Day 6: Grrls & Technology/what happened to Nari Jibon (a brief tale)

read some important women creators and doers in ICT herstory and actions for this day

From 2003-2008, Katie Zaman and I worked with girls/young women on ICT access and training in Bangladesh at the Nari Jibon project and earlier projects. You can read more about those activities in my blog as well as their blogging activities in 2007-2009 through a Rising Voices blogging grant to Nari Jibon. From 2006-2009, Nari Jibon project provided classes in english, computers, graphics as well as tailoring. Some students received work-study (leikhapora chakri)to attend classes full time and gain work experience. Most students paid moderate fees to attend classes and fees to use the cyber cafe to practice their skills.

Nari Jibon had the only woman-only cyber cafe in Dhaka with multiple computers, access to internet, printer, cameras (digital and video). The cafe provided a safe space where girls and women could learn how to really use english and develop real skills in computers, graphics, internet. I tried to structure the cyber cafe staff, fees, and use to move toward sustainability and income generation for Nari Jibon, but some staff undermined these efforts in the cyber cafe, other classes, and Nari Jibon operations. Further, NGO registration faced many obstacles such as expensive bribes to ease the registration process. Sadly, I had to to stop sending funds in the beginning of 2009 and health issues have precluded return visits to Bangladesh. When the staff could not find other donors or sponsors for the well-equipped computer lab/facilities, Nari Jibon moved to a residence, and closed its doors/classes in summer 2009.



I took this picture in summer 2008 in the cyber cafe...Kira Kariakin and I worked with the students to actually blog and take pictures (some teachers had made excuses for why the students weren't so eager to blog, but we found much interest in blogging). Many students set up their own blogs in english and bangla and continued that fall with visits/video from David Sasaki (then coordinator of Rising Voices) and his translation of Laura Vidal's article. You can read my 2008 post about the bloggers. Some of our students had the computer and photo skills to gain jobs registering-photographing for Bangladesh's id cards among other jobs. You can read more success stories-herstories on www.narijibon.blogspot.com or herstory on www.narijibon.com


Alas with our departures , loss of enouragement-support (except for visit from Rezwan Islam) and the search for donors in spring 2009, the women stopped using the internet, blogging, and facebook use. I continue to wonder how the students are doing these days. I've seen facebook use by only two of our formers students and no blogging. I want to also acknowledge the hard work by our computer teacher, Taslima, who moved on to computer programming jobs.

What do young women need to have access to and use computers, social media? Have mobiles replaced using computers? How and where do girls and young women gain real computer skills (not just a 'certficate' in Bangladesh and can use safe and secure cyber cafes?

I hope that such facilities have continued to evolve and emerge in Bangladesh and elsewhere. For example, please see the good works and blogging projects of Rising Voices!

Day 9: Break Barriers-Translate-Network and learn!

On Day 9, I want to give a hat tip to Global Voices and Rising Voices b/c they have done excellent work in compiling and translating blogs in multiple languages. Some of the Rising Voice grants are starting to develop blogs in Indigenous languages, for example, Cristina Quisbert's Bolivia Indígena, which includes Amarya and Nari Jibon students blogging in Bangla (you may need some Bangla fonts to read this post).

Or check out Renata Avila writing about Central American women, ICT, and TBTT in Global Voices and then featured in TTBT site via Manal Hansan's blog.

Or Aparna Ray who has been a wonderful khala (aunt) to Nari Jibon bloggers, including encouraging and doing translation of some of their Bangla works.

Or Rezwan Islam, the mama (uncle) to Nari Jibon bloggers and original editor of Rising Voices blog.

Please link up and check out these Rising Voices projects and participants. Share and comment on blog posts that interest you. Look up the regional editors and consider becoming a contributor, encourage them to cover more issues of concern to you such as VAW and women's lives, and/or a translator in the Lingua-Global Voices translation program, too. Finally, for those in mono-language mode, please consider learning some more languages....I'm working on my Bangla and Spanish....and enjoying Google Translator, if needed. Yes, I know that it doesn't do a good job, but I can get the gist....and who knows what's next in my studies....

