By the numbers

It is the eve on my last full day here in Bangladesh. While initially I felt somewhat lost in this (for me) strange land, in retrospect time seems to have flown by: I cannot believe all the things we saw/did/experienced over the brief expanse of 30 days…

102 women surveyed: 32% of whom are or will be in need of family planning

2 trips to Dhaka, 1 to Sylhet and 2 random villages in between… for a total of 24 hours + in a car (obviously not at one time, though it often felt like it)

30+ CNG rides with ~7 rickshaw rides (it takes more skill than you think)

Consumption of 7.5 lbs of rice (minimum) and no less than 900 roti… as well as countless bags potato crackers (i.e. spicy potato chips) and innumerable packages of “energy” biscuits

77 stairs up to our Dhaka hotel room (my only exercise all month)

10 hospital/clinic tours (with dozens of interesting cases)

~20 – the number of Bangla words I know (PITIFUL)

1 very LARGE bat living near our Narsingdi home (which I could have done without seeing)

1 stomach that remains “confused”
AND

0 roadsides used as a toilet (my personal success story)

Now for the 19 hours+ separating me from JFK .