Salma's birthday, garment workers uprising, and more...

Hi family and friends,

I haven't written an update for a while, so I thought I'd drop you all a note to let you know how we're doing. We had a lot of fun celebrating Salma's first birthday yesterday! We had all of Azfar's immediate family over to our apartment, including his sister Rosy and aunt Rekha Khala who both came down from Rajshahi for the occasion. We had so much fun eating a bunch of food on Salma's behalf (she mostly got to watch us eat, although she helped herself to some noodles and her very own piece of chocolate cake). We sang songs and danced and generally had a blast! Azfar's sister-in-law Urmi helped me get all dressed up in a sari for the occasion, which was lots of fun. I can't believe Salma is already a year old. She is learning Bengali like crazy. At this point she has learned "baba" (dad) really well. Everything is baba: Azfar, me, the chair, the window . . . it's so amazing watching her language develop. Soon she will be translating for me, I know.

I've also been spending quite a bit of time the past few weeks getting to know a feminist scholar who has come here for a month on a Fulbright scholarship--Colette Morrow. She is the former president of the National Women's Studies Association. She is teaching Women's Studies at Purdue University. She and Azfar gave a joint lecture a few days ago on Chicano/a literature. And she has invited me to help co-edit a special issue of the National Women's Studies Association Journal on South Asian Feminisms. I'm very excited about this opportunity.

We went to the Bangladesh National Museum last weekend. The exhibit on the liberation war was just overwhelming. Never before have I seen a museum exhibit that displays the ACTUAL blood-stained clothes of the freedom fighters. There is also a huge display of the blood-stained carpet from the teacher's lounge of Dhaka University, on which some of the revolutionary teachers were killed. They also have on display the skulls of about 12 freedom fighters. And the photos on display are heart-rending: mass-grave pits, etc.

Also, as I've already mentioned to some of you, we have been witnessing in the past few months a spontaneous garment-worker's uprising in Bangladesh. Azfar's parents' house happens to be located right next to some of the largest garment factories in Dhaka, and just a few weeks ago as we were coming home we found ourselves in the middle of a huge workers' rally: hundreds of garment workers (mostly women) had left their sewing machines and were flooding the street literally right outside of his parents' house. We were actually quite nervous as we were moving through the crowd that violence might erupt (we would have been stuck right in the middle of it), but it was a peaceful demonstration. Police had encircled the whole demonstration, though, with their guns and big sticks, waiting for a reason to turn on the crowd. So, needless to say, I have been getting some first-hand lessons about workers' discontent in Bangladesh.

To change the subject, overall, we're doing well. Only 3 weeks left in the summer session and then we'll have a month-long break. We want to go to Cox's Bazaar during the break (the longest unbroken sea beach in the world). More soon. Azfar and Salma send their love!

Love,

Missy