One student’s haphazard project in Bangladesh to try and make the world a better place. Inspired by my time as a student at the University of Notre Dame.
In the wake of the recent, Cyclone Nargis and the devastation it’s caused in Burma/Myanmar - I’ve been reminded of my time in the Cyclone Sidr Disaster Area. Even though there was so much destruction, there was a lot to be thankful for. There was an early warning system that helped prevent many deaths. While I did encounter many people who lost loved ones - I also was relieved to meet families who heeded the warning and either went to higher ground or to the cities.
I thought I’d share this latest deleted scene from my day with Save the Children from back in November:
“What about the taxes?” asked one of the students. It was my last day of talks at the American International School in Dhaka. I was in the middle of recounting my experience doing Cyclone Sidr Disaster Relief. Everything seemed to be going well - but this question kind of threw me off.
“Uhh… taxes?” I asked. Before the student replied, I quickly gave him one good look and realized that he - unlike most of the students in the classroom - wasn’t an expatriate. Rather, he was among the small percentage of Bangladeshis that were actually rich enough to be able to send their children to this school. Judging by the expensive and fashionable Western clothing, perfectly matching accessories, and perfectly styled hair - he was from a rather well-to-do family.
“Yeah, you see,” he started to explain, “if local families wanted to give aid to the Cyclone victims using their own name - they weren’t allowed to do so. They had to give it to the military to distribute instead. And, anything we gave could be taxed. Don’t you think that’s a problem? A lot of people didn’t give aid because of that,”
I made a slight groan underneath my breath. Find out why after the jump…
What great disapointment [sic] Mr Shawn .. All talk and no action
This was actually the fourth message I received from this person (not counting emails). At first it was just a few form letters and forwarded messages. But, eventually, the messages became more and more frequent and less and less professional. I eventually decided to block this person. Who was this person? Believe it or not, this was a founder and chairperson of a small but internationally renowned charity here in Dhaka.
I’d like to say that I got off on the wrong foot with this person… but the fact is I didn’t even have a chance to properly correspond with this person. It’s been increasingly hard to keep up with all the messages and comments people send me via YouTube, email, and Facebook. I try my best to reply to as many as I can. But, what often goes on the backburner are messages that are soliciting me to collaborate on a business (or social business) venture and/or requests to give some of the money that I have recently raised.
I know it’s important to team up with larger organization and like-minded individuals. I try and do so as often as I can. It’s just that with so many new people trying to contact me, it’s hard to keep up. Even my speaking event at the American International School in Dhaka took three months to arrange. I’m just one guy - it’s often hard to juggle everything that’s been going on as this project gains more and more interest. It’s for this reason - and my desire to avoid more messages like those I’ve recently received - that I’d like to mention a few things to any potential solicitor:
Please realize I can’t possibly reply to every email that I receive.
Please do not take my lack of response as a rebuke of your work or your idea.
Please understand that, even if I pursue some options with others and not you, it doesn’t mean your idea/request is not equally as valid or good.
Please also understand that, even though I am currently in Bangladesh, I fully intend to adhere to both US and Canadian law. This means that I have to be extra cautious when deciding who to team up with and who gets any of the money I’ve raised.
Finally, please keep your correspondence professional. As much as I’ve disappointed some people due to my lack of replies, the greater disappointment is finding out that many people believe that they are the gate-keepers for action and making a difference. Respectfully, even if I don’t pursue anything with you, it doesn’t mean I’m not making a difference.
In this episode, I talk about starting to accept donations, paying it forward, and what it’s like to talk to high school students at the American International School in Dhaka about The Uncultured Project.
I’m trying my best to edit footage and put them on YouTube as fast as I can. But, thus far, I still film faster than I can edit and upload. There are so much I’d like to share that I haven’t had the time to yet.
Even what I have been able to share thus far, I find that a lot gets cut or simply doesn’t make it into an episode. What do I do with this footage? I’d love to share it - but they don’t always fit into an episode.
So, to help share them, I’ve created a seperate YouTube channel. This actually is my original channel that I had before I started this project. Thus far, I’ve added three short clips that didn’t make it or were cut short in my previous episodes.
I’ve also placed ads in some of these videos as a way of trying to earn some money as part of this project (and maybe, one day, find a way to make it self-sustainable). I hope they aren’t too distracting.
“This maybe the day that I finally pay it forward” I said to a group of students just minutes ago. I’m writing this at a desk inside the American International School in Dhaka. I was invited to talk to the students here and, after a very long day, I just finished talking to over 200 students in both classroom and large auditorium settings. The photo above is a one I took after spending about an hour and half talking to a group of high school science students about my work and the work of Dr. Jeffrey Sachs.
It is a strange reversal of roles. It wasn’t long ago that I was a student listening to a man passionate about ending poverty. That man was Dr. Jeffrey Sachs and I was then a grad student at Notre Dame. Fast forward nearly two years - and over 8,000 miles away - and here I am (a passionate guy about ending poverty) talking to a group of students. I got to talk to middle school and high school students of virtually every race, ethnicity, religion, and nationality. It doesn’t get more amazing than that.
