Ami Khushi

Photo taken with permission by Shaxuan Lizzie Shan

Spending time out in the field, spending days and nights in a branch office in rural Bangladesh was really neat. I really enjoyed it. The village was so peaceful and friendly.

Photo taken with permission by Shaxuan Lizzie Shan

Village Visitors 
Some of the women of the village would come knocking on our door in the afternoons.  They wanted to see us, the three foreign interns from abroad. Standing in the doorway with curious eyes, our conversations usually started by introducing ourselves with names. This was the easy part of the conversation, us speaking in English and the woman and children in their native language, Bangla. Marriage and number of children was commonly the topic of these conversations. They always asked if we were married, or had children. The two other interns would comment that I'm engaged. The women would indicate being married by their nose-rings, or the lack thereof meant that they were either not married or their husbands gone, either left or dead. It seemed to be of great entertainment to the women to compare their skin colors to our pale skins. As we pulled up the cloth covering our arms, they would giggle lightly while placing their arms next to ours. It reminded me of the summer time in Norway, when we would indirectly compete of being the most tan by comparing by placing our arms next to a friends arm.

Photo taken with permission
by Shaxuan Lizzie Shan

Marriage 
At the centre meetings as well some of the women would ask if we were married. Again, the two other girls would tell them I'm engaged. So at the last centre meeting we went to, we had a great conversation with the women about marriage. We shared wedding traditions of Bangladesh, of China and Germany. Then they wanted me to tell them the story of my engagement. So I did. One short sentence at a time, so the translator could have time to repeat what I said in Bangla. They looked at me, I was blushing and smiling the whole story through. At the end of my story, after showing my ring, they asked what role our parents had played in it, if they had agreed. It was so interesting to learn of how the cultures varied in marriage traditions. In Bangladesh, it used to be that the parents would match up the children, and the daughter had to move to her husbands home. Before, the girls were often young, around 14.  Dowry was also paid. The Engagement consisted of the parents putting the rings (if rings were used) on the couples finger, not the husband to be himself, on the wife to be as is most commonly done in the West.  In these days, it seemed that the women were accepting of their own children choosing for themselves who to marry. Dowry is not supposed to be paid, and the girl have to be above 18 year of age.

Photo taken with permission by Shaxuan Lizzie Shan

Genuine Happiness Ami Khushi
Everywhere we went, people would start following us, walking behind us, staring at us. They were all friendly, curious to who we were and what we were doing. The children was often excited to see us, and would sometimes point. They really enjoyed to have their pictures taken, and seeing them afterwards. This brought such enjoyment! It was fun to see how excited they got to see their own image, how curious they were. The children brought such life to the village life.

The Village visit was very peaceful and nice. People seemed genuinly happy, despite hardships that they are working themselves out of through microcredit.  Especially compared to the city, where the first thing we encountered when coming back was beggars touching us and digging their hopeful eyes into us. When seeing children begging at night, my heart breaks. Should I give money, or should I not? Will it benefit, or will it just make it worse? I'm thinking of things I can do..

Ami Khushi means I am Happy. 


Pass the Peace.