We left the house at 11:00 to get to the Dristidan Eye Hospital in Bagerhat by 12:00. We were invited for a celebration and lunch along with Doyle’s from Gopalgonj . Doyle’s had vehicle trouble so arrived 45 min later. But we started by gathering in their comfortable conference room… conference table with rolling office chairs all the way around, a nice sitting area with low leather couch and chairs, glass topped coffee table, a bathroom off one corner and a tiny kitchenette off the other corner with a glass sliding door. The little kitchenette was perfect for a servant to prepare cha. 1st fruit plates were brought out with carefully arranged guava, apple slices, mandarin segments, and grapes. Then tea was served in clear glass cup n saucers.
Next was a tour of the eye hospital where exams and surgeries are done, the wards upstairs where the patients stay over night, the little room where surgery instruments are sterilized, and the kitchen, Very 3rd world! with the typical mud ovens except these are on a built up to Bangali counter height where they cook huge pots of rice, etc. This is the hospital that our CSI program does eye camps with once a month at different locations and funds the eye care of patients that need it.
At the exam room, they asked if anybody needed an exam. Jaira and Doyle’s 8 yr. Amaryllis got exams. Jaira came away with an updated prescription for choshma (glasses). We plan to take care of that on our next trip into Dhaka.
Next we were escorted to their little assembly room for the program celebrating 23 years. I believe it was a grandson 12 years old sang a song then it was time for the 2 CSI representatives to give little speeches as we have been working with them from their beginning in 2003. 1st Doyle shared with them in Bangla and then Lonnie started off with “ Ami dukkito. Bangla jani na” (I am sorry. I don’t know Bangla) receiving a round of applause from the crowd 🙃 and then gave his speech in English. Picture taking throughout the ceremony… CSI representatives receiving flower bouquets (red roses, pink gladiolus, and baby’s breath). Then the founder was supposed to cut the cake. But alas, he is an old man with dementia and the crowd got quite the laughs over him🫣 I really felt sorry for him and felt like he was past the point of being the center of attention at a formal ceremony. At one point, he pulls his Muslim prayer hat off so his by sitter can scratch his head for him, and then he needs to spit and tissues are hastily grabbed for but no, he thinks he needs to spit into something so a bucket is brought! Finally with joint effort a cake knife is put into his hand and is guided to perform the ceremonial task and then it was a bit of a fiasco getting him to eat the pc of cake🤦🏼♀️ his 8 yr old granddaughter was up there having the giggles over the whole scenario!
Then it was time for lunch. They took our crew up to a private room where they served us a Feast!!
Bottle of water and coke by each place
Rice
A little fried minced beef patty 😋 just bigger than an Oreo
Round slabs of cooked eggplant
Dim (egg) curry, chicken curry, mutton curry, fish and beef
Came around with a fresh plate, Lime slices/carrot slices with hot peppers
For dessert : meeshti balls and little cups of doy (yogurt)
Now it was time for the rest of the crowd to eat.. they went out back to a “party tent” while we went to the front of the hospital, just inside the main gate and found some sunshine to sit in. The teachers and Maddie played badminton and all the littles had a high o’ time playing in a sand pile and running around the building.
Next on the agenda was a Pita contest in the party tent out back. There were 4 different groups competing. One group all had matching bright yellow sharis☺️ Pitas are a special winter food here. They come in all shapes n sizes.. We asked Kobid and Shomid one time how many different kinds there are. They didn’t know, maybe thousands! Anyway, I gave Jaira the task of counting how many different kinds were here this afternoon. She came up with 75-77!! Some of the shapes for this event were: rose, pumpkin, leaf, eye (since this was taking place at the Eye Hospital)
More Badminton and carrom yet before parting ways
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