Me, Bangladesh and Morning: Part 2

I've been wanting to write something more serious instead of babbling about my trips in the past. Actually I even have many ideas about topic to write. You know when you need to ride a rickshaw every morning and evening, going to the office and back home through narrow alleys in Dhaka, you would see many things and suddenly you will have a list of interesting things you can put on your blog!! Ok well, let me start with one of them then..

As I am no longer endorsed by the generous Japanese government, I now need to find someplace cheaper to stay in Dhaka. Fortunately an acquaintance from last year has a spare room in her place. It is even much cheaper than I anticipated, but surprisingly the place is really nice! In addition, it is located in the same area as my office, which means I can cut the heavy Dhaka traffic when commuting by using narrow streets between home and office instead. And I've been enjoying my short trips because, as I mentioned, I've got to see how the majority of Bangladeshi actually live.

The rickshaw I need to take everyday

This is the first interesting thing I see every morning, not so far away from home:

Garment workers on their walk to work

Hundreds of people (most of them are young women) walking towards the direction of my place!! I was confused when I saw it the first time, especially because I sat on my rickshaw and went towards the opposite direction (that I felt like a stranger among a school of fish, trying to go against the current :D). Why would so many people take a walk in the morning at the same time? But then I also noticed those people were holding something that look like a lunch box, and I realized they might be the garment workers Jeff Sachs described in his book "The End of Poverty". 

Bangladesh' garment industry maybe is one of the largest in the world, with more than 4000 factories and around three million workers, of whom 90% are women [1]. Garment export has been the main export sector and the major source of foreign exchange for Bangladesh [2]. For a country like Bangladesh whose rural communities have limited livelihood options and where women have almost always been marginalized from formal work, garment industry appears as a source of employment [1]. This industry has largely benefited women and narrowed the gender gap including participation in labor force, control over income, and decision making [1]. However, there remains widespread gender discrimination in wage rates and working condition [1]. 

The buildings on the sides of narrow streets I pass by every day

I wondered now of where those people live. As my rickshaw went forward, I saw more women popping up from even smaller alleys in between the buildings I passed by. I took a peek at those alleys, and saw some kind of buildings made from scrap materials. My mind immediately recalled the memory of Korail slum I went to last year, and realized at once that behind the buildings were slum clusters those women might deem as home! As I wrote before, the urbanization in Bangladesh is very massive, and usually the migrants end up living in the slums. 

So, that's the harsh reality of urban poor in Dhaka. By living close to these people and witnessing the life they live everyday, I hope that I will always be reminded of why I am here so that I can really contribute something for them in the end. Hopefully!