Transcript People of Sylhet

People of Sylhet
February 2009
In Sylhet
I spent most of February 2009 in Sylhet, with the NGO
Friends in Village Development Bangladesh, which I had
helped set up in 1980.
People around the FIVDB campus became used to my
walks, twice a day, in the surrounding villages and forests.
There is no common theme except the dignity of the poor. I
arranged the photos in pairs, to ease orientation in realms
that may be foreign to many, and still are to me.
Aldo Benini
Dhaka, 11 March 2009
Lives under supervision
A madrasa lesson,
a glimpse over the wall
Adolescent girls
One holding on to her childhood,
the other surveying the prospects
before her
Struggling with the elements
Melting the tar,
fishing out the pond
Struggling with the burden
Bookshelves appear out of
nowhere in the forest
Walking to the construction site
Boss and worker
The village entrepreneur who got the
bid for the tarmac road
The woman who sweeps the road
before the pouring
Farm and factory
He bid on the price of cauliflower
The ceramic tile packers
Getting us food and drink
Tea for the poor man
Justice in peanuts
Disappearing in the forest
At dusk, returning to invisible
Begging the trees for sustenance
The beauty of this woman, above her
destitution and desolation, stunned me.
If only I were gifted enough to tell the stories
that she and the others carry about them.
Thank you for paying attention.