More of my favorite links-posts tomorrow. I stayed up too late last night reliving the songs of my wanton feminist youth....for my previous post!

Day 3: Connect and Help and maybe Twitter?

On Day 3, we are encouraged to explore and empower our selves with some new mobile technology such as SMS to report abuse, actions, and seek help-information. Maybe it's my over-connected self and thumbs tired from texting that have resisted Twittering. My Blackberry and tiny keyboard seem connected to instant messages (Google Talk) among other distractions-instrusions of email, on-line news, and uploading my cat photos to Flickr or Facebook.

Or my nearly 40 years of organizing via telephone and in person (landline, letters, magazines, demonstrations, in person conversations) make me a bit leery-weary of the hi-tech and Facebook approaches to organizing. Users can "join" a cause, sign digital petitions, or cut/paste their email messages to politicians-corporations without taking concrete actions or making changes in safety, security or advancing their causes' goals-agendas. At the same time, I have seen the power of Youtube videos in Rahela's case (previous post) or in the recent USA presidental election of Barack Obama!

Or maybe the two Thanksgiving dinners that I attended to today have temporarily dulled my technological appreciation!

Computer technology has led to websites for help and connection around VAW. Toll-free hotlines have given women new forms of communication about VAW as well as reaching out for help and reporting on their lives and experiences. Recycled cell phones have given new and safer voices to women to make calls to police and shelters that cannot be tracked by their abusers who may have ripped out their landlines.

Friends and family separated by distance can also send emails and instant messages via the computer for support. Although many VAW shelters have to stress guidelines for safe computer use for women to protect the privacy of their passwords, email, and communication from jealous partners and abusers.

Nonetheless in many countries, access to the new mobile and computer technologies still depend on access to electricity and funds to power their computers, recharge their phones, as well as reliable and cheap internet and connectivity...still in short supply in many countries. Loadshedding means that your computer and internet won't work and/or your mobile providers' circuits are disrupted. Finally, some men have used these technologies to harass and stalk women.

Now we have Twitter among other things.....Some women and activists have also adopted "Twitter" a way of sending short 140 character messages to near and dear ones as well as friends and those who care to know about our activities, thoughts, and even music. People can sign up to follow our "tweets", which can also be posted on social networking sites, such as Facebook.

On Day 3, the Take Back the Tech women have given a very informative and creative overview of the ways we can use Twitter and SMS to communicate about VAW, actions, and events. From their feeds, today I have also learned about the ongoing use of such technologies by the AZUR Development group in the Congo, their activities on HIV-AIDs, use of SMS messages and radio:
http://www.aidsrightscongo.org/ http://reseausida.blogspot.com/ I'm also proud that they are also part of the Rising Voices blogging grants!

At the same time, I hope that we can creatively embrace these technologies without losing some our interconnections built on social interactions, communities, and networks. We have many possibilities for remaining connected. For example, through his Facebook tweets, I can follow the music and adventures of my digital friend, Rising Voices coordinator, and global traveler, David Sasaki. who just landed in South Africa on a We Blog the World Junket but with no announced sessions-visits to groups dealing with VAW or such issues in South Africa. (Please see David's later post on failure to address these and AIDS issues on the junket). Earlier this fall, David worked with a group of South African women elders to set up their own blogs. Finally, through Rising Voices grant at Nari Jibon, I've digitally connected with many bloggers and even met some in person!

During my writing of this blogpost, David just made a digital introduction of Azur participant with Nari Jibon bloggers and myself!

From his recent travels to new technology conferences, David considered the possibilities, usefulness, and challenges of such communications, SMS, especially in his thoughtful Mobile Active 08L 6.5 Billion Text Messages Don't Make World Peace. He questions the usefulness of text messaging for peace-political issues and generating action-change. We tend to devalue such communications, "the more we correspond, the less we value correspondence". He also reminds us that a crucial mineral--Coltan--for cellphones &computers is being mined and fought over in the violent chaos of the Congo. Other writers, activists, and documentary filmmakers have reminded us that beyond displacing women and their families, government and rebel soldiers have raped and abused many women and their children and/or spread HIV-AIDS and STDs.

Unfortunately some of these connections-interests also can keep us in our own circles-interests and networks of international tours, websites, and blogs that ignore programs and campaigns such as Take Back the Tech, Nov 25 as International Day Against Violence Against Women, or even the 16 Days Campaign (which have appeared in only one blog post in Global Voices, the larger umbrella of Rising Voices) . For an update, please see Juliana Rincón Parra's excellent post and videos on eliminating violence against women and her video blogsite, which provide other forms of communication beyond Twitter. . Some of us are too busy (and/or distracted) to keep track of news-info-events on our own communities and countries much less all the possibilities on the Internet. Or other events intervene such as media attention to the three days of violence in Mumbai & needless deaths of many or the global economic crisis, which will send even more women, children and their families into precarious situations.

Hence I encourage every one to access, read, and learn from the Take Back the Tech feeds of SMSs from around the world, use your mobile technology to connect and make a difference, continue to speak up and educate people in your various circles of family, friends, blogs, classes, and media on these issues, donate and/or volunteer to local shelters, and last but not least go to the UNIFEM campaign for signatures: saynotoviolence.org --who knows the petitions just might work! [unfortunately they stopped taking signatures on 25 november!] the site collected over 500,000 signatures from around the world...

Finally, I will sign up for Twitter in the morning and as soon as I recover from my Thanksgiving and observe "Buy Nothing Day" on the day after Thanksgiving....but I am only blogging about this....well maybe I posted something on facebook...and I still don't have my Twitter account.....

P.S. I just learned about some conceptually interesting uses of Twitter, Tumblr, iPhones by sex worker networks in USA. Regina Lynn describes how the Desiree Alliance and SWOP (regional sex worker outreach projects) in USA have used Twitter, Tumbler iphones, and Google docs to create media blitzes. The Alliance and projects have their own blogs, for example, Bound, Not Gagged. You can learn more about 17 December Day Against Violence against Sex Workers , related resources and National and Regional events on the Bound, Not Gagged and the Chicago SWOP blogs--more details on Chicago in this SWOP blog.

Nari Jibon : a place for your Jakat or donation

Nari Jibon is an appropriate place for your Jakat or any other contribution/donation

By Golam Rabbany Sujan (Sujan's Chinta) crossposted in Bangladesh from Our View

There are many organizations that are committed to develop women or vulnerable women in the world. Some of these organizations provide money to women in the hopes of making them self-reliant. These organizations also report that those women are running business or being self reliant using their money. But we can see that often, their money is used by their husband or other male persons. But Nari Jibon does not give them current money. Nari Jibon gives skill training and makes them able to be self reliant or sometimes helps them for being self reliant. As an example Nari Jibon provides tailoring skills including business knowledge. Nari Jibon provides cloth and students make most of the items during class and internship. Students also visit some tailoring business centers. Then sometimes Nari Jibon provides some money for sewing machine and some business set up cost. Nari Jibon authority also follows up on their progress. Similarly, the other section provides computer knowledge. Students in this section will also learn how to write a standard cover letter and resume, as well as create a portfolio. She will use cyber café for practicing and visiting various web pages and blogs from where she will increase her computer and English knowledge. Every student will open an e-mail account and also students will write blogs. By the reading and writing blogs, students can increase their knowledge and skill more in English and computer programs. Thus students become fit for job.

About Nari Jibon Nari Jibon is a non-profit charitable service organization. It is working in South-Dhaka, Bangladesh since 2005. Nari Jibon provides services and support to the women students and workers of low and mid-level families. Nari Jibon provides basic educational and technical skills for employment, income-generation, empower and business development. Nari Jibon provides Bangla primary education to the illiterate women, tailoring cutting and sewing master course, English-1 and English-2 (spoken) and computers (MS Office Programs, graphics and webpage design, photography, and hardware trouble shooting and program maintenance).

Nari Jibon computer lab

Nari Jibon cyber café

David Sasaki, Director of Rising Voice teaching students about blogging

Nari Jibon English class

English volunteer teachers (Stella and Lee Goldman) are taking English-2 (Spoken English)

Difference of Nari Jibon skill training programs…

1. Nari Jibon is safe place for the women

2. Nari Jibon takes only nominal registration fee for all the courses.

3. Computer students have to have English knowledge or have to learn English at Nari Jibon as it is most essential for related job.

