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Student Voices
A Different World
By Kelly Horton '06HS
One month after completing her dietetic internship at Simmons, Kelly Horton '06HS headed for Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh. Horton accepted a short-term consultancy with Concern Worldwide Bangladesh a non-governmental organization whose mission is “to help people living in absolute poverty achieve major improvements in their lives that last and spread without ongoing support from Concern Worldwide.” Horton spent four weeks consulting for Concern with its Urban Nutrition and Household Food Security Programme, which is aimed at improving nutrition and health outcomes in urban slums in three of Bangladesh’s largest countries – Dhaka, Khulna and Chittagong. Bangladesh is one of the world’s poorest cities. Many children leave school due to economic need and many girls are never sent to school because of economic hardship or family choice. A total of 50% of men can read; 31% of women. The infant mortality rate is 64 per 1,000 births. The following is an excerpt from her travel journal.
The Bangladesh countryside is gorgeous; it is unfortunate that it’s tarnished by such destitute levels of poverty. After traveling through the serene countryside, we arrived in Khulna city so I could visit the slum areas. It is the beginning of summer in Bangladesh and Khulna is in the southwestern part of the country, not too far from the equator, so it’s very hot and humid– about 80 degrees Ferinheight and 80 % humidity.
When we left the guesthouse, I began to feel the sweat sprout from nearly everywhere on my body. I discovered through the course of the day why Bangladeshi women wear salawars (a long tunic or dress, over light pants, and a long scarf). It is because the tunic and scarf hide the sweat that seeps through your clothes!
We took a rickshaw to the slum that was in a nearby part of the city. When we arrived at one small alley, we left the rickshaw and began walking towards the slum. The smells slowly hit my senses – at first I thought “what is that?” then I realized it was open sewage. As we entered – with railroad tracks on either side – I became overwhelmed by the smell. People’s homes have earthen floors and the walls are made out of mud, wood, or woven sticks and the roofs are either tin or leaves. If someone was to light a match too close to the roof, the entire slum would be on fire within a matter of moments.
As we walked towards the Community Nutrition Center, I would sometimes forget about the smell, and then we would pass by something that would cause me to recoil. As I walked by the railroad tracks, at times holding my scarf to my face to avoid the stench, children were standing and running barefoot in the trail that is between the tracks on one side and the trench of open sewer on the other. This is one of the few places where these children have to roam. Many families have lived in this slum for more than 20 years; this is their reality.
When we arrive at the Community Nutrition Center there are about eight mothers and their children sitting in a circle waiting their turn to see a doctor. Even though they live in this filthy environment, it’s clear to me that these women try to keep themselves and their children clean. Some of the children have skin infections or open sores, as do some of the mothers; several children are covered head to toe with rashes. Many of the children are not keeping up with their growth chart. One of the main reasons for this is diarrheal disease. Another reason is because most of these children were born at very low birth weights as a result of maternal malnutrition. It’s within this hot, humid little room that I realize just how intense my desire to improve the lives of women and children living in poverty has become.
Kelly D. Horton has a M.S. in Food Policy and Applied Nutrition from Tufts University’s Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy. She completed her Didactic Program in Dietetics and the community-based dietetic internship at Simmons College. She recently worked with Dr. Nancie Herbold and the Center for Hygiene and Health in the Home and Community to help conduct a literature review of hygiene and infant feeding practices in developing countries. Kelly lives in Seattle, Washington.