"How did I get here?" I asked myself. The easy answer was a series of flights lasting over thirty hours total, from Minneapolis to Chicago to London and then to Bangladesh. The question lingered. I got here through an opportunity to study methods of social change in a developing country that struggles with serious poverty issues. I got here through a relationship between my alma mater, Winona State University, and the American Institute of Bangladesh Studies. I got here through a grant written by Ruth Charles and Cathy Faruque, co-chairs of the WSU Social Work department. Social work, my major, was the reason for this trip. But the Globalization of Social Work class I attended, the Bangla language I studied, and all the books I read on Bangladesh didn't prepare me for what I found walking out of the airport in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Sleep-deprived and hungry we stumbled out of the airport and into the hot Bangladesh climate. I looked up to see a palm tree and a vibrant blue sky. I felt myself breaking into a light sweat under my hooded WSU sweatshirt. I had left temperatures in the single-digits and...the dreaded four letter word associated with Minnesota...snow! Shoveling and using the defrost in my car seemed like a long time ago in this almost tropical climate. I looked around and found a massive group of people gathered behind our van. They were silent and staring at us. This group of people gathered to see us "bideshis" or white people. Ruth Charles warned us, "Get used to being treated like movie stars." I thought she was kidding.

We loaded into our van that had a disclaimer in the back window citing "American Students." We weaved in and out of traffic, abiding by absolutely no traffic rules used in the States. I found that in Bangladesh, the horn substitutes for the brake. They also have "baby taxis," essentially glorified golf carts, driving people around. For a man-powered trip you could take a rickshaw ride: a bicycle with a seat in back. In Dhaka, officials estimate 80,000 brightly colored rickshaws are driven around the capital city.

We arrived at our hotel, The Dhaka Club, which was as nice as its name suggests. We were admitted into the courtyard by two armed guards. The Club had all the western comforts we were used to: air-conditioning, refrigeration, and toilets that you could sit down on. Soon, we found that the majority of Bangladeshis lived without these comforts. It turns out most of the rest of the world doesn't live like us.

Dr. Shelley, director of the American Institute of Bangladesh Studies, greeted us with fragrant bouquets of flowers and a warm welcome. We went over our schedule, full of visits to Non-Government Agencies (NGOs) as well as meetings with public officials. They also snuck a few fun things in as well, including a trip to the longest beach in the world, Cox's Bazaar. The purpose of the trip was to learn about social welfare methods the Bangladesh government and Non-Government Agencies were implementing to end poverty. In Bangladesh, the average annual income is $377 U.S. dollars. To look at this average is to also note the huge gap between the rich and the poor in Bangladesh. The rich live in comforts similar to western standards while the poor live in absolute need. Traditional rural villages consist of thatch huts with dirt floors, no electricity or running water. Many of the effective NGOs focused on this latter group.

We traveled to Jessore to visit the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC), a well-known and respected organization providing support to hundreds of women, men and children. We first attended a micro-credit lending meeting. Loans as small as a few U.S. dollars to as much as a couple hundred dollars are given to people, mainly women, for projects ranging from establishing a business, start-up costs for farming a plot of land, or purchasing farm animals for the sale of milk or eggs. The women are organized into groups of peers who ensure project plans are being followed and that the participant is attempting success with the loan. Peer pressure and good financial management by the borrowers has led to a 97 percent repayment of BRAC loans.

The women see their lives change with this program. One story was of a woman who received a BRAC loan and established an eggplant garden, selling the produce at the market. At dinner one night her husband insisted she eat the head of the fish she was serving. Culturally, the male usually eats the fish head as a sign of his dominance and importance in the family. The man told his wife that he wanted her to have it because of all the hard work she had done for him and for their family. Pretty good for a patriarchal society!

