From the moment we arrived here in Sirajganj, it’s been like we’re movie stars…or aliens, I’m not sure which. The nurse who organized this trip did tell us people will stop and stare at us, we’re in the more rural country and people don’t see foreigners too often. Sure enough, on our first day while touring the hospital, people just walked up to us and stared. At one point while the doctor touring us around spoke, a group of people pretty much surrounded us and just stared. It wasn’t threatening, we would just smile and wave and folks would wave and smile back.
Many would take our picture, sometimes obviously, sometimes in a way that they thought was sly but painfully obvious (at one point several of us were outside a store and suddenly a local “needed” his picture taken by his friend, the local positioned himself several feet in front & to the left of us while his friend took pictures on his phone, except it was clear he was shooting us), leading one nurse in our team to wonder, “is this how Angelina Jolie feels?”
In another instance we took a boat ride and walked through the village to the boat. When people saw us they would just stop in their tracks and stare. I thought it was how a New Yorker would behave if an alien dropped into downtown Manhattan. Kids, being curious and fearless, would just run up close to us and stop and smile. And everywhere people wanted selfies. I’ve never taken so many selfies.
Regardless, at no time did I ever feel unsafe, (well except driving, driving in this country is scary AF.) The Bengali people are some of the warmest, nicest, most generous people I’ve met. Our interpreter for the week took us shopping, when we went to check out, the owner refused our money, they were gifts. Then the interpreter followed that up with buying all of us scarves. This isn’t Dubai, this generosity is happening where if you make $200 a month, that’s a decent income.
Of course all this makes me appreciate what I have, but also makes me wonder, if the Bengali are so happy & generous with so little, is the key to happiness not what you have, but what you give?
