Date: 29Mar03 5:54am
Dear friends,
(I 've tried sending
this message a few times this week and haven't been
able to get hotmail to
do it so hopefully this time it'll work.)
Its been a great week
(sarcasm). Last weekI was walking to our training
center in Savar and ran
into a street protest where they were burning a
dummy of GW Bush -- later
that day I discovered that the war had begun. On
Sunday we were consolidated
(for those of you that don't know this is the
step right before the Peace
Corps evacuates a country) and had a military
escort all the way to the
capital. Originally they told us this was just a
precaution and we were only
going to be in Dhaka for a week but now it
sounds like we'll likely be here
for the duration of the war or until they
decide to officially declare this
an evacuation. I'm hoping that we won't
be evacuated but one never
knows.
It is intreseting being in a muslim country during this time and
seeing the
news that most people see here and understanding why people
believe that
this war is not just directed at saddam huessein but all
muslims. Its tough
to make people understand that Americans don't
necessarily hate muslims and
that there are muslims in America -- people
here often only see the images
of destruction and death that are the result
of american bombing.
We are all "shocked and awed" here, a devastating
thing for the safety and
security of americans around the world.
Unfortunately, Bush has mistaken
war for peace and created a precedent that
will only make the world less
safe, less stable, and less free. I pray for
peace, the safety of everyone
in iraq, and for everyone around the world (I
don't pray very often but now
seems like a good enough time as
any).
So, those are the details of my life at present. I hope that all of
you are
safe and secure. I'll work on getting caught up on my e-mails here
soon.
take care.
love,
dave
| Date: | 25May03 6:29am |
So, Bangladesh, yeah, well we're staying which is awesome. I really thought that a month ago I'd be COSing from another peace corps assignment and I'd have to go the way of Chris S -- hide out somewhere in the middle of south africa. I do like it here though and I'm excited to be staying. I think you'd love the Dahl here, its one of my favorite things. Plus they make this stuff called vorta that is sort of like mashed potatoes but they can make it out of just about anything, beans, veggies, you name it and its really good. They also have rickshaws. I should try to send you one, I think you'd get a kick out of that too. We've gotten in trouble a couple of times for pulling the rickshaws with the drivers in the back -- the police tend to pull us over to ask why a bideshi (a foreigner) would be doing so base as ride a rickshaw -- usually they get a good laugh out of it and let us go. Take care, dave |
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