And so it began…
Although my time in Bangladesh is almost over, I was not able to blog until now for a number of reasons which will be explained through the next few posts re-capping my trip.
When I first arrived in Bangladesh I was greeted by some hosts from my organization along with sweltering heat and mosquitoes. The following day I met with the country coordinator of the NGO that I’m working with (Distressed Children and Infants International [DCI]), and we decided that I would spend a few weeks working in their urban health clinic and surveying the slums, followed by time to volunteer with various other groups.
The organization I work with has a number of centers in Dhaka (the capital) as well as in various villages. They’re biggest program is the Sun Child Sponsorship (SCS) program, through which they motivate families to continue their children’s education. They know that education would take away an income source from the family, so they explain the importance of education to the families, and provide school supplies and some moneys for food and necessities. They are funded by donor families from the U.S. and give most of the money (I forget the exact amount) directly to the families and only use a small portion for administrative costs. They also provide health care and health education, as well as skills training and income generating opportunities.
The SCS program is mostly implemented in rural areas, and in the city they are trying to start something similar. For now, they have an Urban Health Care Center, which is where I worked. The clinic provides free doctor’s consult and medication, and only asks for a one-time 10 Taka fee for the patient registration card. This center is one of a kind, as I haven’t heard of any other places providing free care. Their patient population is the slum-dwellers who live near the clinic, as well as some middle class families. Apparently, even though they are middle class, they are still barely making ends-meet, so they aren’t truly abusing this resource. DCI is also trying to figure out a way to maybe charge a lower fee for those who can afford it.
My first day at the clinic was a bit frustrating because on DCI’s website they described a number of activities volunteers could partake in—such as, taking blood pressure and temperature, and dispensing medicine—but in reality these tasks were being performed by someone else. The doctor described to me what he understood volunteer to mean as someone who comes to observe the situation and then fundraises in their own country. Basically I was just shadowing him, which wasn’t my purpose in coming. After the first day I found ways I could help him. I started to help him fill out cards that the patient takes home that has their registration number on it, and soon afterwards I began a survey. The survey had basic demographic questions about the patients income and number of household members, as well as questions about their water sources for drinking and cleaning clothes and dishes. I carried out this survey both in the actual slum and sitting in the clinic with the doctor.
In the afternoons I would go to the office and organize the doctor’s ledger information into an Excel file that separated the patients by age and gender. This helps the doctor so he can know what age range he primarily serves so he can better target his care. It took some time to adjust to the system and be able to speak up and suggest projects that I could do, but once I did it got better.
