Page 3 of 3

Continued from Page II

It was my intention to drive from one end of the UK to the other to supervise the loading of our cargo and meet with the Captain of the 'Bangla Kokholi' and her crew. This was not possible, as I had other pressing commitments to attend to. I left for France to study a Masters Degree at the International Space University on the 10th August 2000. After a few weeks, I found that the 'Bangla Kokholi' was redirected by the Head Office of the Bangladesh Shipping Corporation (based in Chittagong) and did not arrive in the UK. Frustrated with the lack of progress, I contemplated asking BRAC if they would be willing to pay for the shipping, just to get the machines to Bangladesh as soon as possible. Prior to doing so, I contacted both Shaikh Habibuddin and Imran Isphani once again and asked for their assistance. I decided to pursue as many avenues at the same time in the hope that one of them would come to fruition. I wrote to Captain Kamal Mahmood, Technical Flight Director for Bangladesh Biman, and asked if it were possible to ship these machines by Biman, if necessary, one at a time. Mahmud Farooque expressed his concern about this mode of transportation and (quite rightly stated that) the whole point of this exercise was to test out the logistics of shipment for an organisation who wished to procure machines in far greater quantity then we were shipping. However, at that point in time, my patience had run dry and I replied to Mahmud by saying that I didn't particularly care if the computers were carted from Zia International Airport to BRAC's Information Technology Institute by Rickshaw; so long as they got there!

It was the 24th December 2000 and I found myself on a Bangladesh Biman Flight from London to Dhaka. By total co-incidence, the Captain of the Flight was no other then Captain Kamal Mahmood. I asked to be introduced to him and we spent a significant part of the 12 hour flight talking about the ECPI and how Biman could possibly assist. Captain Mahmood mentioned that he would do his best to assist. On my arrival in Dhaka, I tried contacting Maj. Gen. Afzal and finally got in touch after a week. This was basically due to the Eid-ul-Fitr, Christmas Holiday and Weekend. I finally met ECPI's recipient and apologised in person for the lack of progress. Gen. Afzal was sympathetic and just asked that I send the machines as speedily as possible. I refrained from asking him if BRAC would be willing to pay for shipping because of my recent conversation with Captain Kamal Mahmood and the fact that we could possibly ship the machines totally free of charge. The first attempt to ship the computers via Capt. Mahmood ended in failure after I heard that a member of his family fell ill and he was unable to collect the first two machines.

Just prior to this incident, I received an e-mail from Captain Moin Uddin Ahmed who mentioned that due to his busy schedule, he was not able to maintain communication and asked me whether or not I still required the services of the BSC. I replied by saying 'no' simply because of the arrangement I had with Bangladesh Biman. A week or so later, I received an e-mail from Beth Stelling who told me that the were no longer working with Free Computers for Education and that all the remaining machines that belonged to them would be shipped to RecommIT, another smaller, computer recycling company in Salisbury which is located in the heart of England. I replied to Beth and asked if she could hold the computers for at least one week until I found out if BRAC would be willing to pay for the shipment. Meanwhile, the scramble was on to try and find temporary storage for the computers. I tried to contact Shaikh Habibuddin via his Mobile and had no luck. Anyhow, he spoke with Imran and informed me that his workplace was too small to store any machines. The Biman Cargo Office at Heathrow was also too small. Out of options, I called Captain Moin Uddin Ahmed (Bangladesh Shipping Corporation) and asked him to get back to me with a charge for shipping via Sea Freight. On Monday, I called Beth Stelling to ask her to hold on to the machines until the end of the week and she informed me that the haulier had come unannounced in the morning and took all the machines that belonged to FCFE. Within a couple of days, Capt. Moin Uddin replied to me with an estimated quote. At the same time, Imran Isphani kindly introduced me to Muied Chowdhury, the new Executive Director of BRAC and informed him of the problems I have had pertaining to the shipment of computers. I forwarded the e-mail I received from Capt. Moin to General Afzal and received a response within a couple of days where he stated that if the computers worked out to be around £32 (Sterling), then it would suffice. The computers were subsequently collected on the 28th February and set sail from Southampton, UK for Chittagong, Bangladesh. Estimated time of arrival was the 28th March 2000.

Again, I found myself in Bangladesh on the 18th February but this time I was due to stay for a period of 3 months working on a Pre-Feasibility Study for Bangladesh's plans to procure its first indigenous telecommunications satellite. I took advantage of this opportunity to contact General Afzal who asked me where his paperwork was. After an enquiry to Captain Moin Uddin, he mentioned that the pertinent paperwork would be sent to Dhaka soon. Captain Moin Uddin gave the paperwork to Captain Kamal Mahmood of Biman who left it with Tanvir Chowdhury of Global Amitech. I called Gen. Afzal who subsequently arranged to have some of his people go and collect the paperwork from Global Amitech.

The computers are due to arrive in Dhaka shortly after which they will be re-distributed to the Rural Districts of Bangladesh where Rural Children will be taught the values of Information Technology.

Figure 7 : We hope to display a photograph of Fazle Hasan Abed, BRAC's Founding Executive Director, Muied Chowdhury, BRAC's Executive Director & Maj. Gen. (Retd.) Muhammed Sahool Afzal, BRAC's Director of Information Tecnology standing next to the 15 Pentium Computers that were donated by EB2000, as soon as the computers arrive in Dhaka. Please revisit the page regularly to check on our progress.

Epilogue

Our doubts are traitors.  

And lose the good we oft might win.  

By fearing to attempt. (SHAKESPEARE)

During the course of this project, I was warned to be cautious when dealing with Resident Bangladeshis. I was told that I would end up chasing my own tail and that I would be better off on serving my own interest by looking after my own well being. However my thoughts were, if we as Expatriates were to simply shy away at any sign of difficulty, then those at grass roots level in the Rural Districts of Bangladesh will surely remain in poverty for all eternity. I in no way wish to imply that there aren't decent people here in Bangladesh who are concerned about the level of poverty and substandard education in the Rural Districts. There are many concerned individuals. But every good heart counts and those abroad to a certain extent are in a better position to assist with areas that the Resident Bangladeshis have no scope to assist. Anyhow, I did chase my tail to a certain extent and felt that there were some individuals I came across to be extremely aloof and a complete waste of time. However, to my delight, this project brought in touch with some very decent people from both at home (Bangladesh) and abroad. It was a sincere pleasure to have made their acquaintence.

As for the technical aspects of the project, from the very beginning of the ECPI, I noticed that some of the organisations in Bangladesh were overly concerned about computers with high specifications. It seems to adhere to a society that has conformed to one that is totally engulfed with aesthetics. In my mind, there is no justification in procuring a top-of-the-range Pentium simply to teach a student to type, learn Microsoft Office or use the Internet. Older machines may require regular maintenance but in this case, components for these machines are readily available and at an affordable price. Our research shows that both Developed and Developing countries make use of old computers. In which case, what makes Bangladesh so special?

The fact that the two communities have such differing points of view is a major deterrent to sustainable contribution by the Expatriates to the process of development in Bangladesh. These problems must be addressed and it is the hope that EB2000's projects such as the ECPI will contribute to removing some of that misapprehension.