4. Students must use Nari Jibon’s cyber café to have more practice, visiting more web sites, reading and writing blogs and learning other online activities.

5. Nari Jibon motivates students to read and write posts for blogs as it improves students’ knowledge in English and computer. If students want to continue blogging they can open individual blog sites.

6. Often students are trained by some foreigner experts besides Nari Jibon internal expert instructors.

7. All the students will write their own portfolios by themselves.

8. Scholarship students will communicate with individual donors writing thank you letters and monthly progress reports.

Why you should donate for women only.

After being married women are excluded from their parents’ wealth. If any woman becomes a widow at her young age, she is bereft from her husband’s wealth. There are many divorced women who are neglected by her parents’ family. Some male persons take more wives and so that those women are neglected by these husbands. We can see some husbands leaving their wives and hiding them. Some husbands demand dowry after marriage and torture their wives. Some husbands try to pressure their wives into the informal sector. Some low and mid-level families are not interested in spending money for their female members/daughters. And there are fewer job opportunities for the women in our country. So women need more skill training/ education scope to protect themselves and compete against male students as we know that sons get more scope for education than the daughters.So Nari Jibon can be your appropriate place for donation or Jakat. If you donate to Nari Jibon, you will be informed how your donation is spent. As an example if you donate above $10 dollars, you will get thank you letter, picture of students and progress report and successful history.

How and how much money you donate-

You can donate students’ registration course fees, Microsoft Office Program- $17 including 4 cyber passes, Graphics and Web design course $24 including 6 cyber pass cards, photography course $13, Bangla course fee-$1.50, tailoring, cutting and sewing Master Course fee-$5. (These amounts cover only the admission fees that we charge. It costs us much more to actually provide the services, so any extra amount that you can give is much appreciated.)You can provide some money as conveyance with registration fee or you can donate a sewing machine to a poor or vulnerable woman. Nari Jibon has a special scholarship program named LPC (work-study-women) program. Some women need to earn money to survive and they also need to learn skill to change their career or profession. As an example one housemaid or sex worker or poor (dropped out) student who is strong determined to change her profession but she needs to earn money to survive. If she gets LPC scholarship, she will be free to learn skills. She will learn skills and she will also take practical work experience at office. Thus LPC students will make her more fit for jobs and she will also communicate with the employers during course duration. LPC students get $ 50 dollars per month so totally she will get (50 X 4 = $200) Or you can also donate some money to continue Nari Jibon activities such as you can donate a computer or UPS (uninterrupted power supply) or one month electricity bill or rent.
Unrestricted-open ended donations of any amount also towards general costs also welcomed!
Tax deductible donation- make check out to Give2Asia, donation form (must use credit card via website and/or mail in) form available on links on Bideshi Blue site (right side) or on the link below. For more info on gift list, please visit Nari Jibon USA web site and check the link “possible gift list Nari Jibon” or communicate with Dr. Kathryn B Ward
Donors should also email Dr. Kathy Ward pagol.nari@gmail.com for gift specifics-purchase and also so that we have donor’s contact-email info.

Nari Jibon Project and Its Bloggers: What Other Bloggers are Saying

Recently I returned from 45 hot (beshi garum) days in Bangladesh where I visited the Nari Jibon Project, among other activities. Loadshedding continued to take its toil on me, Nari Jibon computers, students as well as garment factories. Nonetheless students have come to their computer and english classes as well as practiced in the women only cyber cafe. During this visit, many students opened their own blogs!

Students in the computer lab.....

During this time, Nari Jibon hosted a visiting lecturer, Kira, who gave a lecture and worked with smaller groups on blogs, photography, photo websites.

