Foundations

Welcome to the blog that will follow us around Bangladesh, faithfully reporting on the adventures, challenges and awkward moments that surely will come when the third world hosts three college students with big hearts, little common sense and a thirst for adventure.

Chris, Trey and I will be interning with Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, a bank that tenders small loans to poor Bangladeshi villagers who wish to start a business. This banking for the poor is called microfinance and is very much in vogue now when it comes to poverty alleviation. We will spend four weeks in Dhaka, Bangladesh's over-populated, traffic-jammed capital with frequent jaunts out to the hinterlands of Bangladesh, visiting villages and interacting with the women that Grameen works with. Handicapped by skin color, lack of language, and little understanding of culture, our trip should give us much to write about.

The close proximity to Thailand and Cambodia leaves us little choice but to travel to these exotic and remote locations for two weeks. It is during this time that we will visit ancient temples, ride on the backs of elephants, traverse the countryside by train and bus, and make foreign friends, all the while hoping to maintain our gastrointestinal integrity.

At this point, if we are still alive, Chris and Trey will head home, traveling long distances to once again enjoy warm showers, smooth highways, and safely-cooked hamburgers. I, however, will head to Calcutta where I will occupy and entertain myself by volunteering for the remaining four weeks of the summer at the Sisters of Charity mission in Calcutta, the organization that Mother Teresa started. My adventures there will be cataloged in my other blog vision127.blogspot.com. I will also augment this blog with posts there, so feel free to check it out.

We leave May 2nd, a date that is approaching with surprising speed. Be on the lookout around that then for another post. Until then, be blessed.

Banks