weekend tribune vol 2 issue 33

Dhaka Tribune | vol 2 Issue 33 | FRIDAY, JANuARY 2, 2015

ClImAte CoNFeReNCe4 15ComFoRt

FooDs 17 YAmIN KhAN

Editor’s noteLet’s TalkDear Readers,

As we step into a new year, our aim is to hit the ground running and hit our major problems head-on, so as to make a real change in 2015. This week is dedicated to conversations about change.

We’re proud to be partners with Gobeshona for their conference on climate change. Check out our exclusive interviews for an idea of what to expect (pages 4-8).

Also in the cards is a chat with Peter Eigan about the challenges of battling corruption and where we stand as a nation in that regard (page 12).

We also have a serious conversation about madrasah education and the opportunities for equipping madrasah-educated students with a real shot at the current job market (page 20).

Here’s hoping 2015 will prove to be our year for making a real difference.

Sabrina Fatma Ahmad

An aerial shot of the Hazaribagh canal, across the Buriganga, flowing past a congested area of the old city, teeming with tanneries and factories. The distinct difference in the colours of the lighter waters of the main channel, and the much darker, polluted waters of the canal clearly show the contamination that the local tanneries and other such businesses have wrought.

Photo: Syed Zakir Hossain

WEEKEN D TRI BU N E | FRI DAY, JAN UARY 2, 2015

1CONTENTS

Volume 2 | Issue 33 | January 2, 2015

News 2 News

3 Meanwhile

Features

4 Climate Conference

8 Gobeshona Climate

Conference Dr Atiq Rahman

9 Photo Story Cold wave

14 Rant Spoiled for choices

15 Feature Deshi comfort foods

17 Funnybone Yamin Khan

regulars16 Tough Love You just can’t win

18 Stay In

19 Go Out

EditorZafar Sobhan

Executive EditorShahriar Karim

Managing EditorJahangir Hyder

Features EditorSabrina Fatma Ahmad

Weekend Tribune TeamTasnuva Amin Nova

Farhana UrmeeFaisal MahmudFarina NoireetTausif Sanzum

Art Direction/PhotographySyed Latif Hossain

CartoonsSyed Rashad Imam Tanmoy

Priyo

ContributorsRajib Dhar

Mahmud Hossain OpuSyed Zakir Hossain

Reema IslamYamin Khan

Raad RahmanDina Sobhan

GraphicsMd Mahbub AlamAlamgir HossainTahsin Momin

Colour SpecialistShekhar Mondal

ProductionMasum Billah

CirculationMasud Kabir Pavel

Websitedhakatribune.com/weekendfacebook.com/WeekendTrib

Email your letters to:[email protected]

GObEShONa CLIMaTE CONFERENCEDR Ainun niShAt

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GObEShONa CLIMaTE CONFERENCEDR SAleemul hAque

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INTERvIEwPeteR eigAn

12

TEa wITh wT SYeDA ShAgufe

hoSSAin

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sources for Ebola transmission and “monitoring data show that larger wildlife did not experience a recent decline and is therefore unlikely to have served as the source” of the current Ebola epidemic in West Africa, the journal said. And fruit bat hunting and butchering are common in southern Guinea, even among children, “facilitating direct human contact” needed to transmit the disease.

Emile died in December 2013, followed by his mother, sister, and grandmother. Within months, the virus spread from Guinea to Sierra Leone, Liberia, Nigeria, Senegal, the United States, Spain, Mali and the United Kingdom — the largest outbreak ever recorded, health officials say.Photo credit: AP

Vladimir Putin: The 10th Most Admired Man in AmericaEach year since 1946, Gallup has asked Americans to name the living man or woman they most admire. The top vote-getters for 2014, announced on Monday had a surprising entry – Vladimir Putin.

The widely condemned invader of Ukraine earned more votes than Vice President Joe Biden, the last two Republican and Democratic presidential nominees (before Obama), two ex-presidents (Jimmy Carter and George H W Bush), George Clooney, and the Dalai Lama. He even beat out Bono.

“It is kind of puzzling that he’s in there,” said Jeffrey Jones, the managing editor of Gallup. He said that his team couldn’t see any demographic pattern in the respondents who named Putin, and they didn’t know for sure if people were listing him as a joke.Photo credit: Reuters

Obama’s golf outing forces soldiers to relocate weddingPresident Barack Obama’s golf outing in Hawaii forced a pair of soon-to-be-newlyweds to relocate their picturesque wedding, Bloomberg Politics reports. Natalie Heimel and her fiancé, Edward Mallue Jr, both captains in the Army, were scheduled to be

2 NEwS | This week

The world at a glance

Bodies, debris from missing AirAsia plane pulled from sea off IndonesiaIndonesian rescuers searching for an AirAsia plane carrying 162 people pulled bodies and wreckage from the sea off the coast of Borneo in December 30, prompting relatives of those on board watching TV footage to break down in tears.

Indonesia AirAsia’s Flight QZ8501, an Airbus A320-200, lost contact with air traffic control early on Sunday during bad weather on a flight from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore.

The navy initially said 40 bodies had been recovered, although other media later quoted the head of the search and rescue agency, Fransiskus Bambang Soelistyo, as saying only three bodies had been retrieved. The plane has yet to be found.Photo credit: AP

Ukraine drops its nonaligned statusUkraine’s president signed a bill Monday dropping his nation’s nonaligned status but signaled that he will hold a referendum before seeking NATO membership.

Using a news conference to sign the legislation, which parliament had adopted last week, Petro Poroshenko

vowed to reform Ukraine’s economy and military forces to meet European Union and NATO standards.

But he also said he will leave it up to Ukrainian citizens to decide in a popular vote whether to join NATO or not.

“When we are able to conform to these criteria, the people of Ukraine will make up their mind about the membership,” Poroshenko said, adding that this will likely happen in the next five to six years.Photo credit: Reuters

Ebola’s ‘patient zero’ got virus from playing in a bat tree, scientists say

According to an investigation published by the scientific journal EMBO Molecular Medicine on Tuesday, the current epidemic in West Africa stems from “a single zoonotic transmission event” in

Meliandou, Guinea, where the boy, Emile Ouamouno, “may have been infected by playing in a hollow tree housing a colony of insectivorous free tailed bats.”

The bats have been identified by researchers as potential

Weekend Tribune Desk

Four-year-old Jihad has been found dead inside the abandoned 600-ft deep water pump pipe at the capital’s Shahjahanpur Railway Colony on Saturday afternoon, almost a full day (23 hours) after he fell into it.

Earlier on Friday, Nasir Uddin, father of four-year old Jihad, said his son fell into the 600-ft deep pipe at Shahjahanpur Railway Colony area while playing with his friends at around 3:30pm.

A rescue team, combining Fire Service and Dhaka WASA, began rescue operations immediately after being informed.The rescuers apparently sent in food and water for Jihad and said they had also ensure oxygen supply.

Thousands of locals thronged the area while several television stations broadcast the rescue efforts live.

Despite the announcement by State Minister for Home Affairs Asaduzzaman Khan that no one has been trapped inside the abandoned well and it was merely a rumour, the rescue operation continued till Saturday afternoon faced with the pressure from the locals.

Jihad’s body was found and brought soon after the fire service chief declared that the rescue effort was suspended.News: Dhaka Tribune

married Sunday near the 16th hole at Kaneohe Klipper Golf Course, located on the Marine Corps Base Hawaii.

