When I flew into Dhaka from Bangkok a few days ago, I saw more water than land. I asked the Bangladeshi seaman sitting beside me if "it" was a river, but his thought was that it was a lowland. The usually muddy ground in front of my house in Mymensingh was abnormally dry for the rainy season, probably because it's been around 100F the last few days. The Dhaka-Mymensingh road had lots of water on either side of it, but the road was fine (- fine as in dry, the road is actually in horrible condition - very bumpy, next time I'm taking the train).
However, in Sirajganj, a few hours west of Mymensingh, the situation is not good. The pictures are all of the MCC Bangladesh office in Sirajganj. Robin has about a dozen people living in her apartment with her including two diaper less babies (babies here just go wherever) and there are more on the roof. Did I mention that the MCC office and Robin's house are a good 30 minute walk from the river. You can tell from the pictures that all ground level shops, houses, and offices are flooded. In Bangladesh people typically only have one level of a house, so if they live on the ground floor they lost everything. The staff in our Sirajganj office aren't working - they all have a salary that can sustain them for a while. But a lot of people live hand to mouth, which means that everyday they eat using the money that they earned from working that day. So, assuming there is food available to be bought, these people wouldn't have money to buy it anyway. There is aid, there is also corruption: it will be difficult for the 5 million affected people in Bangladesh for a lot longer than you will read in the news.
MCC:
1 comment:
I will pray for your people in the flood.
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