with me. Best 100 Tk ($1.50) I have ever spent.
While away I received the sad news of Michael Jackson's untimely death. I only realized how much of a fan I must be,when I got an embarrassingly high number of emails from friends and family making sure that I was alright! Although very shocked, I'm coping fine, but I will miss the man who can take credit for every cringeful spin I've pulled on the dance-floor and whose "Dangerous" concert at Wembley in 1992 will still go down as one of the greatest nights of my life.
Yesterday was Dr Mohammed Yunus' (the nobel-prize winner who founded Grameen) 69th birthday. I have never met the man, and to say that he has a divine aura in Bangladesh would be an understatement. But we knew he was in town, recently back from the states. I decided it would be a good idea to buy a slice of cake, stick in some candles, barge into his office unannounced and sing. So after a little recon mission to find out where his office is (modestly tucked away on the 4th floor of a 21 floor building) we did exactly that. For Jeff, Benny, Miles and myself it was certainly a moment we'll never forget. And we have pictures.
Not sure what I'll be getting up to this week, but I'm planning on buying a mountain of DVDs at $1 a pop as well as getting a wardrobe of shirts tailored for $12 a piece. So until then,
Richard
No comments:
Post a Comment