Back from Bangladesh

Talk about time travel and culture shock! I feel like I am dealing with both as I try to re-enter the reality of my work life in this 21st century realm while part of me is still in a 3rd world village.
We hear and talk so much about a global community. What is it? Who is part of it? How do we exist and operate in it? Whose ideas get shared and listened to? Who benefits? Who doesn't? Is there real communication and understanding or just more information and and greater chances for exploitation? These are the questions swirling inside my head as I think about how we use technology on a global scale. How do we use it to help our children do more than compete in a global economy? How do we use it to engage them in discovering the world and its people in a way that creates understanding and empathy and leads to solving real world problems?
Two women's community savings groups were on my itinerary. What they are learning about savings and using their limited resources for their own good and the good of the community is powerful stuff. I also visited a village where arsenic in the water has lead to systemic diseases in members of the community. Luckily, a deep wells project has provided this community with clean water. The arsenic poisoning is abating, their health is improving and their children are going to be healthier from the start. But these villages constitute a minute proportion of the 145 million people in Bangladesh. Already poor water is now more severely contaminated as a result of the cyclone which recently devastated the southern portion of the country.
I keep thinking about the children in the two schools I visited. How would access to technology improve their education? How could it change their lives? How could it impact the development of their country?
Leap: back to Minneapolis, this project and restarting my participation. I set up a Google web page and am working on my rss feeds. I continue to work on learning more about web pages as Jean and I need to get our media web page up to date. I am looking forward to seeing everyone again and enjoy the excitement you are all sharing through your blogs.
I will try my hand at posting some pictures when I get them organized.

I'm Feeling Behind Already

You know how it feels when you are supposed to be in the lead and keep falling farther and farther behind? That's my feeling right now as I try to keep all the projects in the air and get ready to fly back in time to a country where in the interior villages bricks are still made by hand, the re-bars in buildings are bamboo rather than steel, and where there is electricity but no Internet access at this point. I am looking forward to observing a slower pace and connecting with people whose monthly income is less than we pay for a large latte. I am sure I will return changed in many ways. I will miss seeing you in November and I know I will fall behind in my technological skills while I deepen my understanding of another culture. I look forward to sharing some of my experiences when I return. Perhaps I will have the chance to blog during my London lay overs on both legs of my journey. I hope you all enjoy your upcoming holidays and time with family and friends. I will see you all in January.