Post-Honduras, back to spring semester, updates, links

Since 4 Jan 08, I'm been back from my fun and hot Honduras trip, including a Latin New Year's eve and last day shopping in San Pedro Sula--thanks to Mr. Nando and my gracious host Sandra. Here's a mountain view from near her casa....


While in El Progreso & San Pedro Sula, I saw many fast food franchises (owned by a large soft drink corporation), two big malls with few customers, a large grocery store & many pulperias (small neighborhood stores) and street markets,













a huge export processing zone (EPZ) and heard of more cases of missing-murdered maquila women in San Pedro Sula (as in Ciudad Juarez, MX and other Central American countries). I bonded with Mr. Nando-driver through listening y singing to radio music (Alejandra Guzman muy bien) in Spanish and English and used my debit card to buy groceries and other items (CAFTA?).

Beyond my two previous posts, I also spent some time walking y jostling through street markets and driving through some streets of these two towns. One afternoon, I spent three hours sitting outside a visitation at a funeral home and where I met a young maquila worker, his six month old son (who ended up on my lap ), his young wife, and gradually his extended family-- y all in Spanish. Like many others, he also wanted to leave the maquila and go El Norte for better pay and work.

At the same time, I experienced-learned some limitations of infrastructures of roads, drinkable water, sewers (some serious flooding my last night in El Progreso), schools, ATMs, poverty, and public safety (bank and store guards with large guns and other security guards with machetes), and my need to work on my Spanish and to retain my improved gringa comprehension. Unlike Bangladesh, no loadshedding, however.

Since my return, I've been recovering-resting, & making my transition to cold Illinois and the start of the spring semester at my university. I am teaching two upper division classes: Globalization & Development and Comparative Race-Ethnic (gender-sexuality....) Relations. Hence I will be sharing some new links, thoughts, and insights from these classes and my students.

Some recent and interesting posts during the past month:

Shawn at Uncultured Project has a a very insightful post-videos-photos on post Cyclone Sidr aid efforts--hard lessons of aid work. I will be using much of his site and videos in my globalization class.

The Nari Jibon bloggers have continued their efforts in English and Bangla. Four bloggers (in English and Bangla) received awards for their efforts and also participated in a video training workshop conducted by Shawn. You can follow this link to the bloggers' names and their prize winning efforts.

Rezwan has an excellent new post on social media-nonprofits-NGOs.

Last but not least, the USA is in the midst of primaries for selecting the next president, and I will leave those thoughts for another post. An interesting exchange on race x gender transpired on Democracy Now between Gloria Steinem and Dr. Melissa Harris-Lacewell about issues raised by Steinem's op-ed article.

And I've been paying attention to las gatas....and their statement on peaceful dreams....

Post Cyclone Sidr coverage by/of Nari Jibon Bloggers

Bhalo korechen (well-done) to Nari Jibon students and staff bloggers and their English & Bangla blog & photo coverage of the Cyclone Sidr and relief efforts. For an overview of their blogging, personal stories, and links, see Rezwan's In the eye of the storm: Bangladeshi bloggers speak

As you can imagine, I am very proud of them, especially when they came to the Nari Jibon office in Dhaka on Saturday, 17 Nov, not quite 48 hours after the Cyclone Sidr stormed across Bangladesh and left the office-classes without electricity or internet connections. And they came for English and other classes and started handwriting their stories in English and Bangla, went out and talked with people and took photos, uploaded their stories and photos when the power & internet came on a few days later, and now they are accessible via the Internet to you.

Consider making a Sidr donation. Rumi tells of the sad story of Eachi’r Ma and her late daughter, and also encourages you to donate to the Sidr compensation fund to be set up via United Bangladesh Appeal, to provide funds to survivors. If you prefer another venue, check out the links in previous posts and making a donation for relief efforts, which will be going on for a long time.

