Everyone's office is someone else's field

Another busy week in Dhaka has come and gone. I can hardly believe it has only been three weeks since I got here. I was happy to find out that the new summer interns would be starting at the beginning of the week. Prior to this I only worked with one other intern. There are somewhere around fifteen of us now. I also found out that I have a slightly different set-up than the other interns. Along with our group intern assignments I have other assignments in the Enterprises department. I know that one of the others is in a similar situation but I don't know about the rest. Everyone in the group is very nice and very smart. I hope that we will get a chance to work on some projects together before they leave. Another difference in our programs is that they will be staying for 8 weeks, so I will be here a bit longer.

During the middle of the week we went out into the field to see some of the Brac enterprises in action. It seems like everyone's office is in someone else's field these days. We headed about an hour and a half outside of Dhaka to a district called Gazipur. It was nice to get out of the city. It was so quiet without thousands of cars honking all day. The first stop was to witness a community empowerment meeting. At these meetings, the women of a town get together to discuss current issues, health concerns and general practices of the village. This meeting focused on clean habits for food preparation.

Community Empowerment group giving their opening pledge

A quick Q&A told us that the group really enjoys meeting and the community has improved since they started getting together two years ago. Although I've seen Brac products and advertisements all over the city, this was my first experience up close and personal with Brac in the field. 

Our next stop was at a Brac seed facility. This factory complex is responsible for a large portion of the nursery products as well as some of the livestock feed production. Seeds are brought to the facility then planted to grow and be sold or shipped to other Brac locations. Despite the factory-like qualities of the facility, there was still beauty to be found all around the site. 

Seeds being spread to dry

After the seed mill, we were on the road heading to grab lunch at a a Brac hotel. I was very impressed by the location. We were allowed access to a few of the rooms to rest and wash up before lunch. The hotel grounds were beautiful. Green grass and fountains permeated the surrounding area. Lunch was a buffet of Bangladeshi specialties as well as a few West Bengal dishes.

View from the rooms

After lunch we headed out to the Brac dairy facility. Unfortunately we were unable to take photos of the facility. Don't worry though it was about what my imagination figured a dairy factory to look like. At the end of the tour we were given a sample of some of the chocolate milk. I've never been a huge fan of milk because, for me to enjoy it, it has to be freezing cold. I was pretty surprised by how good the Brac milk was. That sounds a bit odd, but it's kinda one of those things you had to be there for. 

We headed back into the city around 4 pm. The traffic had gotten bad but we still managed to get back before 6. It was a long, hot day, but I really enjoyed getting to see first had some of the Brac facilities. I hope later in the summer we will get to go on other trips. This upcoming week looks to be a busy one, so until next time my friends. 

p.s. I know the blog says a look into the food and culture of Bangladesh. Don't worry. I have been saving up a few of my favorites for an exclusive food post.