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Dhaka Day by Day

Not Even Any Leaves on the Branches

by Fayza Haq
Phoebe Fraser, with her wide head band, bobbed blonde hair faded Jeans, pale blue Jog ging top and heart shaped ear rings. could easily have been an older version of Alice from Alice In Wonderland."
Phoebe had come with the CARE Australia relief goods from Sydney, and had gone to Chit tagong and Cox's Bazar to ensure the dtstrfbu tion of the high protein biscuits and other essentials.
She has been to Bangladesh before, in '89. when she came on an orientation programme "I think Bangladesh is a wonderful country. When you go to some plates and have a nice feeling it is because the people are warm and hospitable. The Bangladeshis are moreover striving to im-
prove themselves The widespread disaster is sad. But the strength and perseverance of the people are heartening at the same time."
Tlx- 25 year old volunteer worker has spent six months In Thailand. three months tn Cambodia and has been on short missions to Laos and Vietnam. "My experience and enjoyment in South East Asia has been Intense because people here are wonderful — kind generous, patient and tolerant."
Phoebe firsts heard about the disaster In Bangla desh on the short wave radio in Cambodia. The enormity of the cyclone
struck her when she saw scenes of it on the TV in "Hindi's" programme on Channel 7" in Melbourne and. read about it in the newspapers
1 didn't see any people at first but only dead animals. What greeted me was general devasta tion. It got worse and worse till nothing existed. What struck me was that there were not even any leaves left on the broken branches of the trees." Phoebe recounted.
"Later on 1 met a lot of people, all of whom had lost their homes, family members, houses, and animals. There were some people 1 came across who had lost their entire village. Everyone we met had lost someone or something. A lot of these people struck me as being almost in a state of deep sorrow and resignation. There was also the concern for the future. They were worried as how to rebuild their lives. People came up and spoke to me. while the CARE staff translated it for me. I've never seen such a sad sight as this before." she narrated What about taking precaution against future devastation — As an Overseas Programme Off! cer was she here to discuss it? There could be multipurpose cyclone shelters which could be built in the future as precaution against devasta tion. At the moment I am concentrating on the adequate distribution of the emergency relief Once that is eased we can sec what can be done in the long term," she replied
My Job here was to follow through the 'dis trfbution of 60 tons of high protein biscuits, apart from 10 tons of blankets and 10 tons of medicines, which had been flown over by a chartered plane from Sydney to Dhaka It went in 23 trucks to Chittagong where CARE has two warehouses." Phoebe continued.
What made her
work lor CARE rather than go In for a steady, ambi tious career? "I had studied Poli tics and Economics at the Mel bourne University I did a lol of development Politics, and have always been interested in developing countries." she said the Australian pub He are a caring one and their response to the needs of the people of Bangladesh has been warm. Not many people can leave their country and come as I have done and personally help out. but they have made their donations. This shows they care." Phoebe added.
CARE Australia does some fund
raising in Australia to help development programmes In health and agriculture in places like Sudan. Papua New Guinea, in the Yunnan province In the People's Republic of China, Mozambique, Angola and Cambodia, she Informed me.
"I know of misallocation of aid. But every single thing sent from Australia arrived in the warehouses. The management was professional and efficient. We have our own staff to distrib ute the aid with effectiveness." she insisted.
Phoebe, who is the youngest in her family has two brothers and a sister. She lives outside Melbourne and says that hers is a closely knit family, like many others in Australia. Phoebe, who is a shy and taciturn person when It comes to discussing her private life, admits to liking the opera and theatre.
How does she feel about being the daughter of a famous politician? "He is not a famous man for me. He is simply my dad." Phoebe replies with a smile.