Pre-requisite - Must be Willing to Travel Long Distances, and Appear Foolish at Times....

This is rather a late story which occurred on my first visit ot Bangladesh in October 2005. But, I have been reminded of it of late on this visit.

On my first entry into the Save the Children offices in Dhaka city here in Bangladesh, I was ushered up to the 4th floor where my office work would be conducted. Of course, all Bangladeshis' are exceedingly polite and I was continually greeted and made well at home. As is my custom, I read as much as I could prior to my departure from North America so that it might be a richer experience and also so that I might be a more informed guest and effective worker.

Since this was my first visit to a Muslim nation, I knew that it would be best to attempt to lay aside most of my pre-conceptions. But here i was standing in the foyer of the office on the 4th floor, and before me was a tray of hard liquor bottles at various levels of consumption. I was startled, but decided to avert my gaze of the vodka and gin bottles noting they were all expensive brands. Later, as i puzzled over this noticing that most cubicles in the office had a neatly place gin bottle at the work place. I then spied a westerner, who happened to be an American. Ah ha, i would get the real scoop on this conflict that I was wrestling with; open alcohol consumption in a Muslim nation, and in a non-profit no less. I mean I never had seen such brazen display at out home office in Westport, CT!



Well, the American set me straight. He told me that" it was a happy place!". At trips' end two weeks later, I was invited over ot attend a dinner at the then Country Office Directors house, Ned Olney. After the meal,and knowing that I was flying out tomorrow morning, I had to ask this apparent paradox of values. Ned almost fell out of his chair laughing. He explained that empty alcohol bottles were salvaged and carefully washed and filled with drinking water. This was to avoid the contamination of the water by the plasticizers used in the manufacture of plastic water containers. No, they were not filled with alcoholic beverages. I explained to Ned that I had been stunned these past two weeks over how well his entire staff could remain so effective at their tasks while consuming obvious amounts of strong spirits (I watched the bottle levels change...). I told him that I was most impressed by the tolerance level to alcohol as well.

It is good to ask questions quickly....