Knowing the Obamas spend their Christmas vacation there, the pair had invited the president to attend their ceremony. Not surprisingly, they received a letter on Saturday morning from the White House saying the commander in chief regretfully could not attend and wishing them well. More troubling, however, was when hours later, during their wedding rehearsal, the couple was informed they’d have to move the ceremony because the president was playing there.Photo credit: AP

Jihad founddead


3meanwhile ... | NEwS

You’re welcome

Many people try to get out of debt, but life slaps them in the face hard enough that they give up. That doesn’t have to be the case. In a new year, learn how to get out of debt in these five simple steps:

1. Make a conscious decision to stop borrowing moneyIf you want to get out of debt fast, you have to stop using debt to fund your lifestyle. This will help you focus solely on the debt that you currently do have so that you can develop a game plan to pay it off quickly.

2. Establish a starter Emergency Fund of $1000For most people, credit cards become the funding source for emergencies. If you are trying to get out of debt then you need to put a buffer between you and debt; that is exactly what an emergency fund does.

3. Create a realistic budget and stick to itDeveloping a budget that tracks your income and your expenses is crucial to getting out of debt in a short period of time. It will help you gauge where you are with your finances so that you can move forward toward your goal.

4. Organise your debtThere are two approaches that are worth considering. The first is where you list your debts smallest to largest regardless of the interest rate. The other method is called laddering. This is where you list your debts, starting with the highest interest rate first and end with the debt with the lowest interest rate.

5. Throw any excess cash at your debtThe more cash you can put towards your debt, the faster it will disappear.Source: Bloomberg

Photo of the week

A chaotic scene in front of the Tejgaon level crossings in the capital on Monday, where vehicles and pedestrians carelessly cross the barriers that are lying without any warning

sign or guard. There have been many instances in the past where such indifferent attitudes among locals have led to deadly accidents in the city

Photo: Mainoor Islam Manik

Say what?

North Koreans get to pick from 28 state-approved haircutsNorth Korea has done it again! The notoriously secretive country fixes a menu of 28 state sanctioned hair styles: 18 for women and 10 for men. The North Korean government thinks these styles are “most comfortable” and able to guard against the “corrupting effects

How to get out of debt in 5 simple steps

of capitalism.”Mullet? No way. Mohawk? Don’t

even think about it. Faux hawk? Leave it to Beckham.

Married women are allowed more leeway in their hair choices than single woman.

The situation for men is a bit more dire. Young men’s hair must be less than 2 inches long. They’re required to visit the barber every 15 days. The government believes that long hair draws nutrition away from the brain. Older men are allowed to grow their hair up to 2.8 inches. Spiky hair is vigorously banned.

It is unclear what choices are available to balding men or babies.

This isn’t the first time North Korea has launched an all-out assault on flamboyant hair. In 2005, Pyongyang televison aired a series entitled “Let us trim our hair in accordance with socialist lifestyle,” urging North Korean men to clean up any shaggy dos.News and Photos: Daily Mail


4 EvENT | Gobeshona ConferenCe

What is Gobeshona Conference for Research on Climate Change in Bangladesh?the gobeshona Conference is a new annual conference that addresses research on climate change in Bangladesh. through a preliminary workshop, multiple thematic sessions and government experience sharing, this event will provide the opportunity for international and multi-stakeholder participants to engage with a wide range of Bangladesh-specific climate change research.

Day 0

January 7 Young researcher workshop

Days 1-3

8-10 thematic research sessions

themes:Climate change and livelihoodsClimate change impact on water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH)Climate change impact on healthPolitical economy and climate finance Sustainable coastal zone management Urbanisation and climate change mitigationRenewable energy Adaptation technologies Local adaptation planning National adaptation planning Waste and climate changeGender and climate changeNatural resource managementLoss and damageMigration

Day 4

January 11 Project experience from government of Bangladesh

who can participate?

Participants can engage in the conference in three ways:1. Complete an application to be a young research in the

preliminary workshop on January 7 2. Submit an abstract to present alongside fellow scientific

experts during the central three days of the conference 3. Apply to participate in the conference as an observer from

January 8-11.How much do I have to pay to take part in the conference?The conference is free of charge for participants, who will be invited to attend upon successful application.

For more information, visit www.gobeshona.net or send an email to [email protected]

When will it take place?


5Dr ainun nishaT | CLIMaTE CONFERENCE

Prof Dr Ainun Nishat, one of the most renowned environment specialists of the sub-continent believes

that Bangladeshis are fighting climate change in the front lines.

“We are facing the brunt of changes in climate like no one else,” said Dr Nishat.

The low-lying delta that is Bangladesh, with its 270 plus rivers and dense population of over 160 million has long been prone to flooding, soil erosion and saltwater intrusion, but climate change could aggravate the situation.

According to this legendary academician, water resource engineer and environment specialist, if a comprehensive action plan to combat the effects of climate change is not taken, then the country will face severe consequences.

An economy in the mercy of natureThe agriculture of Bangladesh mainly depends on nature, environment and climate. But recently there have been significant negative changes in the climate, which has been evident over the last few years.

More than 60% Bangladeshis live in the rural areas and are dependent on agriculture in some way or the other. As a result, their lives and modes of subsistence will be under threat. Poverty and social insecurities are likely to go up if the negative impacts of climate change cannot be resisted.

Dr Nishat explained said that despite efforts to alleviate poverty in Bangladesh, 29% of the population still lives in abject poverty, with a daily income of less than one US dollar.

“Bangladesh is self-sufficient in terms of agricultural production, but climate change is going to make the food security and livelihood survival very difficult.”

“We have to understand that almost seventy million people of the country will be homeless due to the sea level rise,” he said. “Apart from food security, there will be massive outbound migration. This will affect

Dhaka and make it one of the most congested cities in the world.

Most vulnerable regionThe sea level is rising globally due to melting glaciers because of rising global temperature, which contributes to increasing salinity and inundation in the coastal region. At the same time, the world’s temperature has increased by 0.76 degree Celsius since 1850, whereas the rise in Bangladesh is 1.1 degrees Celsius.

“That’s why the low-lying southern coastal regions of the country are the most vulnerable, despite being protected by a long network of flood

embankments,” said Dr Nishat, adding that the 7,000 kilometres long coastal embankment of Bangladesh is the largest man-made polder in the world.

Almost half of this embankment network was damaged by cyclones like Sidr and Aila, leaving the whole region vulnerable to the tides but the repair work by the authorities concerned progresses at a snail’s pace.

At the same time, rainfall across Bangladesh has halved and become more unpredictable over the last few years. That has led to problems including growing salinity in groundwater, especially in the most

vulnerable coastal region. “It will also affect some of the districts of the northern region.”

“Salinity in the water of coastal areas has now reached over 20 parts per thousand, but the human body can only tolerate five parts per thousand,” he said. “Because of this Aus and Aman paddy will be affected in the coming days,” he elaborated.

Our fields are literally dying because of the salty water. It is impossible to grow anything in them any more but the high population density means many Bangladeshis are forced to live on and cultivate on these lands.

The solution is thereDr Nishat said, the best option for drought and saline-prone areas is to preserve rainwater in artificial ponds and distribute it to communities. He agrees with other experts that the government must turn to technology to provide drinking water.

Nishat suggests installing sand filter systems, in which hand pumps are used to suck water from artificial ponds through a filter that makes the water potable.

He however said, while it’s vital to consult communities that face natural disasters before making a plan to deal with such dangers, special caution should be applied so that traditional practices are not sacrificed.

He also put emphasis on developing drought-tolerant, flood-tolerant, hit-tolerant and salinity-tolerant rice varieties.

Stressing on the importance of receiving global aid for climate change, Dr Nishat said: “Developed countries are ready to release billions of dollars to affected countries. It is not impossible for Bangladesh to collect $2 to 3 billion, as the country is in the forefront of the fight against the climate change impacts.”

“But I am afraid Bangladesh may not get hold of the funds due to its poor financial management. The country must notice the direction the world is moving towards.” n

call to actionProfessor Ainun nishat, one of the panelists at the upcoming event, the gobeshona Conference for Research in Climate Change in Bangladesh, shares some of his invaluable insight

Faisal Mahmud

Photo: Chanchal Kamal


6 ENvIRONMENT | Dr saleemul huq

Gobeshona raises the research barin conversation with Dr Saleemul huq about the status of climate change research in Bangladesh, the reasons behind it and the way forward

Tasnuva Amin Nova

2014 broke the record for both the highest and lowest temperatures in decades. Climate change is here to stay, and we sit down with local expert Dr Saleemul Huq to find out what

we’re doing about it here in Bangladesh.

What is Gobeshona?Gobeshona is an initiative to improve the level and quality of research in Bangladesh. There’s quite a large research community both within and outside Bangladesh, working on different aspects of climate change. The objective is to make better use of the research, producing information and evidence as research outputs, thereby enabling decision makers at the national level and practitioners at the local level.

Photo: Courtesy


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How did Gobeshona get started?We had a series of preliminary brainstorming and planning meetings with the research community, identifying well over 100 organisations that claim to do some research on climate change including-public universities, private universities, international and national research institutes, NGOs and the private sector.

We invited them to join. Then with about 20 members we formed the consortium and named it Gobeshona.

Tell us about gobeshona.net.It is a knowledge-sharing platform where we upload publications on climate change in Bangladesh. To get published on our site, the research must be on climate change in Bangladesh – any aspect of it. Through this web portal, researchers share information on their ongoing research.

After almost a year, we have over 650 publications on the site.

We are going to add a new element to the site, a Young Researcher Fellowship Programme, where we mentor young researchers on how to do good quality research. It launches next week on January 7.

What is the state of climate change research in Bangladesh?

Improving the quality of research is another of our objectives. Let me explain the situation with regard to quality.

In the global scientific community, there is a very strictly followed guideline to measure quality research: Publishing in international peer-reviewed scientific journals. Within those journals there is a hierarchy, with some being more highly regarded than others. Nature and Science are the two most highly regarded science journals.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) looks at vulnerability reports and adaptation. My colleague Claire Stocks did a study of a subset of IPCC cited papers with the word Bangladesh in it. There were about 150 papers, with over a 100 papers specifically on Bangladesh. Of the Bangladesh papers, she looked at the whether the first authors lived in here or abroad.

She found that 75% of these climate researchers writing on Bangladesh actually lived outside the

country. They are either international researchers like Joanne Jordan, or Bangladeshi academics belonging to foreign universities.

So the question is: Isn’t there research going on inside Bangladesh?The answer is yes. Lots of research is going on in Bangladesh, but it is of very poor quality. The quality bar is, as I said, publishing in international peer-reviewed journals. The IPCC only looks at papers that are published in international peer-reviewed journals. So if it is not there, it is not considered quality research.

Bangladesh produces a lot of so-called research, but it is not of good quality, so that is another starting point for us.

Why do you think we produce poor quality research?There are several reasons, one of which is that our education, as you are well aware, focuses on rote learning. We are taught to produce in exams through memorisation. We do it well, but it does not teach us to think for ourselves.

As a result, Bangladeshi researchers are very good at collecting volumes of information. What they are very bad at is presenting that information in a critical, meaningful manner.

If you see a Bangladeshi presentation, and I have seen many, they will tell you all kinds of information they have collected, but they have no ability to tell which information is important and which isn’t. Critical analysis is a not part of their culture, unless they have a foreign degree.

How does that foreign degree impact a researcher’s outlook?At foreign universities they cannot get away without learning how to do effective research. Universities in Bangladesh are producing people with Master’s or even PhD degrees who really do not know how to do good research. That is a gap that we need to address.

Through the Young Researcher workshop, Gobeshona is trying to capture younger researchers who are beginning their careers. We will teach them how to distinguish between good and bad quality research and aim to publish in an international peer-reviewed journal.

Another reason is that to be a professor in Bangladesh, you don’t need to have your papers published in an international peer-reviewed journals. Here, if you have an article published in a national newspaper, it counts as publication. There is no incentive to produce quality. In fact there is a disincentive. Why produce quality research when mediocre papers are treated the same as good quality ones?

Tell us about next week’s Gobeshona Conference .Gobeshona will be held as an annual event every second week of January. We want to become our national learning event.

There are at least a few dozen international research programmes around the world that work in Bangladesh. Researchers fly in, do their work, maybe have a seminar, then fly out. 90% of the time you will not even know they have come and gone.

So what we’re saying is: Come at one time of the year. Come to this one conference and present your work here then everybody will know about it, instead of doing isolated seminars. As this becomes a regular event, people can put it on their calendars.

Holding it in January works out well because a lot of expat Bangladeshis academics come on holiday around this time, so we can get them to attend the conference.

In terms of the structure of the event, we have three different events happening in sequence: Young Researchers’ Day on January 7, three days of conference sessions, and Government Day on January 11.

The conference includes plenary and panel sessions, where we get 12-20 international participants and about a 150 national participants. Researchers share what they do. Each theme is set by a host institution. For example, on January 10, UNDP will host a session titled “Research into policy” that will discuss the methods

and scope of integrating science at the policy level.

Government Day is hosted by the government, who will present a number of papers on the projects they are working on.

What are your comments on tackling climate change in general?

Tackling climate change is inherently a learning-by-doing process. Bangladesh has actually done quite a lot. We’ve spent half a billion dollars already on several hundred programmes and projects around the country – government, non-government, academic.

Our hypothesis is that now we need to learn from what we have done before we do something more, particularly learn from past mistakes. This is what we are trying to do collectively, because we are spending a lot of money to tackle climate change.

That is what the conference is about. Learning from failure is a huge part of this process. Based on these reflections, we will be able to decide whether to do the same thing in the future or take a different approach.

Bangladesh is tackling climate change, and every year we aim to use the Gobeshona Conference as a collective national learning exercise with some key stakeholders such as the research community and research through other communities. We want to create a forum with the involvement of all those who are working with climate change

This is the first of what we hope will be a series of annual events, and that each one will be a milestone in moving up the learning curve. We hypothesise that tackling climate change successfully requires the involvement of a society and a country. Every year we will convene and see what we have learned, and then move on to the next phase. n

Gobeshona raises the research bar

Dr saleemul Huq is Director of the International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD) and Senior Fellow at the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED)


8 CLIMaTE CONFERENCE | a aTiq rahman

winds of changeA Atiq Rahman, one of the panelists at the upcoming event, the gobeshona Conference for Research in Climate Change in Bangladesh, talks about the projected projected socio-political implications of climate change shares some of his invaluable insight

Faisal Mahmud

Dr. Atiq Rahman, a world famous climate specialist said that Bangladesh is the “ground zero” for climate

change. A recipient of the prestigious “Champions of the earth 2008,” the highest environment award of the United Nation (UN), Rahman believes a country like Bangladesh cannot fight the adverse effects of climate change on its own.

The Weekend Tribune recently sat with this change maker and learned a few things about his views on climate change.