It was also the first time in my life I got recognized off YouTube by a stranger. One of the students in the first class I was speaking to asked me if I make videos on YouTube (I was so nervous with my first talk that I entirely forgot to mention that my work involves YouTube). Apparently, this student had searched for Bangladesh on YouTube before his family moved here and found my Christmas Day video. It was surreal. What was even more surreal was how amazed some of the teachers are about my work.
“He’s the only one in the world that’s doing something like this right now!” exclaimed High School Science Teacher Rick Davis to his students. Hopefully, whether it’s by a someone inspired here at AIS Dhaka or somewhere else in the world, I won’t be long before I am not the only one doing a project like this.
(And if anybody at AIS is reading this - why not add me as a friend on facebook?)
Did you know that one day’s worth of Pentagon spending ($1.5 Billion US Dollars) would be enough to protect every man, woman, and child in Africa from malaria for five years? Don’t take my word for it - Dr. Jeffrey Sachs was the one who did the math on that. We can create a world free from malaria. It is never been easier to achieve and the need has never been more pressing.
In this latest episode I go into further detail about some of the mosquito nets I distributed in episode one. I also show excerpts of my interview with a Catholic Priest who got infected with malaria 38 times (twice of which was cerebral malaria). This is the same footage I was trying to mail out of the country for use by an advocacy organization based in Switzerland. Incidentally, I was finally able to send that footage to Switzerland afterall. I was able to give the tape to one of my uncles who was flying to Singapore. He then mailed it to Switzerland from there. Take that evil Draconian export laws of Bangladesh!
I also go into more detail about the PermaNets donated to me by Vestergaard-Frandsen. I’ve talked about PermaNets before and I can’t recommend them enough. These nets do work. The PermaNet over my bed has scrapped up against splinters and nails - but it hasn’t ripped. These nets are also treated with a long-lasting insecticide which is harmless to humans but kill mosquitos when they come into contact with the net. The reason the insecticide is long-lasting is because it is manufactured into the net in a way that won’t wash away. Rather, it will stay at an effective concentration level for years.
This World Malaria Day why not consider donating a PermaNet? You don’t even need to give me a dime to do so. Just check the recommended charities section of this site for a list of charities that distirbute PermaNets. And, as always, I was not paid or required to endorse any of the companies that I talk about (including Vestergaard-Frandsen).
Earlier today, I finished making a new YouTube episode to mark World Malaria Day. I started uploading the 112 meg file at 8 am at the YouTube upload page. By 2 pm I had uploaded 105 megs… and then the internet connection died. Back to square one.
I was telling some friends that it takes a mastery of Zen-like patience to watch a video on YouTube. The connection is so bad and so slow you can never watch a video here in real-time or in one attempt. Having the patience to upload a video YouTube from Bangladesh takes more than Zen-like patience. It’s an exercise in self-flagellation.
I’m sorry - I don’t care how long I’ve been in Bangladesh - explosions still scare the crap out of me. Whether it’s driving by a transformer as it explodes and showers the car I’m in with sparks or whether it’s hearing the sound of what seems like a bomb (only to find it’s a blown transformer) - explosions are scary. Clearly, life in the military is not for me.
But, more importantly, it’s a sign that things are getting bad here. Back just before Christmas, there was a strain on the water supply. Long outages without water were common. Previously on this blog, I wrote about how I had to time when I could shower or flush the toilet. It now seems to be that electricity will be the latest item to face severe scarcity.
The frequency of power outages - and the duration the outages last - has only increased since the arrival of summer heat (it’s summer already? what??). It used to be once every few days. Then it was once a day. Now, it’s not uncommon for the power to cut out three… four… or more times a day. The latest outage that happened just before I started this blog post came with a big boom - the sound of a transformer blowing up just down the street.
Clearly the system is strained - the demand for air conditioning is probably a big factor. I even bought a back-up UPS to handle the prolonged outages. The UPS isn’t anything fancy - just whatever I could find that was cheap and could last for as long as possible. It’s a no-name brand of questionable quality. I can only hope and pray that the next time I hear an explosion - it’s won’t be the UPS sitting next to me.
There have been so many times where I’ve wanted to incorporate video from Google Earth in my videos. That way I could illustrate exactly where I was filming. Unfortunately, Google makes that next to impossible for someone on my budget. The cheapest version of Google Earth that lets you export video costs a whopping $400. And they don’t do student discounts…. ever.
I’ve spent the good part of the day today trying to find an alternative solution. There is a 7-day trial of Google Earth Pro, but if you use the trial, any video you make has a big “trial version” slapped in the center of the video. I’ve also tried using screen capture software so that I could record something using the free version of Google Earth. Unfortunately, anything recorded that way is way too choppy to be usable in a video.
And with the latest version of Google Earth - I’m all the more tempted. It’s all put together so beautifully - it’s like you are up there flying around in the space shuttle. Oh Google… why do you price things out of my league and make it so tempting? *sobs*
My name is Shawn - I'm a 27 year old former graduate student from the University of Notre Dame. After attending the 2006 Notre Dame Forum on Global Health and meeting Dr. Jeffrey Sachs (author of the book "The End of Poverty") - I was inspired to come to Bangladesh for a small, short-term, and self-funded project to see what difference I can make in helping some of the world's worst off. My goal is to inspire those who read this to ask themselves the question "are we doing enough to make a the world a better place?".
My name is Shawn - I'm a 27 year old former graduate student from the 
