Random Acts of Tourism

On our first full day back in Bangladesh, we made the hour long trip out to the nearby city of Savar with three site seeing goals in mind: a tour of the Center for Rehabilitation of the Paralysed (CRP), a visit to the Martyrs Memorial, and a trip to a Hindu brass casting business.

Our first stop was at the CRP-- not your typical vacation idea, I know, but it was an intriguing find that met both John's interests as a physician and my own interests in disability rights. The CRP provides spinal surgery, occupational therapy, mental health treatment, vocational training, job placement, and advocacy/education with the goal of making people with disabilities fully integrated in their communities. They provide both inpatient, outpatient, and home based services for both children and adults. The services for children include training their parents in providing physical care, sanitary and safe feeding, and even back-strengthening exercises to help prevent injury in lifting and transporting their children.

Among the leading causes of paralysis of CRP's patients include falls from trees, rooftops, and the tops of moving vehicles; spinal tuberculosis; falling while carryng heavy loads on tops of heads; and well... "bull attacks." The grounds include a housing area (some with electricity for those patients who come from the city, some without for those from more impoverished villages to be more of a simulation of their respective communities) in which patients may get rehabilitation training in their activities of daily living. Among the vocational training opportunities provided at CRP are training to use sewing machines, fix televisions and other electronics, using computers, and mouth painting and drawing (this last one I suspect is also an important way for the CRP to raise awareness and funding by selling cards and paintings and other advocacy events such as the Abilympics-- an international competition that celebrates the different talents of people with disabilities.)

The CRP gets some equipment donated but they also have a workshop on site where they make their own wheelchairs! The CRP also strives to raise awareness and advocate for the rights of people with disabilities, including holding wheelchair rallies and producing documentaries and feature films based on the stories of their patients. As we drove along the roads of Savar, I noticed signs on the side of the road discouraging cell phone use and encouraging safe driving, all sponsored by the CRP as an accident prevention campaign. Overall, it was impressive to see that they incorporate pretty much the same PT/OT techniques, as well as approaches to encourage full integration and participation in society as we see in the States only with a significantly smaller budget.



Our next stop was at the memorial commemorating the over 3 million Bangladeshis who gave up their lives in the War for Liberation in 1971. We walked around the memorial but soon found ourselves the center of attention as people gathered around and stared at us while we took pictures. Some people gave us friendly greetings, citing their own connection to America as a way of welcoming us to Bangladesh, others just watched us in silence. We very quickly acquired an entourage of kids who at first insisted that we take flower leis from them for free, then clamoured for us to take their picture. They followed us around and shooed away other kids similarly bearing leis. Anne asked them if they went to school which they all denied-- apparently they come to the memorial every day. When we got back to our car, Anne tried to give them 50 takka to share but they insisted on more. A man then came along with a big stick and started swatting at the kids to clear a path for us to our car-- many of them ran off, crashing into us as they scattered in all directions, but the ring leader stood his ground until Anne produced a 100 takka bill (roughly $1.30) and then he ran off victoriously.

Our last visit for the day was at the Dhamrai Metal Crafts. Located in a Hindu village, the same family has run this business for 200 years, with a brief break when they were persecuted by Muslims. We were given a brief introduction to the brass making process including the carving of casts in wax which are then set in clay, then the metal is melted in the big oven shown above and poured into the casts. We walked through show room after show room of beautiful figurines and statutes of Hindu gods and goddesses, bowls and platters made of brass and even this chess set (the king is Shiva and the queen is Pavrati, with Ganesh as the bishops). Our guide warned us that there was a counterfeit business across the street that uses their name in an effort to attract business and sure enough, when we returned to the car, Anne's driver gave us a brochure from that factory in which the Muslim owner advertises that she does not get any disapproval from the community for making Hindu icons as the work is all handcrafted "by her Hindu colleagues but is truly her own."