In an interview with New York Times in March 28 this year, you said that due to climate change, Bangladeshi migrants should have the right to move to the countries which are major greenhouse gases. Do you believe industrialised countries should bear the responsibilities of these climate refugees? If so, why?The whole issue of human displacement induced by climate change within the framework of United Nation Framework for Climate Change (UNFCC) is a complex one. The issue of human rights, global justice and responsibility of nations are involved in this. There is no doubt that climate change will play a big role in human displacement and by the end of the twenty first century, more than 300 million people (projected) across the world from both the developing and industrialised countries will be displaced. The point, however is that the responsibility of rehabilitating these people will not be the same for the developing and industrialised countries.

We have to realise that the industrialised countries are responsible for most of the green house emissions of the world, which can be termed as the chief agent of global climate change. So, the principle responsibility of rehabilitating those people falls into

the shoulders of those countries which are responsible for cumulative green house emission based on per capita calculation. Global justice is the only way to accommodate and resolve this international time extended and telecommunicated complex issue. Unfortunately, there is no global legal institution to ensure that justice.

Climate specialists are reluctant to use the term climate refugees? Why? The word “refugee” has a very specific legal connotation in the UN decision making process and rehabilitation process. When you declare someone as a “refugee” then he/she is entrusted with some rights. Hence there is a great reluctance among the governments across the world to accept the concept of climate refugee. You have to understand that the whole issue of climate change is intricately related with world politics and economy.

What will happen if the temperature of the coastal water increases? What is the predicted impact on health? A temperature rise of two degrees will drastically change the flow of rivers. It will also create higher temperature in water bodies. This increased temperature will create greater number and more intense cyclone, flood, drought, river-based erosions and ocean turbulence as well as greater sediment flow. This will be happening at different rates at different places.

Now this increase in temperature will have some adverse effects on health as well. The climate plays an important role in the seasonal pattern or temporal distribution of malaria, dengue, tick-borne diseases, cholera and other diarrhoeal diseases. Climate change is projected to increase the burden of diarrhoeal diseases in low-income regions with approximately 2% to 5% in 2020. Furthermore, the increase in the coastal water

temperature would exacerbate the abundance and/or toxicity of cholera in South Asia.

Do you think that creating coastal forest will make a major impact?There are efforts in trying to use coastal forestry as a barrier to protect natural resource and population from the onslaught of climate induced extreme events. It is true that forestry plays a key role in protecting the southern part of Bangladesh from the onslaught of cyclones and velocity of wind, being a barrier to ocean water circuit and also protecting the natural resource of coastal areas such as the Sundarban. This also protects the human habitats and livelihoods. However, the choice of species in forestation effort is very important.

How vulnerable are the indigenous people of CHT to climate change? What are the consequences they will face if immediate measures are not being taken? In the last decade most of the climate change impact studies have been conducted in the coastal, flood-prone and drought-affected areas. There are very few studies conducted in Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) regions. Recently, various researchers exposed the vulnerability of CHT area and its people due to climate change. One particular study of my organisation, Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies (BCAS), shows that the rainfall patterns in the CHT area and the are changing. It will change furthermore and the hours or the days of rainfall will be shorter. The intensity of the rain will increase and it will create more landslides. Also the fast moving rainwater will not get enough time to be adequately absorbed in existing water bodies. Consequently, the water bodies will be shrinking and because of that the population in the area will be compelled to migrate elsewhere. n

Photo: Courtesy


9ColD wave | PhOTO STORy

Winds of Winter

Turn for more photographs

It started late, but it’s definitely packing some teeth this year. As the mercury dips and the mists drop the curtains on the vistas, Weekend

Tribune brings you snapshots of winter around the country.

Photo: Mahmud Hossain Opu/Dhaka Tribune


10 PhOTO STORy | ColD wave




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Photo: Syed Zakir Hossain/Dhaka Tribune

Photo: Syed Zakir Hossain/Dhaka Tribune

Photo: Rajib Dhar/Dhaka Tribune

Photo: Mehedi Hasan/Dhaka Tribune

Photo: Rajib Dhar/ Dhaka Tribune


12 INTERvIEw | PeTer eiGan

The Pied Piper of the anti-graft bodytransparency international’s Peter eigan talks about corruption, governance and other thingsFaisal Mahmud

For Peter Eigan, the founder of Transparency International (TI), age is just a number. You don’t often find a

renowned septuagenarian making an entertaining entry in a public event. But in this year’s TEDx Dhaka, Eigan walking on to the stage playing a silver saxophone.

I met him during the lunch break. He was eating a nutella crepe. “I know I should avoid sugar but this is just irresistible,” said Eigan. It was very noisy out there. I asked him a few questions and he gave me the answers poignantly.

According to TI, Bangladesh ranked 14th most corrupt countries in the world this year? What can the country do? What is the way forward?The rise of corruption in developing countries like Bangladesh is alarming. In this scenario, the government needs to adopt stern measures to implement its pledge to fight corruption. Besides, civil society organisations of Bangladesh need to mobilise and speak up for better governance. Without a strong civil society, the government doesn’t stay accountable.

I believe that by employing a multi-stakeholder approach, in which all participants work independently from one another, integrity and accountability can be ensured. The three actors of governance, the state as prime actor, plus the commercial sector and civil society organisations, can break the barriers of corruption and exploitation by playing their separate roles.

What is Transparency International’s mission? We started out with the idea that we should fight corruption as it affects developing countries. We had the feeling that in particular, countries in

Photo: Courtesy


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The Pied Piper of the anti-graft body

Photo: Syed Zakir Hossain

Africa, Latin America, Asia, needed to be protected against their own, often corrupt, leaders. But also a systematic approach by many international companies who bribed them for contracts, for business. Therefore, our idea that we should develop some tools, some instruments which one could put in place in order to control this corruption.

In the meantime, our mandate has become much broader. Many of our national chapters, and by now we have about 90 national chapters, all over the world, they really would like to focus on their own corruption in their own country. And this is true in Germany where our national chapter is fighting political corruption, corruption in procurement, and so on, but also in Argentina, in Zimbabwe, in India. So now, I would say, we are a movement fighting corruption wherever it shows its ugly face.

In 1993, at a relatively young age, you “retired” and founded Transparency International. How had your work as a World Bank manager and director prepared you for that moment?I used to work as the director of the World Bank office in Nairobi for East Africa at that time. I noticed that corruption, that grand corruption, that systematic corruption was undermining everything we were trying to do. And therefore, I began to not only try to protect the work of the World Bank, our own projects, our own programs against corruption,

but in general, I thought, we need a system to protect the people in this part of the world from the ravages of corruption.

And as soon as I started this work, I received a memorandum from the World Bank, from the legal department first, in which they said: “You are not allowed to do this. You are meddling in the internal affairs of our partner countries. This is forbidden by the charter of the World Bank, so I want you to stop.

I was really well prepared. I had a huge network-particularly in Africa and Latin America. I knew how large projects were prepared, negotiated and contracted. I spoke many languages. And I had a pension, so I didn’t need money for myself.

Can you describe how TI began? I gave a talk to a retreat of World Bank representatives in Swaziland and pointed out that our work was being totally undermined by corruption. I wanted the World Bank to develop a systemic approach to control corruption, and so I founded a task force with a handful of colleagues, to begin the design. It focused on grand, transnational corruption we left out petty corruption within countries. This was swiftly followed by our first national chapters in Africa and Latin America.

Was there one particular project gone wrong that finally made you think, “Enough is enough. I need

to do something”? What gave you the courage to fight against this corruption when all around you seemed to grudgingly accept it as a necessary evil to keep systems working?I was particularly angry about an AIDS clinic we were funding in the slums of Nairobi (my late wife worked there as a doctor), and the money never arrived. Many friends encouraged me [to fight]. The argument of the legal department of the World Bank -that fighting corruption was illegal under its charter -was blatantly wrong. I knew this as a lawyer. I knew that corruption mainly caused poverty, misery, conflicts and violence- particularly in the developing countries.

Did you have a model to follow, or did you develop ideas as you went along? Does TI basically use the same methods today?We followed mutatis mutandibus, the National Chapter Model of Amnesty International. My brother, Jochen Eigen, piloted the strong role of civil society in promoting the Sustainable Cities Programme for UN-Habitat. But most of our concepts developed over time. The main principles still apply today. We believe in the openness of the government activities as well as the national data.

How can Open Data, opening up data treasures, improve the development sector?

At Transparency International we’ve observed that countries with an open approach to information, like the Scandinavian countries, rank in the upper spheres of our corruption index, among the honest states. Countries like Germany, on the other hand, where you have a hard time getting insights into official files and information, rank much lower. From our point of view there is a direct correlation between the openness of information and the integrity of the way institutions perform, in administration, important institutions, as well as the private sector. I believe that openness and information, Open Data, inevitably leads to a strengthening of civil society, integrity, responsibility and better governance.

How do you feel about the future of TI? What elements have you put in place to ensure the organisation continues to thrive under the spirit you intended?TI has grown tremendously. The TI Secretariat in Berlin now has 180 staff. Some of the 109 National Chapters have thousands of members. It has an outstanding board and a very wise and prominent advisory committee. Its membership meets regularly to participate in building a powerful consensus against corruption. Its network of partners is growing — the ACFE and its more than 70,000 members is a good example.

• Dr. Peter Eigen, a lawyer by training, worked as a World Bank manager of programs in Africa and Latin America. From 1988 to 1991, he was the director of the regional mission for Eastern Africa of the World Bank. Under Ford Foundation sponsorship, he provided legal and technical assistance to the governments of Botswana and Namibia to strengthen the legal framework for mining investments.

• In 1993, Eigen founded Transparency International (TI), a non-governmental organization promoting transparency and accountability in international development.

• From 1993 to 2005 he was chair of TI and is now chair of the advisory council. In 2005, Eigen chaired the international advisory group of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), was the chairman of the EITI from 2006 to February 2011 and is now EITI special representative.

• Eigen has taught law and political science at the universities of Frankfurt

am Main, the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, the University of Washington and the Bruges College of Europe. Since 2002, he has been teaching as an honorary professor of political science at the Freie Universität in Berlin.

• In 2000, he was awarded the honorary doctor degree at the Open University in the UK; in 2004, the Readers Digest Award “European of the Year 2004”; and in 2007, the Gustav Heinemann Award.

• Since 2007, Eigen has been a member of Kofi Annan’s Africa Progress Panel. In 2009 he joined the Management Board of the African Legal Support Facility of the African Development Bank.

• Eigen is a member of the board of the NGOs Kabissa, building the capacity of African nonprofits, the German Doctors (Ärzte für die Dritte Welt) and the advisory council of the Arnold-Bergstrasser-Institute in Freiburg, Germany.

About Peter Eigan


14 RaNT | sPoileD for ChoiCes

The Case of the Disastrous Egg SandwichWhile babysitting a friend’s 41 month old, I realised the little boy, Ben, was made to eat an egg sandwich almost every single day for lunch for the past year, ever since he expressed enjoying an egg sandwich one day during lunch.

“Doesn’t he ever get tired of the sandwiches?” I asked my friend Emma when she came back home.

“Oh, he loves egg sandwiches,” she said.

Two minutes later, pandemonium erupted when, despite promises of a Land before Time, Mickey’s playhouse and all notions of Dora, Ben refused to eat his sandwich.

Finally, I gave him some of my yoghurt, which I had mixed with fruit salad.

“I’ll lock you in the shed,” Emma shouted.

“Don’t give anything to him. He only gets a treat of fruit if he eats his food. This happens every day. I have to go through this every day.”

Sensing that a nervous breakdown was about to occur in front of me, I withdrew from offering any more yoghurt. Attempting to be the good friend and utterly shocked by the uncharacteristic display of absolute rage from my normally timid friend, I also refrained from speaking up at the occasion.

Yet, as weeks passed, I was absolutely unsettled, and began to wonder, what is it about constants that make us feel that we cannot deviate from them? That which

roots each of us into habitual rituals devoid of elements of surprise?

It is no surprise, after all, that picking out a varied diet can greatly improve our moods. A mix of foods like chocolates, bananas and nuts can provide the boost to an afternoon lull in energy, and contain all the elements necessary to increase feelings of contentment and

happiness.Tomatoes, for example, were a

fruit/vegetable that I never truly enjoyed growing up, but have come to love as I have gotten older, particularly due to my father’s diligent tomato gardening ventures.

Now, I particularly appreciate that tomatoes contain lycopene, a chemical found to be an anti-inflammatory stress reliever, concentrated on the skin of the tomatoes, especially of the cherry kind. And surprisingly, tomatoes provide the clues to how we are cued as humans to naturally proclaim diversity as our definitions of taste.

How Embracing Diverse Options Makes You HappierIn a TED talk Malcolm Gladwell, the prolific motivation speaker, best known for Outliers and David and Goliath, speaks at length about how conventional thoughts of sticking with what seems to work, misleads our understanding of happiness.

Drawing on an analogy of a situation where companies were finding a low consumer satisfaction amongst similar products, Gladwell brings to light that without

paying homage to individual taste preferences, and by asking people what they want, we cannot truly be happy. Furthermore, by connecting the dots and assuming that variety will instigate taste preferences, we encourage both vitality and happiness.

Case in point, from the TED talk: Campbell soup made Prego, which was struggling in consumer satisfaction when competing with Ragu in the 1970s, their biggest competitor in spaghetti sauce. After hiring Howard Moskowitz to analyse the problem, Prego came up with 45 different variations of tomato sauce for targeted focus groups to test, providing them with variations of chunky, garlic entrenched, diluted, soupy, and thick variants of tomato sauce.

Analysing the resulting data sets, Moskowitz found that Americans fall in three different groups: some prefer their sauces plain, others spicy, and the last third, extra chunky. This distinction was crucial, as this last third of the population who enjoyed choices did not even know they enjoyed the variant of tomato sauce, until it was put in front of them. In the next few years, Prego made USD600 million with servicing this new market, and only through believing that spaghetti sauce did not need to emulate its Italian origins by being smooth and diluted, but could service the taste of the consumer, embracing diversity as guidance.

Cultivating Taste Through Trial, and Through Trial OnlyI will admit that I’m the only one in my family who will willingly swallow sushi without as much as the bat of an eye, but at the same time, smoked herring found on the streets of Amsterdam still send shivers down my spine.

In the same way, I’ve also noticed that the best conversations I can consistently say I’ve had are with strangers, deplete from the usual pressure of analysing what is put in front of me as a constant. Until 14, rice and lentils made my day, but then

I found spaghetti and hummus in boarding school

When you try to pacify your expectations from the initial thrill of encountering something different, you diffuse the greatness of this new thing by trying to compartmentalise your experience and condition your future expectations to remain the same.

A Twix bar tastes heavenly after you haven’t had Twix in ages. Try eating five Twix bars in a row and suddenly, you’re not enjoying yourself anymore, because the action is rote, the novelty is moot.

It’s time we started to be inspired by deviation. We may learn something new as we titillate across the spectrum of daily emotions and feelings, especially when opting to sustain and maintain the facade of balanced relationships.

After all, something new never fails to spice up appreciation for what we know we can have readily, on a daily basis, and neither does it detract from the comfort of knowing that we can always go back to what we used to love.

