February 7, 2010

I called Rakib this morning. He asked what the scouts were doing. I told him I have been working with the Venture Scouts planning the Teton / Yellowstone Trek. I told him that we would most likely have three patrols with three or four Scouts and two to three leaders in each one. I let him know we would be booking airfare and applying for backcountry hiking permits soon. I told him I would email a photo of the Grand Tetons to him and told him that they were part of the Rocky Mountains. I told Rakib it was Super Bowl Sunday in the US. He did not know what it was.
I asked him how school was this week. He said he had already taken 3 exams and passed all of them. He also informed me that he had paid his tuition for February and had to inform me that it was more than the 4000 taka he told me it would be. He was unaware that there is tax on college tuition. The tax was 180 taka so, going forward he will need 4180 taka per month for tuition. He had enough extra taka to pay the tax. He also informed be that he had purchased the bones with the money we sent him last week. He bought a good set of used bones for 15,000 taka. Rakib said he still had to purchase notepads for his practical work and that he was hoping to get to the market tomorrow. The students use these notepads for their practical work, they make diagrams and sketches which are part of their grade.
Rakib said he had to inform me of good news. He said, “my teacher informed me a room is now available in the student hostel on campus, and it should be available in a day or two”. Rakib said the student hostel has about 30 rooms and there will be 3 students per room. His present hostel has 4-6 students per room. Rakib said having only 3 students in the room should be quieter and make studying easier. Rakib said he was required to pay the rent for his old hostel for one full month in advance and no refund for unused days is available. The new hostel on campus also requires that the full month be paid in advance and there is no credit available for the days he did not live there this month. He asked me what he should do. I told him he should take the room before someone else does. We discussed how much money he would need to move in. He said the monthly hostel fee is 3,000 taka. Food cost is 3,500 taka. About 3,200 taka pays for food & drinking water which the teacher or the students will purchase. It also includes the cost of a daily English language newspaper per room. The students read the newspaper to learn about world events and also to improve the English reading skills. 300 taka per month pays for the “cooker”. I now realize how hard English can be. If someone who drives is a driver, than why should not someone who cooks be a cooker? Rakib said that this building was newly acquired by the college and it had no cooking equipment. The students will be required to donate 1,000 taka each to buy pots and serving utensils. He will also need to buy his own plate, glass, fork and spoon, this will cost 200 taka. Another item needed is a pot for the bathroom for “spilling water”. Each room has its own bathroom. Most bathrooms in Bangladesh have squat toilets that do not flush. You pour water down them after you use them. The pot for the bathroom can also be sued to wash cloths. The three students in the room will share the cost of the bathroom pot and will cost each about 500 taka. The hostel provides a bed but, the students must supply their own mattress and bedding, this will cost about 1,600 taka. He also needs a trunk and padlock for his cloths and personal items, cost 2,000 taka. Other furnishings needed are a bookshelf 2,000 taka, a table (desk) 1,000 taka, and a chair. Rakib said he could buy a normal chair for 500 taka and a good chair
(padded seat) costs 1,200 taka. He said he would be sitting in the chair for many hours while studying and he asked me which chair he should buy. I told him to buy the good chair; he will be sitting in it for five years.
I asked Rakib if he knew who his roommates would be. He said he did and that he was friends with both of them. Rakib said he had made friends with almost all of the first year med. students. He went on to tell me that the medical college had accepted 31 foreign students. 28 were from the country of Nepal. Since the Scouts in Troop 1776 spend a lot of time in the mountains they may know of this country. It contains the highest mountain in the world. Rakib said the students from Nepal are very friendly and many of them are good friends. The Nepali students told Rakib, Nepal is a poor country and much of their income comes from visitors. The other foreign students were from India. Rakib said one of the students from India had become a very good friend. Rakib said after his first professional exam in one and a half years they will get a 30 day break from school. The friend from India invited Rakib to visit India and meet the student’s family during the break. Rakib said he would very much like to go.
I told Rakib I would send him about 19,000 Taka ($280 U.S.) so he could pay for the hostel rent and all of the items he need to furnish it. This included an extra 1,000 taka to pay for a few additional items he may need. He said he needed a few more note pads so he could do rough sketches before he did the final sketch in the practical notepad which gets graded.
Rakib ended the call by asking me to thank all of the Scouts again for their help. He is very grateful and said he will try his level best to do well in medical college. He wished all Gods grace and good health of body and mind. I returned the good wishes on behalf of the scouts.