In response, many students posted in the Nari Jibon english blog for the first time. Other students have continued to contributed to Nari Jibon bangla blog. Many of the bangla poems have been translated into english and posted in the english blog. Some students opened their own blogs (in English and Bangla) and some staff started blogging again...

some bloggers' photography session with Ms. Kira:
Zannat, Jannat, Afiya, Choti, Kira, Jainub's daughter, Jesmin

new! Ms. Kira's moving reflections on working with the new bloggers-photographers and leaving Nari Jibon and Bangladesh: http://www.k-minos.com/?p=613

For overviews of these blogging activities, check out what she and others have been saying about Nari Jibon and its bloggers. Please follow the links within and read the bloggers' creative activities as they find and develop their own voices and computer-photo skills and continue to post. Your comments (kind, thoughtful, constructive) will provide much needed encouragement. Below, I list some students' and staff members' individual blogs.

new from David Sasaki's visit to Dhaka and Nari Jibon Project:

http://rising.globalvoicesonline.org/blog/2008/09/02/nari-jibon-using-blogs-to-give-bangladeshi-women-new-skills/

new ! http://el-oso.net/blog/archives/2008/09/02/bangladesh/en/

http://el-oso.net/blog/archives/2008/08/15/an-update-from-nari-jibon/en/

http://rising.globalvoicesonline.org/blog/2008/08/14/nari-jibon-making-a-difference/

http://uncultured.com/2008/07/25/what-would-kathy-do/

http://www.k-minos.com/?p=577

http://rising.globalvoicesonline.org/blog/2008/07/10/nari-jibon-the-joy-of-having-their-own-blog/

Some Students’ blog addresses

Afrin's Gallery http://asiaafrin.blogspot.com/

Jesmin’s garden http://jesmingarden.blogspot.com/

Zannat's world http://zannatworld.blogspot.com/

Rainbow http://jannat-fardoush.blogspot.com/

Bangladeshi Women http://jainub-khanam.blogspot.com/

Ahona http://ahona-hira.blogspot.com/

Window of Mind, http://sufia-eti.blogspot.com/

My Dream, http://poly-dream.blogspot.com/

Choti’s blog http://choitrerdinguli.blogspot.com/

Staff blog addresses:

new ! Kajol's destiny http://kajols-destiny.blogspot.com/

Bipa’s Prokrito Bangladesh http://www.bipa-prokritobangladesh.blogspot.com/

Sujan’s Chinta, http://hi-bangladesh.blogspot.com/

Creative talk by Nilufa http://annekuet.blogspot.com/

Kazi’s eye, http://kazi-rafiq.blogspot.com/

Techna Tara: http://taslima-toma.blogspot.com/

computer teachers taslima & nilufa watch kira teach about photography

bloggers meet face to face in Dhaka, Bangladesh!

Shaina, Shawn, Kathy y Kira @ Nari Jibon Project, Dhaka, June 2008

First, Rezwan (Berlin) linked to Shawn (Bangladesh). Kathy (USA-Dhaka) linked to Shawn and gave him some of her expat advise and in turn he gave a video workshop at Nari Jibon. David (todo del mundo y Rising Voices blogging grants) linked Kathy to Kira (Bangladesh, Africa, Venezuela) who gave a blogging workshop at Nari Jibon. Shaina’s dad (Florida-USA) sent Shawn’s link to Shaina (Sociology undergraduate, Florida State USA) who read about Nari Jibon in Shawn’s blog. Shaina sent an email to Kathy about volunteering at Nari Jibon in summer 2008, where she has been teaching English2 since May.

Second, in June 2008, Shaina, Shawn, Kathy, and Kira all sat together at Nari Jibon. Kira gave a Flickr workshop. You can read Shawn's thoughts and Kira's photos and thoughts on our gathering(s). Such are the intersectionalities of blogging and Dhaka.

International Women's Day 2008--Tell Your Stories

Take Back the Tech women have returned for International Women's Day and their great gifs and actions.

They urge all of us to tell our stories about our lives, experiences, and actions about violence against women, and hopefully write our own stories and code!

On this day and other days, I would like to urge you to remember the origins of International Women's Day to honor the women who died in the 1911 Triangle Shirt Waist Fire in New York City. Consider also the women in your everyday lives and their stories of survival, resistance, and perseverance in their homes, schools, work, streets as well as during disasters, wars, garment factory fires (yes they still occur often), internal displacement from ethnic & religious conflicts as well as the good times.

