Kaye’s Reflections on Expat Life in Dhaka
To provide a personal introduction, I’m from South West England and have lived here in Dhaka for the past six months. I am working out here as a Civil Engineer on the construction of a water supply project for North Dhaka[1] that once complete will provide a sustainable source of clean drinking water to 5 million people. Dhaka is the world’s 9th largest city with a population of around 20 million people. It is the world’s most densely populated city and is ranked as one of the least liveable cities in the world with the some of the world’s highest levels of noise pollution and air pollution, high temperatures and humidity, gridlocked traffic and limited green spaces. A few weeks ago, I had a sudden realisation when repotting some houseplants that there was nowhere I could find some extra soil from nearby. No back garden, no park, no green verge on the side of the road, just concrete everywhere as far as the eye can see and it made me painfully miss the green rolling hills and dairy farms of the Cotswolds where I grew up. I ended up buying a bag of soil from a vendor, despite only needing a few small scoops. I miss being able to run outside in the green without fear of getting run-over, falling down an open manhole, running into low-hanging telecoms cables, breathing in toxic fumes or being brazenly stared out by the various groups of men hanging out on the streets. It’s easy to feel so removed from nature and the natural world around you when you live here.
In short, Dhaka is not the easiest place to live despite the fact I’m lucky enough to live in a neighbourhood called Gulshan. Gulshan in known as the VIP district of Bangladesh and houses the various international embassies and commissions, glass faced skyscrapers, delicious bakeries and the fanciest hotel in Dhaka – the Westin.
There is a strange tension that comes from living here in Dhaka. Whilst so many aspects of the city are tough and difficult, at the same time I’m living more luxuriously than I ever have before, or probably ever will again. My apartment is frankly disgustingly huge, and my current en suite is larger than my old bedroom back in the terraced houses of Mill Road, Cambridge. I have a housekeeper called Rita who does my cooking, cleaning, washing up, laundry and makes my bed every morning. I have a driver who drops me around town as and when I wish. I haven’t cooked a meal for myself in months. The prospect of having to go to the supermarket for myself to pick up food is a distant memory. You are reminded just how wealthy you are living our here, and how privileged the opportunities I have truly are.
I am in the top 5% of the planet in terms of wealth, and always have been. Back in the UK it’s easy to forget how wealthy and privileged you are, but here in Dhaka the contrasts between my life and that of so many others are very visceral and visible. I am living here for work, and therefore my employer is obligated to keep me safe and healthy so I can get on with the job I need to do here – and hence the excess of luxury in some aspects. However, I am uncomfortable with just how quickly one can become comfortable living this life and it’s something I don’t have any personal answers or solutions for yet.
There is a concentration of foreigners who live here in Gulshan, from aid workers to diplomats and garment industry folks to engineers like myself. The community is small and centres around various international clubs, which are only open to membership for foreigners. You cannot buy alcohol freely in Bangladesh, and the clubs are some of the few places you can easily buy a beer and chill out without concern about people openly staring at your every move and taking photos of you. The clubs have sports groups such as volleyball, tennis, basketball, yoga, circuit training, water polo and football, as well as gig nights and pub quizzes.
I had always dreamed of living and working abroad and working on clean water supply projects. And now I’m living that dream. In some ways it’s so much more fun than I imagined, the people you meet out here are continually inspiring and there’s never an evening without some form of organised fun or unexpected adventure. On the flip side, work is still work, nothing is easy out here. What would be a quick conversation or the click of a button back home in the UK can take days to get sorted. I guess what I’m trying to say is it’s very difficult to reach “there”, that mythical place where everything has perfectly fallen into place. Even living your dreams has difficulties and bumps in the road, and it’s okay to admit that living your dream is hard work. I’m still constantly refining what it is I want to do next and I’ll have to see what opportunity I happen to be in the right time and right place for next.
[1] Bangladesh: Dhaka Environmentally Sustainable Water Supply | Asian Development Bank (adb.org)