The next time I see Emma, I have a feeling I’ll be bringing a book of egg recipes, for the record. .

how will you know you like something if you’ve never tried it? take baby steps. We are only limited by the options we give ourselves. Play with your choices. You may be pleasantly surprisedRaad Rahman

How Food Choices affect Happiness

“By embracing the diversity of human beings, we will find true happiness.”- Malcolm Gladwell

Photo: Bigstock


15Deshi ComforT fooDs | FEaTURE

Celebrating Nobanno with pitha or simply waking up to the smell of freshly brewed tea on a cold winter’s

morning; Bangladesh might not have a lot to boast of in terms of

winter dishes, but our short lived winter does arrive with its set menu, gloriously whetting our appetites. As the Kobi Thakur said: “Poush toder dak diechhe aai re chole aai aai aai..”

pitha palaverCome harvest season and the verdant fields of Bengal would light up with the joy of the farmers ready to harvest the Aman rice crop. Nobonno, which means new rice, was originally when the Bengali new year began until the Emperor Akbar decided to make Pohela Baishakh the beginning of a new business year.

When the new rice was freshly harvested, it was the task of the women folk to gather around the hot fires on a cold winter’s morning in mid-November and painstakingly prepare pithas. Using the freshly harvested rice to ground into a paste then placed in an earthen steamer, with a coconut and molasses filling, is what makes bhapa pitha the most sought after of all Bangladeshi pithas.

A hot pitha on a cold winter’s morning has charmed Bangladeshis for decades and today the bhapa pitha is joined in its ranks by chitoi pitha and patishapta as one of the most popular ones. Dipped in milk

or smeared with a green coriander chutney, the chitoi pitha is said to have come from Orissa’s Chakuli Pitha, which is made of rice flour, black gram, ghee or mustard oil and salt. Apparently, Gautama Buddha tasted this pitha during the early 4th century BC when two merchants arrived in Magadha from the Kingdom of Kalinga. As an agrarian society, our excessive usage of rice as a staple meal have been one of the main reasons for allowing the pithas to make their way into our hearts and cuisine.

our very own winter classics in all their gloryReema Islam

Sweet sensationsA foggy evening and a bowl of steaming payesh redolent with kewra and sprinkled with nuts can easily make us nostalgic. Known as Payasam in Tamil and Kheer in Hindi, the payesh is thought to have first been served as a food to the gods of the Jagannath temple in Puri, Orissa some 2000 years ago. Yet, the Persians as well as the Romans (who are attributed to introducing the firni) are said to also have influenced its origins. The payesh today has made its way into desert menus as one of the easiest to make and most satisfying of sweets to serve guests. The use of nuts and rose water are thought to have been the Romans addition, but the payesh made with rice or tapioca, sometimes coconut and a variety of nuts is all set to make our winters more comfortable.

If you can imagine the combined smell of a pot of tea brewing over a wood fire in the early hours of a cold winter’s morning, you are all set to enjoy the foggy Dhaka mornings! n

hard-boiled egg-stasyAs winter cuisine tends to lean towards being heavy on the stomach, the quintessential hot boiled egg beats any gourmet cuisine with its pure simplicity. A steaming egg hard-boiled and sprinkled with rock salt on a foggy evening is always a winner. So whether eaten by the road side, or the hawker selling his stock of “gorom dim” in a container, the hot boiled egg humbly positions itself in our line of winter foods.

Spicy delightA stewing pot on the fire left overnight and strips of chopped ginger, coriander and a dash of lemon added on top make the perfect winter morning breakfast with nehari. Nahaar is the Arabic word for morning and nehari is always meant to be eaten early in the morning during the winters, as the body gets the rest of the day to digest, or in most cases, prompts us to go right back under our covers!

Made from stewing beef shanks and cooked overnight, this thick soup-like delicacy fills our stomachs like no other comfort food during chilly winter days. Thought to have originated in the Awadhi kitchens of Lucknow or perhaps during the dying days of the Mughal era in Delhi, nehari was initially prepared to grace the dining tables of royalty. It later transcended down to be consumed by labourers who ate the hearty meal for sustenance throughout the day.

Winter’s treats

Photo: Bigstock

Photo: Bigstock

Photo: Bigstock

Photo: Bigstock


16 TOUGh LOvE | Dina sobhan

I’m a single woman in my 30’s in Dhaka; in other words, I may as well be a leper in Biblical times. The wedding season this year has been

extremely awkward for me, because all my friends keep inviting me to their weddings and the associated events, and asking me to participate in the holud dancing and gate dhora, usually with their young cousins and nieces and nephews - ie., the single ones. I’ve noticed they haven’t asked their married friends to do the things they’re asking me. It’s like being consigned to the kids’ table because I’m not old enough to eat with the adults. How do I get out of this without losing all my friends? Sincerely, Ain’t nobody got time for that

got a problem?

Write to Dina at weekend@dhakatribune.

com

Q

Dear Ain’t Nobody,I hate to break it to you, but you are the modern day equivalent of a leper as far as Dhaka society is concerned. But the difference is how you handle it. . At present,

your friends probably feel a little sorry for you and don’t want you to feel left out. But by giving in to your their requests to lump you in with their younger, single, family members, you’re assigning yourself the status of a lesser person, so to speak. Their intentions are probably in the right place, and they have no way of knowing that you’re being made to feel like a pariah if you don’t tell them. So, either develop a thicker skin or tell your friends that you’d prefer to come to their weddings as a guest, not s part of the entertainment. And next time, bring a date! .

I am a busy career woman living in Dhanmondi with my in-laws. My parents live way across the city, in Uttara. You can pretty much guess

the commute. Add to the fact that I don’t have my own car. Why am I boring you with these details? It is

to make a point. Every week, I make it a point to make my way over to see them, spend time with them and help them out with errands, often at the expense of my own social life. I have never asked for validation or praise for this. This year, my sister arrived from the UK for the wedding season, loaded with gifts. She’s doing the whole

social circuit of dawat-pani, the obligatory meet up with relatives. Suddenly I’m getting criticised for being “selfish” and too absorbed in my own affairs. How do I get my family to back off without going on a shooting spree?

Sincerely, Besieged

Q

A

A

Cartoon: Priyo/Dhaka Tribune

you just can’t win

Dear Besieged,The next time your bright and shiny sister appears on the scene and you’re given further flack from the parental units, why not ask them a few pointed questions, such as:

who accompanied them to their last podiatrist’s appointment, or handled

their domestic servant debacle last week. I’m assuming you actually do these things, of course. Because merely visiting your parents regularly – the same people who clothed you, fed you and changed your soiled unmentionables for a lot longer than they probably wanted to – does not automatically admit you into some sort of Devoted Offspring Hall of Fame. So, seeing as you do go out of

your way to assist your aged parents with the daily hassles of living on a routine basis, you are at liberty to remind them of such the next time they start singing the praises of your absentee sister. If they continue to crib, tell them that their lack of appreciation for what ‘little’ you do might make it harder for you to keep your visits to a weekly basis. That not so subtle threat might do the trick.


17Yamin khan | FUNNybONE

It is already established that, in Dhaka, wedding halls get completely booked during December and when it reaches

the following September, the same is true for maternity wards.

Weddings these days have become a big source of infotainment for all of us. It is informative since it tells you what not to do during your own wedding, ie either your first one or any one of the allotted four. As far as the entertainment is concerned, this varies from people to people and requires a bit of elaboration.

For some, the sole purpose behind attending a wedding is the free food. They won’t admit it, but this is all they care about. If they have the option they will happily revoke all the blessings and enthusiastic poses, given their taste buds don’t approve the deal.

