A four hour drive brought the SCAW team from Cox’s Bazar to Chittagong. The Chittagong camp was on the grounds of a local school. The schoolyard was walled which enabled easy site control and with the arriving children were able to use classrooms to change into their new clothes. The distribution went smoothly – 560 kits in about four and a half hours. Many of the older children feel confident enough to say ‘thank you very much’ or ‘you’re welcome’ in English. We have learned that there aren’t separate Bangla words for ‘thank you very much’ and ‘you’re welcome’. Instead, ‘doh-noh-baad’ is used for both.
There was time after the distribution to wash before traveling to the airport for the flight back to Dhaka. We are looking forward to a day of rest. In the past eight days, we have spent nearly as much time traveling as distributing bedkits – the pace is rigorous.
Charlene Gordon for Team Bangladesh 2012
