Rickshaws, a great cause and a little thing called lychee

The last two days have been busy. Yesterday I started to get a better handle on my assignments for the time I am here. After a week of attempting to take all of BRAC enterprises in, I finally have enough information to get going (although I still have a lot to learn). Along with many small assignments throughout the course of my stay, my overall purpose will be to establish a solid social media platform for BRAC enterprises to build upon. Although previous to my arrival there was a bar-bones structure, composed of a few sparsely populated Facebook pages, there was still much and more to be desired. With this knowledge I headed out to chase down a rickshaw and head to work.

BRAC Enterprises currently has three Facebook pages, one for each BRAC Solar, BRAC Kanon and BRAC Chicken (yes they are links, you should go "Like" our pages).The Solar division is responsible for some great products that help power thousands of homes in rural Bangladesh, and is quickly moving into more metropolitan areas. BRAC Chicken produces and distributes healthy affordable chicken all across Bangladesh, offering home delivery as well (D-Town Menus? (IU inside joke "B-Town" menus delivery)). Today I got to see what BRAC Kanon was all about, and I was impressed.

BRAC Kanon

BRAC Kanon is a multi-enterprise initiative aimed at providing the means for discerning Bangladeshi citizens to go green. BRAC Nursery is the enterprise most on display, because the property is absolutely packed with all sorts of different plants. BRAC has come up with dozens of ways to increase and speed up fruit yield, as well as developing several hybrid plant varieties for decoration. One such tree produced a curious fruit called the lychee. 

Lychee

The edible part of the fruit is a glossy, opaque white flesh underneath a tough rind. The taste is fragrant, almost like eating a sweet perfume. Immediately after biting into it, I identified the taste as being a component to some flavored liquor I consumed at one point or another at IU. I rather enjoyed the flavor, but the texture was not exactly to my liking. I would put it somewhere between a mandarin orange and a grape. Squishy, a bit slimy and all to soft for my enjoyment. Nonetheless I ate a bout a half dozen of them, until I could peel no more.

A BRAC Nursery Product

BRAC Sericulture is also on display, offering four different varieties of silks in hundreds of patters. Sericulure is composed of several parts including the cultivation of silkworms and mulberries to feed them, as well as weaving and and spinning instruction. BRAC silk products are some of the finest I have seen in Bangladesh.

Housed in another of the repurposed shipping containers next door (how green of them) is BRAC Recycled Handmade Paper. 

Recycled Paper Business Card Holder

These well-crafted gift bags and cards are beautifully designed, and environmentally sound. Each card and bag is hand made, giving it a personal touch that really stands out. Wrapping paper is also available, made with recycled paper and silk. 

BRAC Kanon Grounds

The entire facility is powered by BRAC Solar panels attached to the roof (see above). The aesthetic quality, as well as the sustainability of the facility and its parent enterprises, is truly inspiring. 

Feeling reinvigorated from the trip, Mr. Mehedi and I headed back to the office to get to work (negotiating with at least 3 rickshaw drivers before agreeing on a price, Mehedi bhai is much better at talking them down). In the last two days, I have done a decent amount of work, simply organizing the materials needed to flesh-out our media strategy. Today I was able to being seeing results as our Facebook "Likes" steadily grew (do I need to give another hint, see links above). 

After a long day today, I left BRAC to scan the streets for a solid ride home. In the last few days I have honed my skill at picking a good rickshaw. There is a science to it, no an art really. The younger divers tend to speak more English, a good quality when you have know idea where you're going. The older drivers tend to take the best routes. This creates a need to be careful in choosing. Depending on the time of day you could find yourself on a 45 min ride with a young English speaking driver, sitting in traffic. While with an older driver, you may get to your destination using side streets and short cuts in a matter of minutes, but that destination may not be the one you had in mind.

The rickshaws are the life-blood of this growing city. The ebb and flow of the streets can almost make it seem like there are traffic signals (there aren't). Bicycle bells chime at all hours, signaling one thing or another. There is an interesting language of sorts composed of hand signals, bells and Bengali words I don't understand. Together they somehow form a working set of rules to the road. One thing to note if you are ever in Bangladesh: pedestrians do NOT have the right of way. Until tomorrow, good night my friends.