Visiting Shilpi in Bangladesh - March 2005
I have been sponsoring Shilpi thru Save The Children since 1998 and never wrote her or anything. Then I saw the movie "About Schmidt" and the guilt pangs were too strong. I talked to someone that said they were present when kids receive letters and its a big deal for them so I obviously felt pretty crappy about just sending cash and hoping the problem would take care of itself. So I started writing Shilpi and sent her presents.
To further pacify my guilt and soul I decided to visit Shilpi in March 2005. I'm pretty juiced about the trip but it seems her village is off the beaten track so it will be interesting trying to find food and water that doesn't put me in the hospital.
UPDATE!!!!
I finally stopped talking about it and got off my butt and DID IT!! Oh what a great trip. What great people!
I have been sponsoring Shilpi through Save The Children (SFC) since 1998 when she was 4 years old. Here is Shilpi, she is 12 years old. She lives in a small village out in rice paddies. Only way to get there is to walk 2.5 miles after 1 hour boat ride from Nasirnagar. She lives with 13 family members, 7 sisters and 1 brother. She is very smart, loves math and drawing. She just got a math scholarship. The most emotional point of the trip is when her Dad told me "You now have a daughter!" (he knew I was single). That meant a lot to me. Shilpi was pretty shy most the time but warmed up as the day went on. At the end of the day she came up to me and hung on my arm (big deal in Islam country where men and women aren't suppose to touch especially if you don't know them) and said "Thank You Thank You" and then her family walked with us until we left waving for a very long time. It was really moving experience for us both.
Shilpi
8 Years Old 12 years old March 2005 BEAUTIFUL!
Save The Children (SFC) does an amazing job in Bangladesh where the conditions are so harsh that anything that may be built in one season may be destroyed in the next rainy season. While I was there SFC was able to hold their first sex education class because the local Islam leaders finally approved of it. It was an extremely popular event because even the parents wanted to attend to figure out what was going on. SFC has so many great programs and has done such a great job that everyone in town knows who SFC is. When I got lost in town I'd just say "SFC Building" and the kids would take me there. SFC is one of the reasons that Bangladesh is starting to turn the corner from a 3rd world nation to a more self-supporting nation.
While I was there SFC representatives spent all 5 days with me and even housed me and fed me. Both SFC and the kids were super happy to receive visits from sponsors, it is a tremendous event especially in countries such as Bangladesh. One child, Hesana, had several new and old pictures of her sponsor all over her bedroom. I strongly encourage others to join in the SFC program, it does make a huge impact.
UPDATE 4-20-07
I am working with some local Bangladeshi people to bring Shilpi to USA for a couple months to learn English. I have sent her a letter (and MP3 player with my voice on it reading books) and hope to hear that her parents will let her come.
[ To Be Continued ]
Where Shilpi Lives - 5 hours east from capital Dhaka. It takes about 50 miles of hazardous driving, 20 miles of rickshaw, hiking, small boats, rickshaw, hiking, big boats, hiking to get to her house in small village.
Shilpi letter to me in Bangla
Translated to English
Bangladesh is one of the poorest countries in the world with 140 million people jammed into the country the size of Wisconsin - and much of it only 0 to 30 feet above sea level: Bangladesh facts
Person Who Visited Shilpi's School in March 2004 - Video and Pictures