September 9, 2009

Rakib traveled to Khulna this week to collect and submit an admission test form for a medical college in his home district (state). Test application forms must be submitted in advance of the test. Rakib stayed overnight and returned to Dhaka the following day to resume his medical college admission test coaching class. Rakib took the bus to Khulna. He wanted to travel by train, but he found out that you have to make reservations a week in advance. He said the bus cost 350 taka ($5.22 US) He said the bus cost more than the bus to his home town of Rayenda even though it is half the distance. The bus to Khulna is a high Quality bus. The bus to Rayenda, “not so good”. Rakib will return to Khulna to take the Medical college entrance exam on Oct. 6.
One of our scouts asked if a bike would be useful to Rakib. I asked him and he said that a bike is expensive, but if he were admitted to medical school he felt it would be useful. We talked a bit about the cost of things in Bangladesh. He told me that a bike cost 10,000 taka ($149 US), a laptop computer 1,150,000 taka ($1700 US, a average quality digital camera 28,000 taka ($417 US), 79,000 taka ($1179 US) for a good camera with the ability to take movie clips. Electronics are very expensive in Bangladesh. Rakib said that he would like to collect a camera so he can share his experiences with the scouts in the US. He visits the Troop 1776 website when he goes to the internet café and enjoys reading about the activities and seeing the photos. He also enjoys reading the Rakib updates.
Rakib informed me that he had emailed his secondary and higher secondary certificates of completion to me and asked me to share them with the scouts. He was very proud of the combined 10.0 GPA the highest score obtainable. His secondary education GPA was 4.94 and the higher secondary education GPA was 5.0. Rakib ended the call with “God be with you and your scouts”