The Take Back The Tech women have developed printable story bands that you can print and write--"let me tell or ask me about my story"

they suggest: Write "Ask me" on the band, and invite people that you meet on International Women's Day to ask about your story. After you have shared your story, give them a band of their own, and ask them to continue telling and listening to stories with other people that they meet. You can also write your story on your band, and send us a picture. We'll put it up on the campaign website to widen the circle.

The Take Back the Tech site also has many useful tools and links for readers with assorted tech talents. Please check out this site!

Other sites and action:

Rising Voices held an International Women's Day Poetry Jam for the Rising Voices Blog Sites. Check out four selected poems from Madagascar, Bangladesh and Colombia as well as photos from Bolivia and Bangladesh.

You can read more poems from Bangladesh on the Nari Jibon blogsite(s).

For more about education and actions on gender abuse and violence against women in the South Asian community, see the Out Against Abuse blogsite.

Go to my earlier post re Southall Black Sisters --an extraordinary shelter-education program in London--and related links to read about their possible closure owing to funding cuts by local council. Please provide support and write a letter of protest.

Nari Jibon Project: Three Years of Alternative Skills to Women

cross-pointed on Bangladesh from Our View

Shuvo Jonno Din ba Happy Birthday to Nari Jibon Project! Three years ago on 1 March 2005, the Nari Jibon Project (women's lives) opened to provide alternative skills to disadvantaged urban women in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Three Fulbright fellows and Bangladeshi staff provided low cost classes in Bangla, tailoring, English, and computers in a cramped one flat space (for our herstory, see the Nari Jibon website). Nari Jibon has now expanded to three flats and more offerings such as three levels of English, more computer classes with broadband access (including repair-graphics-photography-video), and also a website, nari only cyber cafe, tailoring shop, and research cell. Since June 2007 and thanks to a small grant from Global-Rising Voices, Nari Jibon also has two blogs in English and Bangla, which have been read by over 13,000 readers. You can read a Rezwan's recent overview of the blogs and spring in Bangladesh.

Many of our students have gone on to develop their own businesses, improve their salaries from literacy in Bangla and skills, jobs in offices and NGOs, and pursue their higher education with computer and improved skills in English and Bangla speaking, writing, and reading. To learn more about our students and their lives, photographs, and videos, please scroll through the Nari Jibon blog and website.

My thanks go out to the Nari Jibon Project staff and thousands of students who have passed through our doors for various studies. May they have learned many different skills that they have used in their lives, families, income generation, and continued education. Thanks to all our donors and supporters for your time and generosity.

Alas, we still need your support for Nari Jibon's continued success and programme. If you are interesting in donatiing time or funds, please contact me and/or go to Narijibonusa.org where you can learn what your donation can provide, more success stories and download a donation form for cheque donations to Give2Asia and/or contribute by credit card Give2Asia Foundation for the Nari Jibon Project (tax deductible in USA and Canada permitted by law).

If you are in the Carbondale, IL, USA area, you can attend a Women's History month performance by The Composters, the wonderful feminist oral-media performance duo on 21 March 2008, 8 pm, LongBranch Coffeehouse, West Jackson Street. Donations will go to Nari Jibon Project.

You can follow the pithy advice & adventures of avid Composters Glenda Greenhouse & Mary Mercury as they perform sustainably in their Compostthis! blog. They have also been featured in Spring 2008, Bitch Magazine.

You can also hear me discuss Nari Jibon and blogging on WDBX Radio, 91.1, "Native Voices" radio programme, on Sunday, 2 March, 1:00-1:30pm (central standard time) streaming url, http://wdbx.scientistsuperstar.com/ Here, you can read more on blogs and weblinks that I discuss on this program.

I will also appear on the "Big Muddy Media" radio programme, which will be broadcast on the same station/streaming url from 9-9:30am (central standard) on Wednesday, 5 March 2008. On the Rising Voices blogsite, you can hear me discuss the benefits of blogging for Bangladeshi women via an interview segment on mp3.

I hope that all will have some misti (sweets) in honor of Nari Jibon's birthday as well as some fair trade chocolate-tea-coffee on International Women's Day, 8 March 2008.

