Tag Archives: poverty

excess baggage…

Posted on December 29, 2011 by

When I’m abroad I learn to live with little. I know it’s good for me to be reminded that I can manage with five sets of clothes, that life is possible with two pairs of shoes and only one sweater.. … Continue reading →

Posted in reflections, travel | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

the slum, the rock and the rat…

Posted on December 16, 2011 by

I am out walking again. The streets stream with red and green flags, flutter-flying thanks for the country’s liberation, the beginning of an end to oppression. The mosques disgorge the Friday faithful into the dusty afternoon in waves of flip flops. The … Continue reading →

Posted in Bangladesh, reflections, travel | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

butterflies falling in the dusk…

Posted on November 30, 2011 by

There are an impossible numbers of fat matt-brown butterflies twisting and twirling through the streets like breeze-blown litter. Tired and dust heavy – they look a little lost. Walking home from work, I swerve step so as not step on … Continue reading →

Posted in Bangladesh, travel | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Dhaka dust…

Posted on November 11, 2011 by

Being back in Dhaka is strangely like a coming home. The city still smells like rose water, almonds, perfume, death and urine. But the alternating aromas offend my nose a less than before. I’ve grown use to the sharp acid … Continue reading →

Posted in travel | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

thank you for beautiful…

Posted on October 27, 2011 by

Being thankful is something I have been trying to make a habit of, and today I realised I would kind of like to write Bangladesh a thank you letter! This is what I would say: Thank you for beautiful, for … Continue reading →

Posted in thanks | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

unfinished imperfect…

Posted on September 7, 2011 by

This morning we were greeted by a soggy pool on the office floor. We clustered around it, trying to figure the puzzle, checking out the options. It wasn’t raining so the ceiling shouldn’t have been leaking. The pool was far … Continue reading →

Posted in reflections | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

this little inch of Africa..

Posted on August 25, 2011 by

This is Africa. My intestines regularly remind me of it, in near constant protest at my continental shift.  I am stalked by pervert mosquitoes to whom clothes pose no impediment and all they want is my blood. The security regulations … Continue reading →

Posted in uganda | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments