Hamtramck's Global Vibe: Bangladesh Avenue

How exactly do you say "wow" in Bengali?

Well, we're not sure. Yet. In the ever-expanding hip Hamtramck melting pot, there is a global cultural experience around every corner: from Eastern European (Polish, Ukrainian), to the Balkans (Bosnian, Serbian, Croatian) to Middle Eastern (Yemeni and other Arab ethnic groups). But the largest community of newcomers come from Bangladesh, the South Asian nation that borders India. About a quarter of all Hamtramck Public School students say Bengali (also called Bangla) is the language they speak at home.

Bangladesh Avenue is an honorary title bestowed recently to a stretch of Conant Avenue between Harold St. and Davison. Portions of the new business community on what has been called Hamtramck's secondary main street (with Caniff a close third) are actually in Detroit.

The moniker, to be officially dedicated Nov. 8, is well earned. According to Akikul H. Shamin, the president of the Bangladesh Association of Michigan, about 80 percent of the buildings and businesses along Bangladesh Avenue are owned or operated by Bangladeshis - including about eight grocery and convenience stores, about half a dozen sari shops and numerous eateries.

Shamin, who owns clothing store ATN Fashions on Joseph Campau, estimates there are about 15,000 to 20,000 Bangladeshis in Hamtramck and the nearby North Detroit neighborhood (known to some as NoHam). Shamin says there were just a few hundred in the same area about 20 years ago. Much of the increase is due to Bangladeshis moving here from New York - mostly from the Jackson Heights, Elmhurst-Corona and Astoria neighborhoods in Queens - for more affordable housing and better schools. Since 1991, the year Shamin moved here, he's seen Conant completely change. "It was dead," he says. "Now you see people walking at 3 a.m."

While the majority of the Bangladeshi population here is Muslim, with six mosques on the northeast side of Hamtramck and in Detroit, Shamim says there are also a fair number of Hindus, while a smaller number practice Buddhism and Christianity.

Urban spice

Many Bangladeshis say there are few differences between theirs, Indian and Pakistani cultures, whether you're talking food or frocks.

Conant Avenue itself is urban, gritty, mostly occupied by one- and two-story buildings with simple facades. You won't get a better feel for the South Asian culture than by venturing into one of the many Bangladeshi-run stores.

Inside Asian Mart, just south of Caniff, narrow aisles display typical grocery items like Pantene hair products and Lipton soup, along with imported foods and products from Bangladesh. One wall is lined with freezers while another three freezers occupy floor space. All are filled with frozen fish and vegetables. One owner, Debashish Das, who moved here in 1990, says the food is most similar to what you'll find in India, particularly in the state of West Bengal.

Among the 50 varieties of imported fish is hilsha, a kind of white fish that is frozen whole. The store gets a lot of students, like Munirul Islam, who lives in Detroit and is getting his Ph.D. in computer science at Wayne State University. Islam, who was shopping with his wife and 4-year-old son, says they come for the hilsha as well as ruhu, which he describes as "tasty, like salmon. We fry it with onions."

Islam pointed out some of the snack foods - mostly nuts and fried rice -are like Indian snacks but are often spiced differently. Then his wife, Hasina, offered a quick primer on fashions, explaining her colorful yet casual ensemble - a kameez (tunic) with salwar (pajama-like pants). Saris, large scarves wrapped around the body, "are hard to maintain," she says.

A bit further north, just north of the Bangladesh Association of Michigan offices, we head into Bengal Spices. This was the first Bangladeshi grocery store in Michigan, says owner Zak Ahmed, who was lifting giant slabs of raw beef from a red plastic shopping cart to put on display. The store sells live poultry, but it's mostly spices and dry goods here, says Ahmed, who moved to Hamtramck in 1980. The primary spices in Bangladeshi cooking are cumin, curry and coriander, visible through clear plastic bags in shelves beside dried fruits and rices. Ahmed produces one bag of Bengali rice called kalazeera. "It's a sticky brown rice," he says, likening it to basmati, and shows us lentils imported from Bangladesh.

Sumptuous and colorful

There are numerous clothing stores, including Nina, named for the owner's daughter as best we could tell from the woman behind the counter who didn't speak much English. While there, a young teenage girl shops with her mother. She's too shy to give us her name, but explains that besides the sari and the salwar kameez tunic ensemble, which she is wearing with jeans for her pants, another popular style is the langla, a scarf with a top and a skirt, something for more dressy occasions.

The fabrics throughout the small store hang on racks, on the wall and folded on shelves as they appear in all the stores we visit. The colors and textures are dazzling, even sumptuous. Bright turquoise, hot pink, all manner of beading and sequins. For non-Bangladeshi visitors -- more and more of whom are seeking these styles -- you feel like a kid in a costume store. Beyond wonderful.

Further north we hit Rima Sari Center, owned by Rashid Miah, who carries mostly women's fashions but also caters to men and kids. At the back of the store is a platform covered in white fabric, which is used to show off large one-piece saris. There are earrings that look like mini chandeliers with brilliantly colored crystals. One man is buying a tunic, which they call a pungub. Asked if the Bangladeshis have a unique style, Miah, describing his clientele as 50-50 Indian and Bangladeshi, says, "It's all really one culture." Many customers buy fabric and sew their own outfits, or Miah can hook them up with a seamstress. Ready-to-wear outfits, some in shockingly bright colors -- orange, gold, blue -- carry price tags of more than $200.

Yet another spacious sari store further north, Maloncho, has more of the same. Owner Taher Miah, who moved here from Bangladesh eight years ago, says his customers include women and men. He shows off a sherwani, a men's knee-length formal coat without lapels that buttons up to the neck. Miah says these can be quite elaborate and are most often worn at weddings or for Eid, the grand celebration at the end of Ramadan. Meanwhile, Miah gets a fair number of American customers. "It's become quite fashionable," he says of the ethnic styles. Miah, who lives a few minutes away in Detroit, is enthusiastic about being here. "I love this area," he says. "There are so many Bangladeshis." Though the sign on his door says he closes at 9 most nights, unofficially he's open until 11 p.m. or midnight. "We love our customers," he says.

When it comes to entertainment, besides Bangladeshi books carried by many of the grocery stores, locals head to 2000 Audio and Video south of Caniff for the real deal. In stock are thousands of movies from India and Bangladesh and even more music CDs. Some films made in Bangladesh are similar to Bollywood-style movies produced in Mumbai (formerly known as Bombay), but they also have many dramas based on family, historical films, love stories and some that are just pure action.

Dish it out: prepared food starts at $1

The aroma of various curries is ever present on Bangladesh Avenue. Bengal Masala, Gandhi and Aladdin Sweets and Café are three of the most popular restaurants on the commercial strip. But it's Aladdin, a small café with about 30 seats at the corner of Conant and Commor St., that locals flock to for food at modest prices. Many dishes unbelievably start at $1. It's also the first Bangladeshi restaurant with sweets and Indian food in Hamtramck, says Delawar Hussain, a Hamtramck resident the past nine years who ran a similar eatery in New York before coming here. "It's our favorite restaurant," he says, picking out the café's most popular treat, "cream balls," from a glass cabinet. Made of cheese and nonfat dry milk and the size of a large meatball, they are moist and have the texture of moist bread. According to a young man behind the counter, a nephew in the family-run business, the treat is also common to both Pakistan and India but the Bengalis favor the white ones, which are a little firmer inside. Bengali customers also favor the curry dishes over kebabs and lamb chops more popular with Indian and Pakistani customers, he says. Aladdin will soon be expanding with about 100 more seats.

Further south, Gandhi is another hot spot. Dimly lit with red carpet, white tablecloths, napkins folded into fans and Indian music playing overhead, it has a formal look. The owner, Mohammed Ahad and his Bangladeshi chef cater to diverse customers, many of whom are Americans who come for the $6.99 lunch buffet. Among the most popular menu items are various biryanis and chicken tikka masala.

Tripti, a little café connected to Gandhi through a doorway at the back. is even more intriguing. Also run by Ahad, the café caters more to the Bengalis who come for the simple food and good prices. They do a lot of carryout business but have tables to dine in. Ahad says Bengalis eat more rice compared to Indians who tend to eat more bread. We tasted two appetizers courtesy of the boy working behind the counter, Gulam "Afser" Hussain, a high school senior from Hamtramck who moved here with his family from Bangladesh about two years ago. Try piajoo, pieces of fried lentils with onion, chilis and cilantro ($1 for four). They are delicious, crunchy but not too oily, and only outdone by the chana bhaji, chickpeas cooked with mild spices ($1). The latter could easily be eaten as a main dish with rice.

Bengal Masala, a bright cheery café just north of Holbrook is decorated with colorful tiles. Owner Abdul Ullah, who opened this restaurant about three years ago following similar restaurants in Royal Oak, Rochester Hills and Windsor, says his food is "a little different" from Indian. "We use a lot of curry and the spices are not as hot." Bengalis also eat a lot of biryani fried rice dishes, he says. Among the most popular menu items is balti, a mildly-spiced dish (vegetarian or meat) with a sauce made of freshly ground spices, onions, tomatoes and herbs. The vegetarian version over saffron rice is just spicy enough and packed with flavor. Ullah says most of his dine-in customers are Americans who know him from his other locations but the majority of his carry-out business comes from the local Bangladeshi community. "I like my common people and my American people," he says. "Everyone is very friendly."

Hamtramck's Global Vibe: Bangladesh Avenue
http://www.modeldmedia.com/features/bangladeshave16208.aspx
By: Ellen Piligian
October 28, 2008

BANGLADESH: When your country could drown

JOHANNESBURG, 27 October 2008 (IRIN) - "Bangladesh drowning: A reality or a myth?" read a recent headline in a national newspaper. "Would Bangladesh really disappear under water by 2100?" asked another. The questions have led to heated debates on the country's future.

The flurry of articles were spurred by a new paper by James Hansen, a leading climate change scientist and the head of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, which examined the relationship between rising carbon dioxide (CO2) levels, melting ice and rising sea levels.

Sea level rise could sound the death knell for low-lying Bangladesh, most of which is only two to 13 metres above sea level, according to various estimates. The response to Hansen's paper is therefore understandable.

The paper, Target Atmospheric CO2: Where Should Humanity Aim?, which Hansen co-authored with nine other scientists, called for greater reductions in CO2 emissions to prevent sea-level rise caused by the world's inexorably melting ice.

In email correspondence with IRIN this week, Hansen said if atmospheric CO2 concentrations were not kept below at least 350 parts per million (ppm) the results could be disastrous. The current level of atmospheric CO2 is 385ppm, and could exceed 450ppm, which the world is heading for "within decades, barring prompt policy changes".

"Business-as-usual will almost certainly cause a sea level rise of at least one to two metres by the end of the century, and quite likely five metres or more, as West Antarctica is very vulnerable," Hansen told IRIN. The European Union has set a target of 550ppm.

Hansen's projection was in sharp contrast to the most recent forecast by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that the global sea level would rise by between 18cm and 59cm by 2100, depending on a range of greenhouse gas emission scenarios.

In the 1980s Hansen was one of the first scientists to highlight the disastrous humanitarian impact of climate change, and was among those who had thought that keeping CO2 concentration levels at 450ppm would prevent disaster.

"If you leave us at 450ppm for long enough it will probably melt all the ice - that's a sea rise of 75 metres. What we have found is that the target we have all been aiming for is a disaster; a guaranteed disaster," he told the Guardian newspaper in the UK earlier this year.

"Business-as-usual yields an incredible climate forcing, far exceeding any natural forcings toward warming in the known paleoclimate record," Hansen told IRIN.

Most of the recent data on polar ice shows it is melting faster than previously reported, acknowledged Atiq Rahman, a leading Bangladeshi scientist and author of IPCC reports. "The accelerated melting of the Himalayan glaciers is also well documented."

Even a metre is too much

Rahman, who heads the Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies (BCAS), told IRIN: "In Bangladesh even a one-metre sea level rise will create serious disruption in both the socioeconomic and food-security sectors."

Photo: UNICEF Bangladesh
Too much water
M. Monirul Qader Mirza, another leading author of IPCC reports, cited several studies in an article he wrote on Hansen's paper in the New Nation, a Bangladeshi daily newspaper, showing that even a one-metre rise in the sea level could be catastrophic for Bangladesh.

"IPCC's Third Assessment Report, published in 2001, projected 11 percent inundation for a 45cm sea level rise. However, the inundated area may be doubled for a one-metre rise".

Citing a study by the Institute for Water Modelling, based in Dhaka, capital of Bangladesh, Mirza wrote: "With a 32cm sea level rise, 84 percent of the Sundarbans [the world's largest mangrove swamp and a UNESCO Heritage Site] would be deeply inundated by 2050 and the entire Sundarbans [which act as a coastal bioshield against cyclones] may be lost with about a one-metre rise."

New land the answer?

Another key element in the debate has been the new land being created as a result of rising silt levels in river mouths. After studying 32 years of satellite images, Bangladeshi scientists found the landmass was increasing by 20 sq km annually as a result of silt being deposited in the Bay of Bengal by big Himalayan rivers like the Ganges and the Brahmaputra, said Mohammed Abu Syed, a research fellow at the BCAS.

Hansen acknowledged that on the time scale of a few decades "it is quite possible that rising sea level will be matched or exceeded by rising silt levels, but when we hit the point of ice sheet disintegration there is no way to keep up with rising sea level. Of course, my hope is that we will not follow business-as-usual, in which case Bangladesh could indeed be in good shape."

Rahman of the BCAS agreed that at the point of ice sheet disintegration "no amount of sedimentation will compensate Bangladesh coastal areas from rapid and drastic inundation."

Rapid cuts in emissions were urgent, he stressed. "The key question is, 'how rapidly and how deeply can we have the GHG (greenhouse gas) emission reduction?'."

On a more optimistic note, Hansen suggested that an initial target of 350ppm CO2 may be achievable if coal use were phased out by 2030, except where
CO2 was captured by adopting agricultural and forestry practices that sequestered carbon.

BANGLADESH: Implement RTI to ensure good governance

Roundtable speakers discuss breaking down the "culture of secrecy" to implement the RTI ordinance
The Daily Star
Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Speakers at a discussion yesterday called for proper implementation of the Right to Information (RTI) Ordinance, saying that it will take the country a step forward towards ensuring good governance.

Welcoming the gazette publication of the ordinance on October 20, they highlighted the challenges and strategies to implement it.
Mass-line Media Centre (MMC) in association with Unesco organised the discussion at IDB auditorium in the city to mark the International Right to Know Day 2008.

The obstacles to implementing the ordinance are lack of political will, culture of secrecy and lack of awareness among the people about RTI, said Kamrul Hassan Manju, executive director of MMC, in his welcome speech.
He also stressed the need to form an information commission, which must play an active role. At the same time, some rules such as Official Secrecy Act might hinder the implementation of RTI, he added.

Talking about strategies for dealing with the challenges, the speakers stressed the need to develop an initial action plan, form a task force to carry out the plan and break down the culture of secrecy.

Encouraging openness through intensive training of public officials and authorities concerned, initiation and promotion of strong partnerships and engagement of civil society and monitoring the implementation process through annual reporting to parliament, recommendations for reforms and periodic parliamentary review of the law are equally important, they added.
Speaking as the chief guest, Women and Children Affairs Adviser Rasheda K Choudhury said the political government, local government, civil society and human rights groups have a role to play in implementing the RTI and it should not be misused in the name of disclosure of information.

She also hoped that the next elected government would place the ordinance in parliament for making it a law, as the ordinance is the outcome of longstanding movement by various rights organisations.

Terming the ordinance a great achievement, former adviser to the caretaker government Mahbubul Alam said the people now have got the right to ask the government for any information.

"As information is power, the people will now be empowered," he said.
Canadian High Commissioner Robert McDougall, Danish Ambassador Einer H Jensen and Unesco Representative Malama Meleisea also spoke at the first session of the daylong meeting.

Availability of information will stop abuse or misuse of power. It will strengthen the democratic system. The RTI law should be implemented not only in the government organisations but also in all private and non-government organisations, they said.

Acid attacks leave scar on Bangladesh

By Leah Oatway

 

Dhaka // While most parents dream of the day their children start university or get married, all Itty Rani wants is to see her son smile.

 

When he was just 49 days old, Ms Rani’s baby, Durjoy, was force-fed acid, allegedly by another family member, in a dispute over inheritance.

 

While Ms Rani cooked dinner, oblivious to what was happening in the next room, the liquid burnt through Durjoy’s tiny mouth and throat, destroying his gums, tongue, chin, lips and windpipe.

 

“I was in the kitchen and I heard him shouting from the other room,” she said. “When I heard him shout I ran to the room. I found him screaming and shouting. His face and neck and clothes were all black and his eyes were rolling.

 

“I was also screaming. I am his mother. I was so scared. I didn’t know what to do.”

 

Since the incident, Durjoy – whose name means “invincible” – has been unable to smile, eat or speak, and now breathes through a hole in his neck.

 

His home remains a glass partitioned room in a small hospital in the suburbs of Dhaka that belongs to the Acid Survivors Foundation (ASF), a non-governmental organisation formed in 1999 by a group of Bangladeshi medical practitioners in response to the rapidly growing number of acid attacks in the country.

 

Durjoy is fed three times daily by a tube that runs from his nose to his stomach and large dark scars cover his lower face, back, legs and arms – the result of numerous skin grafts.

 

He is about to fly to Hong Kong with his parents for pioneering stem cell surgery to rebuild his mouth and lower lip, his second trip to the hospital in two years.

 

Dr Andrew Burd, the chief of the division of plastic, reconstructive and aesthetic surgery at the Prince of Wales Hospital in Hong Kong, said the little boy is lucky to be alive.

 

“Durjoy had acid poured into his mouth and, mercifully in some respects, it appears it caused him to choke and spit the acid out,” he said. “If he had swallowed the acid he would be dead.

 

“But the effect is that the floor of his mouth, including his tongue, is just a sheet of scar tissue. Indeed, the surface of the hard palate and the soft palate are also covered in scars and when he came to us initially there was just a tiny hole connecting his mouth to his throat.”

 

Durjoy’s lower lip was also destroyed in the attack, and his lower teeth were pulled down when his mouth melted so that they stick out horizontally rather than standing vertically.

 

All of the skin on his neck was burnt and a sheet of scar tissue connects his lower jaw to his chest, both of which have now been corrected.

 

But while some of the external scar problems have been addressed, and the back of the mouth lining has been opened up with skin grafts, Dr Burd said the inside of Durjoy’s mouth is still a cause for concern.

 

“A team of researchers are now looking at isolating cells and tissues from human umbilical cords and adult fatty tissue to reline the mouth and restore the mouth so that it functions normally,” he said.

 

“There will be some taste buds still present but one of our research goals is to see if we can stimulate the growth of more from the stem cells we are developing.”

 

As far as eating goes, Dr Burd said Durjoy has a mechanical problem caused by scarring that prevents him being able to swallow.

 

“His tongue is not functioning so he cannot make the ball of solid food and propel it to the back of his mouth to swallow as would happen normally,” he said. “He can only manage sips of water.”

 

Dr Burd is hopeful that one day it may be possible for Durjoy to swallow by himself, but the boy faces a long road filled with complex mouth work as well as further reconstruction of his jaw and lower lip.

 

The ASF was set up nine years ago by a group of Bangladeshi doctors in a bid to fight for the rights of victims of attacks.

 

While the ASF said the rate of incidents has decreased since 2003, one attack is still reported every two days. The foundation’s annual report for 2006 recorded 180 attacks that injured 221 individuals – 150 women, 71 men, 16 young girls and 14 young boys.

 

The main motivation for attacks continues to be disputes over land and property, as was allegedly the case for young Durjoy, though other motives include a refusal or rejection of love and marriage and marital or family disputes.

 

Ms Rani believes her sister-in-law, who had two daughters, committed the act with the intent to kill the little boy as Hindu custom allows only males to inherit family property. But the case she filed almost a year ago is still in the Bangladeshi legal system and no one has been prosecuted.

 

In 2002, the Acid Control Act was passed to regulate the import, export, use and waste management of acid and the Acid Crime Control Act considers acid violence a non-bailable offence that carries the death penalty.

 

But ASF staff said controlling who buys acid, a tool used by most carpenters and jewellery makers in the country, is all but impossible for authorities.

 

The ASF’s legal unit – which includes lawyers from various associations and legal aid organisations – is helping such victims as Durjoy and his parents to fight their attacker through the legal system.

 

More than 443 people in 253 acid-related cases have been sentenced by the courts, some of whom received life or lengthy prison terms. Fifty people were sentenced to death, but as yet no one has been executed.

 

Two years after the attack, Durjoy’s scars may have faded but the memory for Ms Rani of that day has not.

 

Dr Burd hopes the reconstruction of Durjoy’s lower lip next year will allow Ms Rani the chance to see her son smile for the first time.

 

The National

http://www.thenational.ae/article/20081029/FOREIGN/673744086/1103/SPORT

loatway@thenational.ae

Grameenphone delays IPO due to market turmoil

OSLO, Oct 29 (Reuters) - Bangladesh's top cellphone carrier Grameenphone, 62 percent owned by Norwegian telecoms group Telenor (TEL.OL: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), said on Wednesday that it would delay its initial public offering (IPO) due to financial market turmoil.

 

"Grameenphone's IPO process remains on track albeit delayed due to the ongoing global financial crisis and other challenges," Grameenphone said in a statement.

 

Grameenphone is planning to make a final submission of an application to the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) by the fourth quarter 2008, it said.

 

"The shareholders remain committed to listing Grameenphone shares in the local capital market," Chief Executive Anders Jensen said in a statement.

 

"We are now preparing to submit a fresh application, carefully following the global financial development with a focus on avoiding volatility in the local capital market given the size of the Grameenphone IPO."

 

Grameenphone extended in late September the period for a private placement offering before the planned IPO.

 

Earlier in October, a person familiar with the matter said Grameenphone would cut the size of its planned share sale by more than half, to $125 million from $300 million, amid the sharp downturn in global markets. (Reporting by Aasa Christine Stoltz; Editing by Quentin Bryar)

Ancient artwork relic discovered in Bangladesh

Dhaka - Archaeologists in Bangladesh have discovered an ancient engraved stone, believed to be of the Gupta era nearly 2,000 years ago, in northern part of the country, a media report said on Saturday.

The sandstone, found on the bank of a pond near Sura Masjid at Ghoraghat sub-district of Dinajpur, has been put on display at an archaeological museum in Bogra, the Daily Start newspaper reported quoting museum officials. Sponsored Links: Buying a Digital Camera? Accessories & Information

The stonework depicts three figures dancing and holding ancient musical instruments. It escaped earlier excavations in Sura Masjid, one of the important archaeological sites of the country.

'The figures seem not be of human beings - the artwork represents dancing figures of some animals,' archaeologist Nahid Sultana, who excavated a number of archaeological sites, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa Saturday. He said the artwork might have been brought to the Sura Masjid site from elsewhere.

Officials of the archaeological department recovered the sandstone a month ago from Sura Masjid, which was built using stones between 1450 and 1500 AD, during the reign of Sultan Alauddin Hussain Shah, said archaeologist Badrul Alam.

He said such stones were used in Hindu or Buddhist constructions in the area during the Gupta period between 300 AD and 500 AD, an era that saw the emergence of the classical art forms and development of various aspects of Indian culture and civilization.

Bangladesh's global warning

Bangladesh's global warning
Matt Wade, Bhola, Bangladesh
October 11, 2008 - 12:00AM

NASIR Ahmed is terrified of the full moon. In the dead of night three weeks ago it brought with it an unprecedented tidal surge to his coastal village on the island of Bhola in southern Bangladesh. Nasir's home was swallowed up, leaving him, his wife Nasima, and their six children destitute.

"I was quite well set up before, but my situation has become desperate," says the fisherman, who earns less than $1 a day. "We are now going without food."

Nasir's family has taken refuge in an abandoned hut on a crumbling embankment a few metres from the new shoreline. When the next full moon comes, the tide could devour that shelter as well.

Bhola's unique geography has put it at climate change ground zero.

It is a flat sliver of land 15 kilometres wide and 150 kilometres long flanked by huge rivers to the east and west and the Bay of Bengal to the south.

Increased temperatures in the Himalayas means a torrent of additional melt-water from glaciers is gushing down the great rivers of India - the Ganges and the Brahmaputra - into the Bangladesh delta country, causing savage erosion. At the same time the nation's coastal areas are being gradually inundated by the rising sea. Bhola is also cyclone-prone and likely to experience more frequent and extreme storms as sea temperatures rise due to global warming.

But Bhola is also home to nearly 2 million people, ensuring that the experience of Nasir Ahmed and his family will be replicated over and over again as global warming reshapes Bangladesh.

Here climate change is not a problem of the future. According to the locals it is already taking a toll. The massive tide that washed away Nasir Ahmed's home last month inundated more of Bhola than anyone can remember. Canals four kilometres inland broke their banks, flooding homes and businesses that had never before been affected by tidal flows.

"I have no doubt the tides are getting higher," says Nozrul Islam, a village leader in Khash Mahal on Bhola.

Even under optimistic global warming scenarios much of the densely populated island is likely to be under water by the middle of the century. Dhaka-based environment researcher Mohammad Shamsuddoha says that if the current rate of erosion continues Bhola could be completely lost within 40 years.

Masud Akbar, the co-ordinator of a disaster management program for an organisation called HEED (Health, Education and Economic Development), has seen hundreds of villagers on Bhola lose their homes in the past few months.

"I am really frightened about the future of this island," he says.

"Bhola is under threat from every side. People see it, they feel it."

Last month Humayun Kabir watched his 100-year-old ancestral home get washed away by the enormous Meghna River, which spans more than 25 kilometres where it empties into the Bay of Bengal at Bhola. Boats now sail where Humayun's home stood.

"It was so sudden," he says.

"My family had been living in that house for generations. I don't really know why this is happening but I know things here are changing quickly."

Humayun, a 52-year-old teacher, has shifted his family to a new house more than one kilometre inland.

"I feel sad and disappointed, but what can I do?"

But many poorer families, without the resources to rebuild houses and businesses on safer ground, have nowhere to go.

Fatema Begum was forced to put her two small children and few possessions in the ceiling of her house to stop them washing away when last month's tidal surges hit. Like many landless people in the village of Murat Sabulla, Fatema has elevated her family's only bed on bricks in the desperate hope that the next big tide will not be so bad.

"I have no land of my own, so I have no option but to stay here," she says. "I am very worried about my children."

It is not just homes that are being destroyed in Bangladesh. In Murat Sabulla a sturdy concrete madrassa, or religious school, is being demolished because of constant inundation. At nearby Hashan Nagar a two-storey concrete building that housed the Mirja Kalu School, established in 1928, was abandoned last month because the river is lapping at the classroom doors.

"The river just kept getting higher," says the caretaker. "It became impossible to run the school."

Now fishermen tether their boats on what was the playground and repair their nets on the verandah. It is basic infrastructure this poor community cannot afford to lose. The damage inflicted on Bhola recently is a bellwether of what climate change will do to Bangladesh.

More than 155 million Bangladeshis are crammed into a land mass about two-thirds the size of Victoria, making it the world's most densely populated country. It is also one of the world's poorest and most low-lying coastal countries. It is a nation at the mercy of global warming.

"The climate change predictions for Bangladesh are particularly grim and people are already feeling it," says World Vision chief economist Dr Brett Parris.

The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicts rising sea levels will devour 17% of Bangladesh by 2050, displacing at least 20 million people. Already an average of 11 Bangladeshis are losing their homes to rising waters every hour, according to an estimate by the Dhaka-based Coastal Watch.

But some experts believe the toll will be considerably higher. In a report released by Greenpeace in March, Dr Chella Rajan, professor of humanities and social sciences at the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, warned that South Asia must brace for a huge wave of migration resulting from sea-level rise, floods, cyclones and drought associated with shrinking water supplies and monsoon variability. He estimated that 75 million Bangladeshis and 50 million Indians could be displaced by the end of this century if the worst sea-level rise scenarios are realised.

"We cannot wait for the inevitable to happen and hope to adapt to it," he says.

Bangladesh has made significant progress over the past 30 years - life expectancy has risen from 50 to 64 years, population growth has halved and the adult literacy rate has doubled. But the World Bank warns that climate change could undo decades of community development work in nations such as Bangladesh.

Parris says "climate poverty" in Bangladesh is already on the rise.

"We're seeing a convergence of climate change and poverty that is reducing the ability of poor communities to grow crops, access water and house and feed themselves," he says.

The growing threat posed by global warming was underscored last year when Bangladesh was hammered by a series of devastating weather events. There were two unusually severe floods followed immediately by cyclone Sidr, a category-5 storm that left more than 3300 dead and about 2 million homeless.

But despite growing risks, people are not fleeing the Bangladesh coast.

Professor AQM Mahbub, from Dhaka University's department of geography and environment, says population density in the most vulnerable coastal regions is rising, not falling. People are moving into areas of climate risk, not away from them, because there are more job opportunities in coastal areas. "At this moment the migration flow in Bangladesh is from north to south, not from south to north," he says. "Poor and landless people are flocking to the south in search of a livelihood."

Eventually this trend will shift and millions of Bangladeshis will have to move. But where will they go?

Millions are expected to head for India, Bangladesh's giant but already heavily and densely populated neighbour.

Chella Rajan says India's big inland cities such as Delhi, Bangalore and Hyderabad are in danger of being swamped by climate change refugees.

"It is likely that large cities ... which already have serious resource constraints of their own, by the middle of the century will have to be prepared to accommodate enormous numbers of migrants from the coasts," he says.

Rich countries such as Australia are likely to come under pressure to accept more migrants as climate change devastates poor countries including Bangladesh. But this will still only cater to a relatively wealthy and well-educated minority.

Mahbub believes the vast majority of Bangladeshis have nowhere else to go.

"My guess is that the largest number of people will just stay put and adapt over here in Bangladesh," he says.

Despite the gloomy forecasts, many Bangladeshis are surprisingly optimistic about their ability to adjust to the effects of climate change. This confidence can be found among experts and coastal villagers alike.

Nozrul Islam, a farmer who lives in a flood-prone area of Bhola, has an attitude typical of this bravado.

"I have been fighting with the river and the cyclones my whole life and we will keep fighting them," he says.

"We cannot leave so we have no alternative but to adapt - it's what I have been doing since 1970."

While the world talks about reducing greenhouse emissions, Bangladeshis such as Nozrul are doing what they can to stave off the worst effects of global warming.

With the help of development agency HEED, he has established a disaster management committee in his village. It is one of about 70 similar village-based groups formed in Bhola to help communities prepare for disasters and adapt to the effects of climate change. HEED's disaster management work in Bhola is funded by Melbourne-based aid agency TEAR Australia.

"Even simple measures like introducing a basic warning system, repairing pathways or planting trees can reduce the vulnerability of these communities," says community worker Masud Akbar.

Last month a disaster management committee in the coastal village of Murat Sabulla gathered 32 young women aged between 16 and 25 to learn about caring for women and children during and after a natural disaster.

Sathie Begum, an 18-year-old seminar participant, said it was the first time she had ever heard about climate change.

"I have learned a lot about what is happening here and I'm now more confident about what to do if there is a disaster."

Masud Akbar says most people in Bhola have little or no knowledge of climate change and its consequences.

"We need to be working on a much bigger scale to make people aware of what is happening here," he says.

The Bangladesh Government says millions of its citizens are "already suffering" from climate change but senior officials speak calmly of making the country "resilient" to the effects of global warming.

"Whatever we have gained from recent development is under threat because of climate change," says Muhammad Syeedul Haque, from the climate change cell in Bangladesh's Department of Environment. "We now have to make our development climate change-protected."

Research has been commissioned on a range of climate change challenges including the increased health risks to Bangladeshis and new farming techniques. New saline-resistant rice varieties are already being demonstrated.

Haque dismisses the doomsday climate change scenarios on Bangladesh as "totally baseless".

Mahbub is even more upbeat about Bangladesh's potential to cope with climate change.

"We have got a wonderful flood adjustment culture here in Bangladesh," he says.

"What people will need is strong, safe housing that can withstand extreme weather events and to be shown new ways to earn a livelihood."

But to do that Bangladesh will need a lot of help.

Last month the British Government donated more than $US130 million ($A188 million) to a fund to help Bangladesh adapt to climate change. Denmark and the Netherlands, as well as the World Bank, are also expected to contribute soon. Australian Government sources say a climate change assistance package for Bangladesh is in the pipeline.

There is a strong case for wealthy countries to do much more. Global warming has been exacerbated by the behaviour of the world's wealthiest nations and very poor Bangladeshis will pay a high price for it.

Matt Wade is South Asia correspondent.

This story was found at: http://www.theage.com.au/world/bangladeshs-global-warning-20081010-4yb8.html

One Virtual PC Per Child

Abdul-Muyeed Chowdhury and Nicholas Negroponte, the founder of the One Laptop Per Child foundation, have something in common: Both want to bring affordable computing to the developing world. But ask Chowdhury, the director of an organization working to build subsidized cyber cafes across Bangladesh, if his project will use Negroponte's XO, the so-called "hundred-dollar laptop," and he laughs out loud.

"If we could afford to buy one computer per child, we wouldn't be a poor country," he says. "In a country where people make $1 or $2 a day, it doesn't make economic sense for everyone to have their own computer. It makes sense to share them."

Chowdhury's Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC) is one of a number of developing world organizations opting against One Laptop Per Child's XO or Intel's competing Classmate PC and taking a different approach to crossing the digital divide between high-tech haves and have-nots. BRAC has outfitted its so-called "telecenters," public computer centers across the country, with $70 devices created by the Redwood City-based nComputing.

NComputing's book-sized devices serve as terminals that divvy up the resources of a computer, allowing as many as 30 people to simultaneously use a single PC, each on separate monitors, without interfering with each others' activities. That sharing system, Chowdhury says, isn't just better for a public cyber café setup--it's also a cheaper, more durable and more energy efficient way to bring computing to his corner of the developing world.

On Monday, nComputing announced a deal to sell 50,000 of its virtual PC terminals to the state of Andhra Pradesh in India, where they'll be distributed among 5,000 schools and used by 1.8 million children. About a year ago, the Macedonian Ministry of Education signed a similar deal to deploy 180,000 nComputing devices in an attempt to give every Macedonian student access to a PC.

Those countries' NGOs and education officials, says nComputing chief executive Stephen Dukker, are catching on to the same technology trend that's sweeping through the IT industry in the U.S.: virtualization. Virtualization allows physical computing resources to be split into separate software "images" that work side by side. The server virtualization technology, for instance, popularized by VMware and offered by companies like Citrix and Microsoft, allows a single server to function as up to 10 "virtual" servers, each running different applications.

NComputing offers a patented version of "desktop virtualization" that partitions the resources of a single PC so that different independent terminals can use them. That means a virtualized nComputing terminal runs far more efficiently than a one-user PC--a device Dukker describes as bloated with unnecessary processing power and memory.

"For years we've been saying that PCs are supercomputers," he says. "But when [people] see how much real-world work PCs are really capable of doing, jaws drop."

In the last 20 months, nComputing has sold 1 million terminals. Seventy percent of those units are deployed in developing countries. That's less than the more than 1.7 million Classmate PCs that Gartner Research estimates Intel has sold to the developing world in the last two years, but more than One Laptop Per Child, which has sold about 700,000 of its machines.

NComputing's Dukker says that's evidence of his device's superior practicality in the developing world. One Laptop Per Child's Nicholas Negroponte, on the other hand, calls putting those numbers side-by-side equivalent to comparing "sneakers and tennis courts" or "bicycles and buses."

The XO, he argues, is designed to be possessed by children beyond the classroom, while nComputing is offering a shared, public model of affordable computing. "If you want to bring a touch of the computer experience, IT savvy, if you will, to each student in a school, the cheapest way is to build computer labs and the least expensive way to do that is nComputing," Negroponte wrote in an e-mail to Forbes.com. "If, by contrast, you want every child to have their own pencil, inside or outside school, that means a laptop, especially if you expect a book and learning experience, inside and outside school."

But nComputing's Dukker says his company's devices pose a direct substitute for the XO. "At the conceptual level, they're right, the two devices are apple and oranges," Dukker says. "The problem is that OLPC poses a solution for the same problem in the same market. It's also considerably more expensive, and they're deceptive about the cost."

Though the XO sells for around $188, Dukker calculates that the transportation, maintenance and energy costs for the machine mean the total price over its lifespan is more than $400. With those hidden expenses--including the cost of the PC that the nComputing devices partition--incorporated into nComputing's price tag, Dukker claims that his units' total cost amounts to a mere $200 each.

Gartner analyst Annette Jump isn't so sure. "With nComputing, I doubt that the cost will be that low," she says. "They still need to maintain the devices, purchase the backend computer and license the software."

Negroponte also takes issue with nComputing's numbers, pointing out that in the developing world the cost of connectivity often dwarfs all other costs after the initial purchase. And he adds that any comparison on price is spurious, given the different aims of the two organizations. "If you take any cost and multiple people share it, the cost will be lower," Negroponte says. "So I never know what [nComputing is] really after when they quote numbers."

BRAC's Chowdhury echoes Negroponte's point that it's not a matter of comparing the devices' costs so much as how they're used--nComputing's orientation toward public, shared computers versus Negroponte's ownership model. And that's why his organization has chosen nComputing, he adds. In a country as poor as Bangladesh, Chowdhury argues there simply aren't enough PCs to go around.

"It's a question of sharing," he says. "In rural areas, having your own laptop computer, or having your own desktop computer, either is a luxury. People there don't even have a desk."

Bangladesh Sept remittances rise 35.88 pct on yr

DHAKA, Oct 12 (Reuters) - Bangladesh received $802.58 million in remittances from expatriate workers in September, up 35.88 percent from a year earlier, the central bank said on Sunday, despite a slowing global economy.

In July-September, the first quarter of the 2008/09 financial year, remittances from more than 5 million Bangladeshis working abroad totalled $2.345 billion, almost 44 percent higher than the same period of 2007/08.

The central bank expects the inflow of remittances to touch an annual $10 billion over the next year.

Remittances hit a record $7.91 billion in the 2007/08 financial year that ended in June, nearly a third higher than the previous fiscal year.

But economists fear the global financial crisis could cut down remittances, a key source of foreign exchange for the impoverished south Asian country.

"The inflow of remittances would be affected if instability in financial markets persists for long," Mustafa K. Mujeri, chief economist at the central bank, told Reuters.

The bulk of remittances in July-September came from Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, the United States, the United Kingdom, Kuwait, Italy, Singapore and Malaysia, the central bank said.

Strong remittances also helped offset the impact of the trade shortfall and kept the overall balance of payments in surplus.

Remittances from Bangladeshis are the country's second-biggest source of foreign income after ready-made garments, which earned nearly $11 billion in the 2007/08 fiscal year. ($1 = 68.50 taka)

Bangladesh to Boost Exports to US, Eu With Scanners at Chittagong

DHAKA, Oct 13 Asia Pulse - Bangladesh's exports will enter a new era at the end of this year as the National Board of Revenue (NBR) expects to complete the installation of its container scanners at the Chittagong seaport within the next two months.

"Yes, we expect to complete the installation of the four container scanners by end of this year," NBR chairman Muhammad Abdul Mazid told UNB over telephone on Thursday night.

He said that they had already given the work order to supplier company SGS Bangladesh.

The recently started automation system at the Chittagong port will witness a big advancement with the installation of the NBR container scanners.

The EU countries made it mandatory to install container scanners at the ports by 2009 while the US deadline is 2010 for importing any consignment from another country.

The government financed the much talked installation of container scanners at Chittagong seaport after the Asian Development Bank (ADB) refused to provide funds on the ground of a re-tendering plan by the government.

The ADB was supposed to fund the scheme, but later changed its mind following a government move to call fresh tender by scrapping the deal with a previous bid-winner for the job.

The scheme, which was initiated in 2003 by the BNP-led alliance government, envisages installation of scanner machines, computerisation of operational system and construction of a flyover to ease traffic congestion in the port area.

As the lowest bidder, pre-shipment inspection company Cotecna Inspection SA had won the contract of the installation job. But the government cancelled the previous tender due to the cancellation of its agreement with Cotecna on charges of irregularities.

On March 19 this year, the government cancelled the agreement with Cotecna as PSI agent after the NBR found out that the company was involved with irregularities that hindered revenue collection.

The NBR said the certificate of Cotecna was cancelled for violation of the Pre-Shipment Inspection Rules 2002.

After scrapping the previous tender, the NBR wanted to re-tender the installation of four container-scanners and thus sought permission from the ADB. But the ADB refused to do so.

Later, the NBR prepared a summary of the project and sent it to the higher authorities, suggesting that the project could be implemented from domestic resources.

Another PSI company SGS Bangladesh won the re-tender of the container scanner installation as the lowest bidder.

The NBR had moved years ago to upgrade the container-handling facilities in the countrys prime seaport that handles more than 80 per cent of the imports and exports.

The BNP-led government initiated the scheme in 2003 after security agencies seized a huge quantity of arms and ammunition from the port area.