As for the remaining lot, it’s all about hooking up with members of the opposite sex. And this practice is mostly common among the “young” ones and the “I really want to be young again” ones.

With god’s grace, I am the Michael Jordan of this field. Let’s just say, I am a poet when it comes to visual conversations. I can tell from a mere glance whether a girl is single, married or her actions don’t require approval of a relationship status. In other words, I am the best in the business. But that doesn’t mean that there aren’t any job hazards. For example, let’s say I am checking out this girl from the distance. She has long, silky hair and a body to pull off any western outfit. And then when I walk up to her, I find out it’s yet another fan of singer Hasan.

For the ladies in general, a big reason behind all the excitement is the valid excuse they get to put on make-up. And my god, don’t they abuse this privilege. Funnily enough, sometimes they get so carried away, that the transformations lead to embarrassing encounters. For example, once I saw this lady removing her make-up, only so that she can regain the trust of her two year old. However, it’s not all bad. For example, make-up removal is used by many as a weight loss tool. And some ladies even use this privilege

to extend their longevity. And why not, all they need to do is confuse the angel of death with their “Before” and “After” look.

The following bit is for all those who use intellectuality as a standard criterion for judgement.

An ideal marriage is a connection between two souls. And for some, they try to attain this connection by force. The popular term for which is eve teasing.

The other day, I was attending a seminar on this topic and this is what the keynote speaker had to say on this issue: “Eve-teasing has become a serious problem in our society!

on weddings and our very own social perceptions regarding it

Yamin Khan

My dear sisters, please don’t feel weak and vulnerable. You are much stronger than those scoundrels. If they dare to practice eve teasing

with you, you must practice morning teasing, afternoon teasing and night teasing with them!”

On a more sane level, I believe the source of the problem is the social bisection between the sexes. We ought to have more co-education in this country so that girls don’t seem like alien beings. Just like we grow up loving our mother and sister, other females can also demand the same position of affection and respect, and not just mere lust. It’s surprising that our social elites haven’t learnt much from the forbidden fruit story. Hopefully Uncle Adam will be able to forgive them someday.

Ok, I should wrap it up before I get derailed any further. I will do so with a small story. One of my friends has a habit of crashing into weddings and eating free food while socialising with complete strangers. He considers this to be a modern art form awaiting acknowledgement. So one fine day he sneaked into this family event taking place at a multi starred hotel and was busy making the most of the situation.

At one point, the hosts felt a bit suspicious and enquired about his involvement. Being the smartass that he is, he in turn asked about their association and upon confirmation that they are from the groom’s side, he happily explained to them how he has been childhood best friends with the bride and her mother always treated him like her own son. However, in the rush of things, he just overlooked one tiny detail – it was actually a birthday party.

PS Make sure you always have imaginary friends. They come in handy while telling embarrassing stories about yourself. .

Yamin Khan is a comedian and CEO of Bangladesh Struggling Artist Survivors Foundation

Wedding Infotainment

Photo: Bigstock


18 STay IN

S u d o k uuse the numbers 1-9 to complete each of the 3x3 square grids such that each horizontal and vertical line also contains all of the digits from 1-9

Last week’s sudoku solutions

Mini cryptics

ACROSS1 Small explosion care of Royal Navy snack (7)4 No night is disturbed for naught (7) 6 Manager of hydrogen and the french king (7)7 Lots of boats make a target complicated (7)

DOWN1 Criticise relation’s first cat (7)2 Include Russian leader (5)3 Country I regain following revolution (7)5 Bay home permitted (5)

Last

wee

k’s

solu

tion

s

aCrOss1 Release of French organ (7)4 Paddle in circle making lots of noise (7) 6 Risk small note first in the middle (7)7 Fast, like an old reporter? (7)

DOwN1 Change bad rule for long-term (7)2 Hurdled broken plate (5)3 Rulers, for example in charters (7)5 Woman caught in fire nearly (5)

Clues

Solved it? Email answers to [email protected] and win one free month of the Dhaka Tribune.

Throwback to inspiring Ted talks of 2014

Extreme Realities: The Link Between Severe Weather, Climate Change, and Our National Security (2014)

Video length: 54 min

“Extreme Realities” from Documentary TV series “Journey to planet earth” investigates one of the most critical issues of our time: the link between severe weather events, climate change, and threats to our national security.

Emmy-award winning filmmakers Marilyn and Hal Weiner consult with experts to find out what is happening to our weather.

Pick up any newspaper or watch any television news report any day and it becomes evident that unprecedented extreme weather events such as severe drought and heat waves, more intense hurricanes, increased tornado and wildfire activity, and crippling blizzards are leaving a trail of death and destruction throughout the world. In

the wake of these disasters, we ask ourselves this fundamental question: Are these merely weather events that happen once in a hundred years – or are they early warning signals of a new reality – a new normal – a tipping point pushing our planet towards an environmental cliff?

Narrated by Matt Damon, the film includes appearances by Jim Yong Kim (World Bank), Tom Friedman (NY Times), Lester Brown (EPI), Phil Radford (Greenpeace), and other other scholars and scientists.

EXTINCTION IN PROGRESS (2014)

Video length: 56 min

Haiti is known to be the poorest country of the western hemisphere. While struggling to recover from a disastrous earthquake(2010), it faces an even greater problem, the complete degradation of its natural resources. Fresh water sources drying up at an accelerated rate

while flood waters wash fertile soil into the ocean.

Indiscriminate logging of the country’s tropical forests is leading to the desertification of its territory leaving natural forests cover less than 2% of Haiti’s territory. Scientists predict a mass extinction of the country’s once rich biodiversity. No other country has more amphibians threatened by extinction.

Evolutionary Biology Professor Dr Blair Hedges, specialist in Caribbean reptiles and amphibians, also co-producer with Jürgen Hoppe, takes on the task to search for species with the help of the Audubon Society Haiti. They traveled to the most remote regions of La Gonave island and the La Hotte mountain range, where patches of natural forests remain, in order to investigate the current state of Haiti’s biodiversity. Over a period of three years they discover almost 50 new species of amphibians and reptiles and rediscover species thought to be lost for decades.

The extent of these discoveries is extremely rare in the world of natural science and has strengthened the struggle to save Haiti’s last biodiversity strongholds. A combined effort by Haiti’s government, the Audubon Society Haiti, Professor Dr Blair Hedges and the Philadelphia Zoo concluded in the creation of a breeding program of Haiti’s highly endangered amphibians and a cryobanking program at the laboratory of Dr Blair Hedges. n


GO OUT 19

Weekly Planner

The 20th Dhaka International Trade Fair 2015 is being organised by Export Promotion Bureau and the Ministry of Commerce, Government of

Bangladesh. It will be held at Sher-E-Bangla Nagar in Dhaka, west of Bangabandhu International Conference Centre for the entire month of January.

Like every year, the fair will provide business opportunities to small local entrepreneurs, as well as foreign participants, including stalls from Iran,

Thailand, India, Pakistan, will also have the opportunity to display their state-of-the-art technology to the local producers and exporters.

AIUB Photography Club (AIUBPC) is going to organise an event which will provide a common platform for all the young and talented photographers of all Universities of Bangladesh.

The judges at the competition will include: Saud A Faisal, freelance photographer and the founder of

Through the Lens: Bangladesh, Mishuk Ashraful Awal, Faculty of Photography at Pathshala South Asia Media Academy and Kudrat E Khoda Litu, Conservation Photographer.

