at the beginning

from marc in bangladesh (who has crashed the UNICEF office to get decent internet access)

stef and i will leave tomorrow for our proposed area of operation. it is south and a little east of Bagerhat, the biggest nearby city. the closest communities are Morrelgonj, Rayenda, and Sarankhola. the spelling can vary because they have a character alphabet and the translations to a roman alphabet are not always uniform, so many of the maps and signs are not in agreement. there is no internet available in the sharonkhola area– there is no electricity or water for that matter! the water issue could be a major. the people here use ponds to collect water during the rainy season. they look like “the ole swimming hole” – but now, many have been contaminated by the storm and who knows what was in there anyway. even in the USA i am not too crazy about murky water…..in bangladesh it is downright scary! we may be forced to drill a “deep tube well”. in 4 days a crew of 20 guys can MANUALLY dig a 900 foot deep well! the output is sweetwater – clear, clean, drinkable! there are still many many details for us to work out. i will try and keep you posted as we have them sorted.