Dhaka, Bangladesh - Tim Sproule, plastic surgeon:
It is 6:30 am, and I am making my final approach down to Dhaka, Bangladesh. This is my 5th trip to this country. The flight has been a long one: I am traveling 10 time zones ahead of my home town of Toronto. A couple of hours ago we flew over the Middle East: Iraq, Iran, Israel, Palestine. From up in the clouds, you would never know that there was so much strife and unhappiness down there. Everything looks pretty much the same from 30,000 feet. But now that we are getting close to ground again, I see that Bangladesh is basically like a huge marsh--water everywhere. It's Monsoon season, and it has been raining a lot. Last week Chittagong, one of the major cities, apparently went 2/3 under water during a big thunderstorm. And in a country that has so little resources--to combat such disasters!
I am here to help Shafquat Khundkar, an Interplast Outreach Director, by teaching some hand surgery skills. I was supposed to come in November last year with a full highly skilled team, but we had to cancel the trip at the last minute because of political unrest. I feel lucky to be able to make some smaller contribution to make up for our November failure. Things have improved on the political front, but Bangladesh is never without big problems. Like the weather...
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