Yesterday was the most memorable day of my trip so far. We had an incredible time exploring the city with a friend of a friend who lives here (a "franger": a friend who is also a stranger), but the day was punctuated by a visit to a shelter for "street children" in the Mirpur neighborhood of Dhaka.
We went to the shelter because Raafi and Hilary's friend Mehedi works there and decided it was where he wanted to have his birthday party. We were told to get there at six but due to lighter than expected traffic, arrived at 5:30. Mehedi wasn't there yet, so we sat in the courtyard and hung out with the kids.
The shelter hosts two groups of children. For most of the children there, it functions as a day care. They're dropped off in the morning and picked up in the evening. For some, however, the shelter is a full-time home. It was opened in 2001 by a French charity and has since grown substantially. It's currently in a five story building, the only parts of which I saw were the front courtyard and the roof (where the party was).
While we waited for Mehedi, we kicked a tennis ball around with the kids. Keep-away, it seems, is a universal game. With just a few passes and a couple hand motions, we got the game started. It definitely made me miss soccer a ton.
Mehedi was running pretty late (we joked that Bangladeshi time is an hour late), so our game of soccer was eventually followed by both groups exchanging break dancing moves, singing songs, and playing a ton of thumb war. For a very conservative culture, there is a lot of affectionate touching between men, although I'm not sure a couple of the kids pulling at my leg hair counts as "affectionate touching."
When Mehedi arrived, we went up to the roof for the party. After a brief chorus of "Happy Birthday," the kids did a bunch of dances to Bangladeshi and Indian music. Mehedi is clearly very loved by this community. It was incredibly heart warming to see.
Mehedi's face got smeared with cake frosting, and once he had cleaned it off it got smeared with glitter. At one point, a girl came up to me and said, "Can I tell you something," and as soon as I turned to face her, another girl hit me in the face with a fistful of glitter. I'm still trying to get it off...
Ultimately, it turned into a full on dance party, with everyone following Mehedi's choreography to a song I was told is called "Punji." Of course, the kids had way more energy than I did and I faded pretty fast. I feel really lucky to have gotten to be part of that community for the night and to have celebrated Mehedi's birthday with them.
When things wrapped up, we went and grabbed burgers with Mehedi back in the ex-pat neighborhood. Shockingly, it was one of the best burgers I've ever had. If you don't believe me, you should come check it out yourself!
I want to donate to the charity that set up the shelter, but because it is a French charity any donations are not tax deductible. We'll see what I decide to do, but this definitely throws the idea that "There's no such thing as a selfless deed" right in my face...