Off to Barisal, in the cyclone impact zone..

If you're new to blogs, it's best to read from the "bottom up" since the prior postings constantly get pushed down in the stack, so the most recent is on top...

Marc Young and Stef Chang arrived midday yesterday, and after giving them A WHOLE DAY to recuperate we plan to start the trek down to Barisal, the major city in the impact area, midday.

I had gone out to the airport to greet them, but then got a call that I had an opportunity to meet with a prominent Dhaka businessman, Samson Chowdhury, so I bailed from the airport and "dashed" 50 minutes, across teeming Dhaka. Think of NYC (or Manila,Phnom Penh), but with a mix of rickshaws,( manually pedalled bicycle frontend with a two person seat behind), CNG's, (motorbike gadgets ( fueled with compressed natural gas, hence the name) with little seats, but lots of flexibility to weave in the traffic), baby-taxis, which are minivans you hop off  and on and pay about .20/mile, and then full size buses, and some regular cars. Blaring horns, kids selling and begging in the clotted traffic, visual overload, but it all, eventually, works.

Mr Chowdury, who shares a birthdate with my wife ( thank you, Zoominfo.com) is Chairman of the Square Group of companies, which is the major conglomerate in BD. Properties include the largest pharma company, a beautiful and modern 350 bed hospital, banks,IT company,  etc - but a pleasant, warm,  active and effective man in his early 80's ! Oh, and his son is head of the government disaster management agency, so hopefully a useful visit.

When I returned to the hotel met with Marc and Stef, happy their grueling travel from Peru through New York ( for the BD visa) and Finland, India, to BD, finally completed. Great to have them here, since they immediately go into "..how do we do it..." mode, like figuring out how we'd tell volunteers how to travel, get visas, change currency, etc. We had an early dinner with a friend from a major UK humanitarian donor, TEAR Foundation, that I had met earlier at the hotel - he's here helping launch education programs for the hill tribes up near Bhutan.

This morning we'll have breakfast with the country director of SaveTheChildren , then introduce Marc and Stef to Dr Datta of Konoinia, then start our drive down toward Barisal.

Although there is an airport there the commercial flight traffic is shut down, and the driving trip south requires a ferry crossing, with the last ferry at 3 PM, so we've decided to get part way and spend the night enroute, somewhere. Our version of "a plan".

Two plus weeks after the event, and the international response, and local concentration, indicated that this is an extraordinary event, even by Bangladesh standards. The Bangladesh people we've met have been competent, caring, and considerate. We'll soon learn what life is like where the cyclone hit.

A friend from USAID who is down in Barisal located a place we think we can stay, and advised that the needs are great, and security seems OK, so we'll get there and start doing a look-around.

Very unsure what my internet access will be, but will post again as soon as I can.