If you are interested in knowing more about Nari Jibon Project, you can click on the links on the lower right side-blue box of your screen and/also the important link--donation--these young women and staff with support for their computer, language, tailoring, and training activities. They take classes in English, Computers, Bangla and Tailoring--all for nominal fees--and have access to the secure Nari-only cyber cafe (along with other women customers). Consider giving a donation-gift in your own or someone's name so that a meritorious but poor female can take a class, have safe transportation, and class supplies (a list of needs-donations-gifts is available on request, but uploaded soon at www.narijibonusa.org).

Updated Information on Cyclone Sidr & Rethinking Disaster Relief

More information and maps have continued to appear on blogs and internet about the magnitude of Cyclone Sidr and resulting disaster(s), and recovery efforts. The death toll continues to rise above 2000 persons (updated 17 Nov usa pm). Personally, I am both shocked and dismayed at the lack of knowledge about the Category 5 hurricane that just plowed into Bangladesh on Thursday--a South Asian country with 140 million people and geographic size of the state of Wisconsin--but little international attention except for its cheap garment production-factories, remitting migrant workers in the Middle East and elsewhere, Army-Peacekeepers for the UN.

Non-resident Bangladeshis and allies continue to blog about what has happened and their efforts to reach out and find their near and dear ones despite clogged and downed phone lines. Still not much in USA media or knowledge among many in USA, although the NYT's webpage had a front page story earlier today (now buried to a link).

As always, Rezwan has the latest posts and information in his excellent Third World View (see also his earlier posts), including map of the population density in storm surge and cyclone areas and Dr. Jeff Master's analyses.

Before you decided to donate, contribute to relief efforts, first read Rezwan's insightful post on "How can you help Bangladesh cyclone victims?" where he discusses the limitations of what the Bangladesh government can do, the roles of NGOs in distributing enormous amounts of relief, but also some specific actions that all of us can take to help Bangladesh recover such as buying Bangladesh, raising funds for specific projects, and encouraging our governments do something such as lowering the tariff/import barriers for Bangladeshi garments and knit goods...legislation that has been languishing in the U.S. congress and Senate.

Also check back often to his post because he continues to update, such as this link to Drishtipat-Unheard Voices on how people outside of Bangladesh can help and mobilize.

According to many sources, the death toil from Cyclone Sidr has risen to 1700+ and many more thousands are injured and/or lost their dwellings-livestock-livelihoods amidst the coming Bangladesh cold, collapse of Bangladesh's power grid, and resultant loss of mobile, internet, and phone networks and safe potable water. I have made contact with Nari Jibon staff who are OK and say they are carefully using their electricity and computer backup batteries, but have little or no electricity and no internet connections.

From the Intersection, which provided valuable pre Sidr information, comes Sheril's video plea for more help for Bangladesh and Chris's latest post provides some links to on the scene Care (from Alertnet) , overall updates and working agencies-NGO-maps, and Relief Net reports, click on Bangladesh: Tropical Cyclone links which lead to links for UN Office of Coordination for Humanitarian Affairs OCHA, Report No. 1 or the storm surge map from Int'l Red Cross/Red Crescent Societies (also working with UN). Other agencies have stepped in as well before and after Sidr.

The good news is that in the seven days preceding Cyclone Sidr's landfall, unprecedented coordination of NGOs and government in evacuations occurred although the numbers of shelters were far less than the millions of persons seeking shelter. Ideally, this prevented immediate high death tolls like in 1970 and 1991, but the ongoing tragedy may be what happens to the millions of survivors--many of whom are injured-- who are living in cold, wet, open air conditions with little or no good drinking water and food.

Once again continue to pay attention to the plight of Bangladesh and the storm affected people through your thoughts, prayers and donations to some of these and your other international relief charities. Hopefully these relief goods and efforts will make their way--directly and quickly-- to the people who need them the most. Again, read Rezwan's insightful post on "How can you help Bangladesh cyclone victims?"

P.S. I just had a long telephone chat with the staff of Nari Jibon Project who have come to the office today despite no electricity and internet connections. Some english students have also shown up for their class and are busy writing their own stories! For more on this conversation and few of their stories go to Bangladesh from Our View. I will post more of their stories on Sunday-Monday if their internet connection is still closed.