The South Trip

Yesterday morning we departed to south. Gradually we could see how the amount of land under water was growing. The south was the most affected area and still is. The padi fields (rice fields) are pretty much non-existent any longer. There are people on boats all around, bamboo stick bridges are built to pass from houses to roads over the marsh lands.

We have been on the road for less than two hours when we approached the Padma (Ganges) river. Another really cool river if you ask me. Here there are no brigdes yet, there is thus ferry system (with Dannish boats from 1986). A bridge is planned to be build here starting from next year.

After two more hours we arrived at one boarding school. A great welcome was awating us. There was also this girl performing a tribal dance and it was amazing. She was really extremely skillfull and you could see the elegance in every move. Coming to this, I was very surprised to realize that the Bengal people do not have movement in blood. I used to hear about Latin Americans that as soon as they move one is thrilled watching them, as they are born to dance. I somehow expected the same about Bengal people. Many girls dancing though proved me wrong. The performace was nice but that was it. Thus seeing this girl made a real difference.

Anyways, after few hours we left for another place where we were to spend the night. It was the last school to visit during our trip here. Yet, the school outstanded all the previous ones in welcoming and the evening programme.

As we entered the gate, heavy rain was falling down and the sun set so it was complete darkness. We were asked to leave the car and suddenly could hear drums. There were girls and boys lined up with machetes, marching to the sound of the drums as we were walking between the two lines of students. On the side of the path there were more children performing traditional work, like fishing, milking a cow and boat racing.

The astonishing part was when we approached this "statue of liberty" as the principal called it. I came closer and saw three statues and could not believe that they actually were three real boys completely covered with mud. They were so still that in the night for a bit I could not tell if they are alive. It was amazing but I wonder how would I feel waiting for half an hour in rain all covered with mud. Amazing.

The evening programme was great as well. As the children tried to introduce to us as many tribal differences as possible through dances as well as little theather plays. All kids were laughing and seemed to have good fun.

As the night progressed, the rain became heavier as well as the wind got much stronger. A storm was coming, which eventually left several trees dropped down, several electricity posts were damaged and the whole campus (as well as the region) was without electricity. As we were told, if the storm continues and the waves hit the river, it is impossible to pass the Padma river on a ferry and we would have to go somewhere up north to use a brigde over the river. Fortunately, the rain eased as well as the wind and we made it safely to Dhaka the very next day.