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     My name is Marta.   My friend Daphne and I read 

about an overpopulated country in Southeast Asia called 

Bangladesh.

     There are 150,000,000 people in Bangladesh 

but 95% of its natural forests and 50% of its freshwater 

wetlands are lost or degraded.

     Daphne and I love this picture of a proud 

grandmother who is caring for her grandchild.   The photo 

reminded us of many grandmothers in our city who also 

care for their grandchildren.

    At first, we were very sad after reading about 

Bangladesh because we learned that the people there 

don't have a lot of resources.   Then, after doing further 

research, we began to feel a little bit better because 

Daphne found this photo of food growing!  

     This seems like a very important job in a country with 

so many people and so few resources. This man 

is helping people and the environment in Bangladesh

by caring for the soil and feeding the community. 

     We decided that farmers are really important in 

every country and we thought about establishing a 

garden in our community, too.   We had never thought 

about farmers in the U.S.A. until then.

     So, we added the task of researching how to start a 

community garden to our to-do list! We researched 

some other places in Bangladesh and, unfortunately, we 

found that many areas lacked care. (We found the photo 

on www.panoramio.com, which is a great resource for 

free photos.)

     This picture of soil erosion on the river bank is a 

great example of what can happen when people cut 

wood for heat or for houses without planning and 

reforestation.

     Daphne said, "Wow, it looks like the trees are just 

tired."   I thought they were just tired of trying to hold 

the land together, but it was disturbing.   I said, "We 

must start a garden immediately."

     Suddenly--before we could think more about our 

community garden--my father found this picture of a 

monsoon in Bangladesh in the January/February 2008 

edition of Atlantic Monthly Magazine!

     An article by Robert Kaplan explained that a whole 

village was underwater!   In this picture, people are 

evacuating because several dams collapsed.  

     Daphne and I absolutely could not believe that 

Bangladesh was the size of Iowa--with more people than 

Russia and with half the population of the United States! 

And, on top of all of this, there is 20% - 60% flooding in 

the country annually!

     After reading all of this, Daphne suggested that we 

begin to support Heifer International.   We heard about it 

from our GOT TECH CAMP 2012 instructor. She said we 

could do fundraisers in our school and talk about how 

students can prevent what is happening in Bangladesh 

from happening in West Tennessee. Or, she said, we 

could plant a garden.

     Heifer.org helps people to learn to feed themselves, 

by caring for animals.   They also help people learn to 

live sustainably by using animal by-products and waste.  

There are five Heifer Project International projects in 

Bangladesh. These women are doing Naksha Katha 

(quilting). It will help them raise funds. Could we do that 

too?

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