It was odd, but almost every older woman we saw in Rhong Chiri smoked something. Most of them smoke cigars. Instant baller status: achieved. I definitely would not mess with this, er....lady.
There is something about being of a lighter skin complexion in this country that attracts kids like flies to honey. It is probably because they have rarely, if ever, seen a foreigner/white person. It was difficult for us to even get permission from the government to visit the hill tracts.
At first she was shy, but then decided to ham it up for the camera. Too bad I missed the focus. However, I kind of like how I accidentally caught her hand on the barbed wire instead.
These were just some of the girls that sat across the road and watched us while we waited for our jeep to pick us up and take us to the village. Segregation of the sexes is a big thing here. Males and females are brought up with relatively little interaction with one another. As a funny example, when Megan came late for tea yesterday, three men got up from the bench I was sitting on and crammed in the bench on the other side of the table. It was just Megan and myself on one side with 6 Bengalis on the other!
These boys were about five feet from the group of girls on the other side of the street. Just wanted to prove my point.
Surprisingly, people really love having their picture taken here (except for some of the conservative muslim women). People especially love it when you have a digital camera and can show them their picture. I cannot tell you how many kids and adults have stood up proudly, and even beckoned me for a photo.
The hill tract area is pretty diverse in terms of religion. Their are many Hindus, Muslims, Christians, and even some tribal religions here. Likewise, there is more religious tolerance here relative to the rest of the country, which is primarily Muslim. In the Hill tract region, for example, a family can raise pigs. This is something that cannot be done where we are located. Any attempts to raise swine in Malumghat would probably result in some dead little piggies.
This is an attempt to catch a snapshot from my hip of an unsuspecting Muslim lady. Had she noticed, she probably would have hid herself. I have several "ruined" photos of Muslim women covering their faces.
To go along with the religious diversity, here are some Christian tribal women praying. It was encouraging to see such a strong church among this tribal group. As a side note, the wife of the resident surgeon at our hospital belongs to this tribe. John Tripura, who is a member of a neighboring tribe, is a 3rd year surgical resident in the PACS system. PACS is a council of Christian surgeons who oversee the training of African and Asian natives in western surgical medicine.
I'm not sure if you can appreciate this, but the hill these guards are walking down is extraordinarily steep. We all had to get out of the jeep and walk down the hill so it could make it down without the brakes failing. If you like roller-coasters, come to Bangladesh and ride on the top of a jeep as it careens down these country "roads". It is a blast! And, mom, if you are reading this, sorry!
Megan and I received differing explanations as to the purpose of having strips of foil hanging inside the tribal homes. I was told it was solar lighting. I thought that was rather intelligent to have pieces of foil strung on the ceiling to reflect in ambient light. Very green. Megan, however, was told that this was simply decoration. She thinks the tribal people actually had solar panels on the roof, which would explain my misinterpretation.
People in Bangladesh are exceptionally affectionate with one another, as long as it is the same sex. It is very common to see not only children, but grown men holding hands as they walk down the road.
Children were eagerly running to the church windows to get a peek inside to see what was happening. Nancy, a nurse/CRNA/agriculturalist/wonder woman, was teaching some midwifery to the village women.
Just some kids staring at the strange Caucasian man, holding an odd box to his face.
4 comments:
the barbed wire little girl is PERFECT. I love your pictures. (Did you see they just released a NEW Canon?)
hmmm... I haven't but I will check the internets to see if I can find it!
This is so interesting! What was your reaction to the men who quickly moved to the other side of the table? Did you laugh or would that have been an insult?
Also, through operator error, this post did not go through yesterday :o)
We just smiled at the men. It is quite a common occurrence here and was not the first time it has happened! There is great separation between men and women in public. Even in church, women sit on the floor on the left side and men sit in chairs on the right side.
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