Today is our second to last day in Tala, Satkhira. On Wednesday we will take a bus back to Dhaka to do some final interviews and research. Since we have been able to collect so many interviews, site visits and general footage of the area and the main issues Uttaran addresses, I will be coming back earlier than I originally thought (probably in another week and a half or two weeks).

Here are some reflections on some of the daily details of living here:
Being the only two guests at the tala center for most of our stay here, we have been able to interact with all of the staff at length. the guards are these kind, grandfatherly men who were freedom fighters in Bangladesh;s liberation war. they sing as they walk us to our room at night. We have recorded their voices, and the librarian, who is a master musician and beautiful singer, on our audio recorder to make a cd of bangladeshi music. Every time i cannot eat a whole plate of food they and the others get concerned and try to make me different foods to eat more. our dear bangla teacher, mintu, recently had a little girl. Mintu is 25, his wife 20. That is the typical age of having children here. Everyone we meet in the towns and villages asks me if i have children. (at 26 i am wayy wayyy late in their timeline).

Shadona, the Tala center;s manager, is the key to all of Uttaran as far as i can tell. I request to visit a certain group or find our more about an issue and the next day we are taken to the site with all relevant people gathered, ready to answer our questions and willing to have camera;s in their faces. A few days ago we finally visited teh Sundarbans. This is the largest mangrove forrest in the world, and a major point of pride for Bangladeshis. Shadona brought her husband and son, who are lovely as well. A giant mangrove forrest is interesting but not so spectacular as one may think...then again we were denied access to the deep forest because of the threat of pirates lurking in them.

One of the most moving site visits for me has been our recent visit to a nearby upzila (town) to the Land Commisoner;s office. I met this gentleman at the Tala center when he was here to present at a two-day workshop on landrights. We went to his office to document more of the actual process of aquiring land for the landless. In his office, 4 or 5 poor, landless people came in to get their paperwork signed and stamped, officially putting a peice of land in their name. It was emotional and beautiful. They own the land completely once this has happened and can use it to assert themselves and pull out of poverty. One man was formally a beggar with nothing in his name. The whole process, filling out an application, sending it to several offices, getting a copy made costs 45 taka (69 taka to a dollar). THis process is a government driven and implemented one; Uttaran helps by going into the landless areas and helping people become aware of thier rights to Kasland (government owned land), often providing them the money and tranportation to the neccessary offices.

I have many mixed feelings right now about leaving this area. I will miss so many of the people here, particularly the ones who have been our friends and caretakers at the center. I;ll miss the drives on bumby roads that look onto endless rice feilds, the occasional marketcenter, and people coming and going at all times, everywhere. I;ll miss drinking coconut milk out of giant green coconuts, taking polaroids of people who then go nuts over them. And still I feel partly ready to move on again, not be a burden to the staff, not to be always accompanied by 3-5 people everywhere i go, monitering everything i do and getting a break from rice and spicy veggies (the nausea has subsided but i am still having a tough time with the food).