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Pride of place

The many millions of rickshaws themselves are amazing creations. Each one is personalised with pride by the owners, with everything ranging from simple patterns to intricate needlework to pictures of famous (usually Bollywood) actors. Sitting inside, you are likely to be surrounded by pictures and patterns unique only to that rickshaw.

To see why I was in Bangladesh click here, or look at the previous or next photo. If you are interested, please view the series.

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Uploaded on Nov 6, 2009

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Migration

Migration is the ultimate adaptation.

In the case of Bangladesh, with people losing their homes, and sometimes whole villages, to river erosion and shifting coastlines, and with the threat of sea level rise inundating this low level country, a final option for many people in the coming years may be to move. To move away from hazards, and try their luck in cities, probably performing some simple task like driving a rickshaw. As I mentioned already, many of these drivers are only here seasonally to help supplement their other income.

But as the very shape of the country changes, migration will become a much more frequent occurence.

To see why I was in Bangladesh click here, or look at the previous or next photo. If you are interested, please view the series.

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Uploaded on Nov 6, 2009

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Rickshaws

Rickshaws are a major institution in Bangladesh. It is impossible to go there and not see one. It is estimated that there are around a quarter of a million in Dhaka, and many more throughout the country.

Men from rural areas often use these seasonally as a way to supplement their income when there is no work for them to do on their farms. It helps too - rickshaw driving is connected with some increases in income for poor agricultural laborers who moved to urban areas, but that the extreme physical demands of the job meant that these benefits decreased for long-term drivers (from Wikipedia).

To see why I was in Bangladesh click here, or look at the previous or next photo. If you are interested, please view the series.

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Uploaded on Oct 17, 2009

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Centre of the Wheel

The city of Jamalpur in central Bangladesh is where most of the villagers come to sell their extra crops, or for all their other needs. Although it is only about 40 minutes drive away from most of the villages I talked about, without a car this becomes a day-long trek.

The city itself is centred on the main street, where all industry and commerce is set up - there are blacksmiths next to vegetables, material for clothes next to bicycle shops. It was like nothing I had ever seen. After floods happen in the surrounding lands, or even just in the non-growing seasons, many men come here from the villages to drive rickshaws. Those that can't find enough customers here often go to the capital, Dhaka.

To see why I was in Bangladesh click here, or take a look at the previous or next photo in the series. If you are interested, please view the series to see what I found and what I learned in my few weeks in Bangladesh, visiting some of the most vulnerable people anywhere on our planet.

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Uploaded on Oct 17, 2009

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BDRCS

The Jamalpur headquarters of the Bangladesh Red Crescent - small, modest, and run mostly by people like the two men here - lifelong volunteers. They were responsible for putting in place all of the disaster reduction programmes from the earlier photos.

This is the greatest strength of the Red Cross/Red Crescent - commitment and dedication from hundreds of thousands of volunteers around the world.

To see why I was in Bangladesh click here, or take a look at the previous or next photo in the series. If you are interested, please view the series to see what I found and what I learned in my few weeks in Bangladesh, visiting some of the most vulnerable people anywhere on our planet.

Some rights reserved

Uploaded on Oct 15, 2009

1 comment

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amirjina uses Flickr – so can you!

amirjina's photostream

Pride of place

Migration

Rickshaws

Centre of the Wheel

BDRCS

India and Bangladesh

Most Interesting, 一番面白いの

Japan, 日本

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