Saying goodbye...

Shopping at last...

Hadi and Kahn drew the short straws and took the two of us and Chris shopping. Our first stop was to a cooperative where all the goods- crafts, jewelry and clothes were made by women in Bangladesh. We shopped till they dropped... Actually we didn't buy that much but we did have fun.

Our formal goodbyes started in Rubel's office of Design Bangladesh for a planning meeting. First, we were each presented with a beautiful bouquet of flowers. We then shared our dreams and desire for the future partnership between You Are Never Alone Foundation and Design Bangladesh for You Are Never Alone Bangladesh. It was exciting to hear Rubel talk about continuing the work he had started when he was 16 years old. We talked about how we would connect our students in America with the students in Bangladesh utilizing Skype, email and videos. We had seen how effective the video we had made with the students in Manchester was when we showed it to the students here.

Another hope is to join with Design Bangladesh in providing food for the homeless children living in the park as well as the children in the "slum school" and the orphanages. Rubel's desire to play our Caring Coinsforward along with the response from the people of Bangladesh has reaffirmed our belief in the power of the Caring Coins as a reminder of a caring connection. We shall continue to brain storm together further via email. We are very excited about sharing all of this with our You Are Never Alone Foundation Board.

There is much we can do. One thing we know for sure is that this is just the beginning for You Are Never Alone Bangladesh.

Would you beleive that Betsy, Chris and I are now TV personalities in Bangladesh? Rubel brought us to a TV set to film a TV interview that will be on Bangladesh TV about our You Are Never ALone Bangladesh Program. This set is also a movie set. It is a beautiful apartment, quite different from my set on GNAT-TV in Manchester, Vermont. Rubel is a natural as a TV host which is no surpeise considering all of the events he does for Design Bangladesh. Our entourage also appeared on the show. It was a very professional production with a professional crew. And it was directed by our own Royal, the director of the upcoming movie "My friend...My enemy".

The filming took a little longer than had been anticipated so time was of the essence to get to the airport, especially since we had left our luggage at the hotel. And we still had to pack our goodies from shopping. Remember what we have said about traffic in Dhaka. Now it was rush hour. Although we love Bangladesh, we did not want to miss our plane. We stopped at the hotel, picked up the luggage. Hadi made a dash to the store for some of their wonderful tea for Chris and Betsy. Then off we went to the airport with everyone except Kader in the van. He would meet us at the airport.

Surprise, surprise, traffic jams all over. Once again our wonderful driver was a real pro, threading us in and out of the cars, buses, rickshaws, and people. Although it was sketchy at times, he did get us there...

Then the goodbyes...we didn't have much time but we did all get hugs...We shall dearly miss our new friends...we are like family now...

The first leg of our trip was without incident. We did almost make it through the intensive security in Dubai when I was pulled aside and ordered to empty my carry on bag. Bob, you almost lost your souvenir. The ore on the little replica of an old Bangladesh fishing boat was mistaken for a sharp weapon. After much discussion, I was not detained and allowed thru with your gift. I don't know what is is about me, but I have never taken an airplane trip when I haven't been pulled over.

Betsy and I are writing this blog as we sit on the plane with 13 1/2 more hours to New Youk then, 5 hrs north to Manchester, Vermont. Then to Poultney to bring Chris back to Green Mountain College. And we will all be home...

We will certainly be glad to be home but we will miss each other.

As we said before, this is just the beginning...
More to follow...
Salley, Betsy and Chris