Bangladesh…A life changing experience
When I stepped off the plane in Dhaka, Bangladesh it was like stepping into a whole new world. The airport was super crowded and everyone was staring at us. After 20 hours on planes and a six hour layover in Dubai, I wasn’t thinking about anything but sleep. Once we got out of the airport I was even more amazed. It was humid and hazy and I could hear horns honking loudly in the distance. Once we got on the bus and started driving through the city I truly realized that this would probably be one of the coolest things I ever do.
At first when I agreed to go on this trip, I had no idea what to expect. I was extremely nervous but excited at the same time. I realized what an amazing opportunity it was and that It would be stupid not to go. It was so much more incredible than I could have imagined. The 13 kids who had the opportunity to travel to Bangladesh have been involved with United Kidz Sports Development and have done community service in the past.
We were all invited by Doc to go on this trip for our leadership qualities. The trip was funded by The U.S. Department of State and we had a representative traveling with us. We traveled to Bangladesh in order to learn about adaptive sports and gender equality and equity. We also went to build relationships and learn about the culture of Bangladesh.
The whole trip was planned out for us by the Embassy of the United States of America, in Dhaka. We traveled to several schools of all sorts including Universities, Private schools, and schools in more impoverished areas. We went to museums and historical monuments to learn about the history and culture of Bangladesh. We also took an overnight trip to Sreemangal which was a seven hour bus ride from Dhaka.
My favorite day out of the whole trip was a day when we visited a school in one of the more impoverished areas in Bangladesh. There were kids of all ages at this school. We went and sat with little kids who were probably only five or six years old. We watched them draw and they sang songs for us. We then went to another classroom and met kids who were a little older, probably around 11 and 12.
We talked with them and realized we had common interests like our love for soccer. We also were able to speak with kids who were our age. I talked to two very nice boys about everything from sports to movies. It was incredible to see how similar we are and get to know them all. Every kid at that school seemed so happy and grateful to be there.
On the same day we also visited North South University. We got a tour of the college and then met with a bunch of students to play volleyball. We played several games and were able to all get to know each other. I laughed harder than I ever have that day and truly felt like I made a lot of new friends. After that visit we were brought to Jamuna Future Park which is the largest shopping mall in South Asia.
It was eight stories of shops and activities and we were able to walk around and purchase whatever we wanted. There were tons of traditional clothing shops and all sorts of other things. After shopping we went back to the hotel and a group of us went to the pool to hang out. This was just one day out of the ten day trip and everyday was just as fun and busy.
Out of everything, I think the best part of the trip was all the remarkable people I met.
By Payton Gordon-Reznar
