Bangladesh—where’s that?

Bangladesh - where's that? That was the question that very often encountered when we talked to friends or acquaintances about our first mission.

I remember at that time reading an article about the challenges the immigrants from Bangladesh face in the United States.http://www.bu.edu/today/2011/probing-the-bangladeshi-diaspora/


The article discussed Bangladeshi immigrants and how many are over qualified for the low-level jobs they take in the US, in hopes that their children will have a better live. However, after the 9/11 attacks, most of these Bangladeshi immigrants are met with anti-terrorist sentiments and face adverse health and economic conditions due to their jobs and relocation into major cities. The article makes the statement:

"Bangladesh is kind of invisible in the U.S.,” says Kibria, who, like many of her fellow Bangladeshis, is sometimes mistaken for Hispanic. Or, in the eyes of many Westerners, Bangladeshis inhabit a limbo between East Indians and Pakistanis."

As an immigrant myself, I have nothing but respect and admiration for people like them. For the ones I had the privilege to meet, U.S. is their only country, and they have an undivided loyalty towards their adopted motherland. I feel that, like myself, their patriotism for the United States is probably more mature than that of many born Americans just because they made the conscious decision to become a citizen of the country rather than getting born into it.

One is the loneliest number

The time has come to think the unthinkable: the era of American dominance in international affairs may soon be coming to an end.

Asia's rise over the past few decades is more than a story of rapid economic growth. It is the story of a region undergoing a renaissance in which people's minds are refreshed. Asia's movement toward resuming its former central role in the global economy it seems virtually unstoppable. There is no doubt that an Asian century is on the horizon, and that the world as we know it will change dramatically.

Even entertaining the possibility of the US moving to "number two" spot is thinking the unthinkable and speaking the unspeakable. When the world's center of gravity shifts to Asia, Americans will be completely unprepared. Many of them remain unaware of how the rest of the world has progressed and need to be told a simple truth. With 3% of the world's population, the US can no longer dominate the rest of the world, because Asians, with 60% of the world's population, are no longer under performing. But the belief that America is the only country that knows good from bad continues to shape many Americans' world view.

This drastic transformation under way in Asia will vault it from economic power to global leadership. The world is about to undergo one of the most dramatic power shifts in human history. In order to be prepared for the transformation, Americans must abandon old ideas and assumptions, and liberate their thinking. That is the challenge facing American public today.

I will miss you so much, my great (adoptive) country, USA

I am sitting in bed trying to get some rest and not having much success. Next to me, Cristina has somehow managed to forget about our morning departure to Bangladesh and is sound asleep.

I am begin hit by mixed emotions. 17 years ago, I left my home, wife, friends, family and country and went to an unknown land. It was December 1995 when I landed in New York and made my way to Michigan. The only thing I had going for me was the fact that I was so young.

I always loved America. I loved it even as a child when I had no idea how it looked like. I loved ever since I would hunker down inside of the house with my father listening to the VOA radio station. It was jammed and we could only understand every other word sometime, but yet this was our only window to freedom. I fell in love with the country even more when it welcomed me with open arms, gave me a chance to build a new life. My children were born here, I got my first job here, bought my first car and my first home. I got my second education here and made tons of great friends. I know that it sounds like such a cliché, but this is still the land of opportunities. It is not perfect, but it is still the best place in the world!

I know I will be back and that Bangladesh is going to be only temporary, and yet I still feel sad to leave this country behind.

I will miss you, great country of America!!!!!