August 27, 2009

I spoke with Rakib on Sunday Aug. 23. I asked how he and his family were doing. He informed me that he spoke with his family and they are all well. His Father still has not received any help from the government to rebuild his rice business. He has a small inventory and does little business, barely enough to pay the family’s expenses. Rakib informed me that he felt ill for the last week, but he is feeling a bit better now. Rakib thanked us for the additional money we sent him to help pay for transportation and additional internet access. Rakib stated that he did not feel well enough to travel to the internet café to collect the material his teachers posted online. He gave a friend some money and had him print the material and bring it back to him so he could review it at his hostel. Even though he was not feeling well he continued to study. Rakib was very proud to tell me that he did very well on this weeks review exam. He made the merit list. This is the top 10% of students who took the exam. He places #187 out of over 3000 students. I was able to confirm this on the coaching school website.
Rakib will be traveling to the city of Khulna this from Aug. 29 -31. When he takes the entrance exam for medical college he has to take it in the district he lives in. A district is similar to a state in the US. Prior to taking the exam he must submit an exam application. He will be doing that this weekend. This week we sent Rakib money to pay for his coaching class expense for the month of September. We also included enough money to pay for his travel, hotel, food and the cost of the admit exam application.