The sound of voices in harmony filled our trip when we visited a BRAC school. The children, from very low-income families, amazed us with singing, dancing, clapping and their grasp of the foreign language, English. Girls dressed in their best shalwar-kameez' (long-flowing shirtdress over loose pants) and modest bangles performed choreographed dances to traditional Bangla songs. The education they received from this grass-roots BRAC school filled them with poise, confidence and most important, knowledge.

Bangladesh is a land where generosity has the same powerful flow as the streams and rivers have as they surge to the Bay of Bengal. Our WSU group was treated to a kind, giving nature from the day we arrived until we were going through U.S. Customs on our way back home. One Bangladeshi group that showed us so much love was Winona State alumni. These former WSU international students had traveled across the world to attend school at the academically acclaimed school of Winona State University (have you heard of it?). They earned bachelor's and/or master's degrees before returning to their native soil. We enjoyed dinner together -- current and former students brought together by one connection in a foreign land. The students treated us to the most delicious dinner at a posh restaurant. The Bangla curry was delicious, but the conversation surrounding dinner was substantially more filling.

The proud Bangladeshi WSU alumni rose and spoke about the warm spot in their hearts for Winona and how their experiences there had greatly impacted their lives. I had to swallow more than a few lumps in my throat as I listened. They reflected my own views about the friendliness of Winona citizens, the memorable times at local hangouts, and the connections to friends made on and off campus. They verbalized what I had been trying to put into words as I prepared for this trip and for graduation. We all came to Winona from near and far for an education, but left with more than knowledge. We left with perseverance, from long nights of studying; determination, from the semesters we never thought we'd survive; friendships, made the first day in the dorms to the ones made during that final semester; self-assurance and confidence, gained after we completed a goal; and, eventually jobs, which allowed these generous Bangla students to pick up the tab as well as give us beautiful hand-embroidered gifts.

Winona State University created in us a sense of place, a sense of determination, and a sense of pride that we will all carry with us wherever we go in this world.

Bangladesh Student News

A large number of WSU international student alumni live and work in Bangladesh. Recent updates on a few of them appear here:

Adnan Khan, '96, is a project manager for Ericcson, managing the GSM wireless networking products that our cell phone operators using in the region, mostly in Bangladesh and Malaysia.

Imtiaj Rasul, '96, Political Science, is a program officer at Research Initiatives Bangladesh which supports grants for poverty research in Bangladesh. Imtiaj monitors and evaluates research projects funded by RIB and also initiates poverty research all around the country. In addition to professional activities, Imtiaj lectures on poverty issues at universities home and abroad.

Shaikh Abdul Rauf, '97, Marketing, is based in London and working for a brokerage house, brokering sea-going vessels. Golam Ahmed Faruqui, '95, Finance, was an active member of the WSU Student Senate while on campus and was vice president of the Winona Rotaract Club. Now, he is an assistant professor of business administration at East West University, a private university located in Chicago, Ill.

Mir Rashedul Hasan, '97, Computer Science, worked for several major US corporations over the past few years and is now a system engineer at T-Mobile Wireless USA in Seattle, Wash. His brother, Mir Tanvir Hasan, is currently a computer science student at WSU.

Sabbir Ahmed, '97, Mass Communication-Journalism, returned home to Bangladesh in 1998 to join his family's businesses importing and distributing scientific and medical equipment from Europe, USA, Japan, China and India. In 1999, Sabbir started his own company, MultiTech Computer, specializing in hardware and the development of laboratory information management systems. He and his wife, Shahrin Sabbir, have one son, Sadaat Ahmed, age 3. Sabbir's younger brother, Sabit Ahmed, is currently enrolled at WSU.

Ishraat Wahid, '95, Economics, is a career advisor for ethnic minority people around the Cheshire, England, area. He encourages them to apply for positions in the police force, probation service, and the Crown Prosecution Service. Ishraat is also a project administrator for an education project with the Chester Asian Council.

Md. Manzoorul Islam, '95, Computer Science, is chief executive officer of Electronic Security Solutions Limited, a firm that develops banking software, credit card management software and supports POS terminals and ATMs, primarily for financial institutions.