World Social Forum Global Day of Action=Foro Social Mundial Día de Acción

Foro Social Mundial Español

mpg3

World Social Forum english

video

See-read Shawn's reflections on the ground in Bangladesh on Davos World Economic Forum in his Uncultured Project posts: Post 1 / Post2/ Post3

See-hear-listen how Rising Voices grants have enabled young women in Bangladesh and young people in Bolivia, Colombia, India, and Sierra Leone and other parts of the world to express their opinions, dreams, hopes, and life stories on these issues and more. You can read more about global citizens' media & download guides in Spanish, Bangla, and English.

See Global Voices video editor, Juliana Rincón Parra's overview and discussion of Davos Videos
including Youtube and other bloggers' answers to The Davos Question:“What one thing do you think that countries, companies or individuals must do to make the world a better place in 2008?”

Read (es) how Las Panchas en Honduras are working & talking together on their lives, futures, and environmental issues via videophotography and community organizing.

DAY 13/shift space-Monowara Begum who faced domestic violence after marriage

On Day 13, the Take Back the Tech crew invite you to get geeky and try on some different add-ons for Firefox that enable you to add post-type notes via Shift-shapes and make and share comments with friends who have this add-on installed. Have fun!

I want to hightlight the brave & frank video made by Nari Jibon's computer teacher and blogging coordinator, Taslima: Monowara Begum who faced domestic violence after marriage
In this Bangla video on YouTube, Monowara tells about the domestic violence that she experienced from her in-laws. You also see her printing the english alphabet and showing what she has learned at Nari Jibon. Some english narrative about Monowara's life is included in this post, including her resilence through loss of one daughter, birth of two sons, estrangement, and reconcilation with her husband, and her Bangla and hopefully tailoring education at Nari Jibon.

This video was originally posted on Bangladesh from Our View blog and is Nari Jibon's contribution to the 16 days campaign to eliminate violence against women.

Nari Jibon's blogging activities are supported in part by Rising Voices-Global Voices, which seek to expand citizen media around the world through small seed grants. You can link to the Rising Voices website to read more about blogging projects in Bolivia, Colombia, Sierra Leone, and Kolkata.

Day 5-Women Bloggers Make and Broadcast the Message Against VAW

The digital divide and VAW has often meant that women did not have access to the internet, video, and related media much less the tools to make and upload these media. When they did have access, they were often confronted with less than positive images. Now more women and male allies are making their own videos and media clips and posting on popular sites.

For example, in the Justice for Rahela campaign & other cross- posts this fall, a Youtube video on Rahela made available many video and visual images of Rahela as she struggled to live and name her assailants in the month before she died in September 2004. Many of us had never seen her before except in maybe a newspaper clip.

Thanks to a blogging grant from Global Voices-Rising Voices, computer and english students & staff at Nari Jibon Project (and four other locations) have had the opportunity to and learn how to write blog posts and also to use digital and video cameras. To date, they have posted video on the Bangladesh floods, & a homeless woman who gave birth in a garage and pictures of street girls, beggars, slum women rebuilding after Cyclone Sidr, including a mother nursing her child born during Cyclone Sidr, among other images. This past week, Computer Teacher Taslima (brown burkha) gave a digital camera and video training workshop for blogging students and staff (see stories and photos).

As their skills grow, I hope to see more blogs and video blogs on their perspectives as young women growing up and finding their way through the streets, schools, and lives amidst eve-teasing and VAW prevalent in Bangladesh (and elsewhere, too). Meanwhile I will scramble to keep up with their advances in technology and blogging.

Finally, I will leave you with a very haunting video with some [warning graphic-disturbing] photos of violence from the 1971 liberation war and the song, Bangladesh, as sung by Joan Baez. These words-song always move me (to tears) and to step up my efforts to end suffering where ever it may occur. Please see also the Drishtipat on Women of 1971, their campaign for restitution from Pakistan, and their varied experiences and stories as freedom fighters, grandmothers, mothers, daughters, students and children, including the thousands of Bangladeshi women raped by Pakistani soldiers and collaborators).