Tarango wanted to celebrate Women's day with their producers, but were unprepared in 2009 when the Kadimbara ladies said that they wanted to compete in a boat race Boat racing is a traditional activity in Bangladesh, but a traditional activity for men. Some resistance was met initially of course, but over the past years the Tarango women have made this celebration their own. 14 boats from 14 villages each with 11 women at the oars competed. There were two heats of 7 boats, and the final of six boats was nail biting.
Previous trips from the Dhaka expat circuit have produced larger groups of ladies, and a couple of years ago, they even had a go in a boat - we however were in the relative safety and comfort of a motorised boat with officials, policemen, local big wigs and the media.
we even made the local press here and here
Here follow too many photos. We took 4x more...
I cannot thank our hostess Kohinoor Yeasmin, CEO of Tarango enough for the hospitality she and her team offered us. But beyond that, I felt incredibly privileged to experience this event.
Sharing the strength, vibrancy and joy on this celebration day feels like a very appropriate 500th blog post.
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