For more information, contact AIUBPC: +88-01841-248-272 n

Fair | Dhaka International Trade Fair 2015wHeN Jan 1-31 , 9am-11pm (everyday) wHere Sher-E-Bangla Nagar, west side of Bangabandhu International Conference Centre

wHeN Jan 5-9 , 3-6pmwHere Drik, House 58, Road 15A (New), Dhanmondi R/A

JaN 2

FOOD | NaNO MitHa PitHa utsHOBwHeN 9:45-10:30amwHere Central Public Library, ShahbaghwHat As Bangladeshi, we love all things sweet, and winter is the perfect excuse to indulge in the sticky, molassy goodness that is the pitha.

For more information contact: 01552445592 (line will be open during the festival time).

JaN 2

literature | sCieNCe FiCtiON BOOK Fair 2015wHeN 11amwHere Public Library Auditorium, ShahbaghwHat the Bangladesh Science Fiction Society is arranging the first ever Sci-Fi book fair in the country, which will not only include book stalls, but will also feature a special segment for entertainment as well. For details, contact: 01755939093 (9am-9pm)

JaN 4-16

art | alluvial returN - sOlO art exHiBitiON BY KaliDas KarMaKarwHeN 1am-8pm (weekdays) and 3-8pm (Friday)wHere: National Art Gallery, Segun BaghichawHat: Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy is arranging a 13-days long event in commemoration of the 70th solo art exhibition of the internationally reputed artist Kalidas Karmakar. The exhibition will be inaugurated 5pm on Jan 4.

JaN 7-9

Festival | exClusive BriDal & wiNter sHOPPiNg FestivalwHeN 10:30am-9:30pmwHere Flambé, Gulshan, Lake Road (Gulshan Club Road)wHat In light of the wedding season, Sarans Evento is going to organise a festival that will bring together all the essentials you may need for a wedding, all under one roof. It will also provide a platform for those who do online business to reach new customers.For more info check ‘’Sarans Evento’’ Facebook page or log in to their event at: https://www.facebook.com/events/1496210663992907

JanUary

2015SUn MOn TUe WeD THU FrI SaT

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1 2 3 4 1 2 34 5 6 7 8 9 1011 12 13 14 15 16 17

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Send your events to [email protected]

Photography | Bangladesh Inter University Photography Exhibition – Season 2


20 TEa wITh wT | sYeDa shaGufe hossain

Why did you chose to concentrate on the Aliyah madrasahs?Broadly speaking, there are two different kinds of madrasahs in our country – Qawmi and Aliyah. We work with Aliyah madrasahs. I felt that the students of these madrasahs are doubly marginalised, the reason being, that their educational institutions have a more “secular” bearing. As such the religious community a lot of times see them as being “non-religious” as they study “secular” subjects and we who belong to a more “secular” community see them differently because they are studying in a madrasah. Thus they face a kind of alienation from all sides. Owing to this the students here might feel a sense of isolation. It is therefore important to integrate them into the “mainstream.”

Leaping Boundaries is a very challenging project. How did it take shape?We first started it in 2012. Back then it was just me and a group of trainers with no fixed curriculum. Due to the political unrest during that period, it shut down in January 2013. It was a different kind of set up during that period. We mainly focused on English because my perspective at that point was a little elitist. I was thinking from a very privileged position. I come from an English medium background

so I thought that if we give them access to English language, they will be able to integrate themselves into the mainstream arena. However, that was not the case at all. Over time we realised that they face a very unique set of problems. They lack representation, visibility. So now my basic aim is to make them more visible. After the project initially shut down, I took time to think as to how I can make it sustainable.

So how did you buckle up for the battle?After the initial failure I thought about things that I did wrong and also things which I could do better. In August 2013, a State Department's Alumni, Ferdous contacted me and told that he had been following my work and that the state department provides grants for projects like mine. We applied for it but we didn't get the fund. This made me more determined to get on with the project. I decided to invest my own money and seek help from friends and family members.

Then we contacted a madrasah in Rampura with a good reputation and students from well off families. This was just the beginning.

How did you convince the madrasah and relaunch Leaping Boundaries?At first I introduced myself as part of Garbo Bangladesh, an NGO I was

working with back then. This was different from back in 2012 when I introduced myself as just a youth trying to bring some positive changes in the Madrasah scenario. After numerous meetings, giving them detailed written agenda and plenty of negotiation, they were convinced.

After this I recruited my trainers in a more systematic way compared to last time. I went through students clubs at EWU as the madrasah is in Banasree, Rampura and so is the university. I usually recruit students whose universities are in close proximity of the madrasahs so that it is convenient for all parties concerned.

During this period I met Imran Newaz Khurshid, co-founder and executive director of Mind Mechanics and he wanted to help me out. He suggested me to add soft skills (problem solving, critical thinking) to our curriculum. With Imran on board, he conducted the orientation of our new set of trainers. And finally in February 2014, we relaunched Leaping Boundaries.

How do you balance your innovative teaching techniques with the Bangladesh Madrasah Education Board curriculum?When we pitched the idea to the Madrasah, the authorities were very clear about the fact that they

would allow us to teach only if we helped them finish their syllabus. So we went in and substituted their teachers for two days every week. At the beginning of the year we covered a particular portion of their syllabus leaving the rest for the madrasah authorities to take care of. However, we informed them in advance that we will do it in a way we are comfortable with – a workshop teaching training method.

Tell us a little about the psycho-social sessions you are conducting at the madrasahs.We are going through a Net Assessment Phase. In this phase we collected small paragraphs from our 200 students.Lata, a trainer who used to work with Kaan Pete Roi analysed them. And based on the outcome she trained our student mentors on issues such as stress management, anger management, adolescence related issues. The mentors then employed this training to provide psycho-social counselling to the students.

You spoke about “mainstreaming.” How do you deal with the negative idea that the term might carry?I am forced to use this word for lack of a better one. It is not a favourite. So when we say that we “mainstream” them, we do not work with curriculum change. We teach them

Leaping BoudariesSyeda Shagufe hossain, an alumni of York university chose to return to Bangladesh and work towards improving the teaching culture at madrasahs. leaping Boundaries, an organisation aiming to “mainstream” madrasahs is her brainchild. We met up for hot chocolate and the lively hijabi waxed eloquent about her passion project

Tausif Sanzum

Photos: Courtesy


according to theirs but we employ interesting teaching techniques so that the students are more interested. The idea is to link them to platforms. We are talking with BYLC, Spelling Bee and our students will be represented in these platforms this year. We plan to continue this every year.

How do your trainers adjust themselves in a completely different environment and how do the students react to their presence?For example, in 2012, one of trainers reported that the students actually mentioned they would not work without corporal punishment.

However, this varies from one madrasah to madrasah. We ask our trainers to build a strong rapport with the students in the first few days and more or less our trainers are successful. They are younger, energetic. The students see them as “bhaiyas, apus” who are not trying to dominate them but teach in interesting ways. I guess it starts with us seeing them as not different and then only can they see us as not different. And my trainers are amazing.

How do you plan make this project sustainable?The Nibras International Madrasah offered to pay us a token amount are they are happy with our work. However, we did not take it then because once money gets into the picture, the madrasah will have negotiating power over the way we teach and may adversely affect our progress. As far as sustainability is concerned, in future we have to create

a source of funds. Maybe we can start a separate business activity.

As far as involving more madrasahs are concerned, we are currently working with two madrasahs: Nibras International Madrasah and Madinatul Ulum Model International Women’s Kamil Madrasah. Gaining access to the second madrasah was comparatively easier as we could show them the work we have been doing at Nibras International Madrasah. And we are planning to work with three more madrasahs this year.

“They (the madrasah students) are not any different from regular school-going students, They are kids, and kids are kids.” n

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