Newsletter 15...... 15th Sept.2004

Village house

It’s hot, hot, hot here in August in my little Net………. Since I prefer to walk whenever I can, I’m sweating buckets all the time! The sweat pours down my face, gets into my eyes, causing pain, making walking difficult but I still continue to walk when ever I can. Have I gone mad? Yes you might be right! With all the windows and doors leading to my bedroom firmly shut (to keep all the would be burglars and hunky uninvited sweaty body away…….dream on! ) I sleep with just a white sheet on my body and the overhead fan in full blast, I still feel the sweat pouring down my body on to the towel underneath me. When the power is off in the middle of the night, my bedroom is like a furnace and I feel myself slowly suffocating in my bed. The only way out is to use a hand fan to keep myself cool until such time as the power is switched on and the overhead fan starts to do its job again. It’s bloody hot here and there is nothing I can do but to suffer. However, I know Sister Barbara’s colleagues in Chittagong areas endure more suffering then I can ever dream of. They refuse to have fans in their humble residents and every other year they suffer from malaria but regardless of all the hardship they endure they still continue to obey the Lord and carry on the good work for which they believe they have been sent here, what dedication.

 I am now coming to the end of August and my two months trail period has been fruitful. The Boss is happy, she loves me again and she has even allowed me to leave at the end of August so that I can work in Dhaka for the whole of September. Lady Jane and Fiona who desperately want me out of Net……… so that they can move into my flat, have finally got their wish come true. I have saved enough from my salary to buy four sewing machines and also donated the whole of my September salary for the flood relief. That’s my good deed of the year out of the way, you might say the biggest bribery of the year and you might be right.

I can now concentrate on my life away from Net……….. My plan is to work for my NGO, rather then any other in Dhaka for a month before starting my travel for the following six months. I have accepted Inga’s offer to stay with her in her penthouse provided I do all the cooking, the offer which I could not refuse. My Boss has asked me to return to Net……… in April 2005 to start the work on vegetables dyes, when Lady Jane will have left Bangladesh and hopefully the planet, forever and ever!  I have accepted the offer and I can hear you all shouting “you must be mad!!” Yes I have gone insane and fallen head over heal in love with Bangladesh.  However, there are several more reasons for returning to my beloved Net………. I have yet to for fill my own personal ambition; I love the girls who work for me and also those who work with me. I owe to the German NGO who have kept roof over my head by paying for my flat and provided the food on my plate by paying my monthly allowance, but most importantly I owe it to them for providing me with five dream bhais to fall in love with. To be able to complete my second year will be good career move to work in the developing world, the path I want to follow for the rest of my life, may be? The final reason for accepting an offer of the job in April is obvious; I need a job to keep my self out of trouble and why not in shitty Bangladesh!

 Sue, Peter and Jake have all left for England in August and out of the three Jake was the one who fell out of love with Bangladesh. Sam is working for new NGO and is a happy bunny. I hear through the grape vine that Mike still hangs around in Bahga more then he hangs around in his NGO. I do see fair amount of darling John who still tries to impress me with his cooking talent and he is sharing his apartment with two young ladies who obviously have him under their total control.

 My next newsletter will be the final one from Bangladesh until such time as I return here again, that is if the Boss has not changed her mind, any thing is possible when one is working for the Queen of Net………..

Love,
Davinder   xxx