Time to leave Boston

In early May I left my house at Magazine street & was staying at Monzur's house at Lynn. Mr. Monzur family did cooperate with us to visit different places like the Nahant Beach, house of Lipu in Gardner city and houses of Munir's house in Andover city. Before leaving Boston we spent 2 nights (16-18 May) to Enayetullah uncle's at Sharon.

On 18 May we joined a seminar on investment potentialities in BD at Marriot Hotel near Lexington, which was organized by the expatriate Bangladeshis mostly living in USA. They presented a very positive image of BD with all possibilities to be the Asian Tiger in some future days. The seminar was so inspiring and encouraging!

On 19 May morning we went to the radiology center (for repeat Mamography scanning of my wife) and then came back at Lynn. At around 11.30 am Mr. Monzur took us to the Greyhound bus station in Boston. We headed for Buffalo(Niagra Falls) by bus, with all memories of Boston in the heart.

Retreat at Rocky Gap Lodge

Our Humphrey year-end retreat was held during 11-14 May at famous Rocky Gap Resort in Cumberland,Maryland - about 2.5 hours bus journey from Washington DC. The resort was so exclusive & beautiful, surrounded by scenic apalachian valleys, lakes along with all modern amenities therein. Unlike the leadership forum during Oct-Nov last year where most of the lecturers were from outside experts, the retreat events were mostly concentrated on activities by the fellows themselves. Of course IIE people organized and guided the events. In total 15 fellows were selected to present their humphrey year experience. I was fortunate to be one of them. I focused on the level of American diversity as well as the serious personal health problems I faced. My presentation succeeded in touching all who listened.

In the retreat days Ashutosh from Nepal was my roomate. We both went to the pool together, took photgraphs and enjoyed each other's company.

In the retreat, dancing, singing and some other activities were organized, in addition to the usual alumni related events which was the importance of being in touch with each other in future.

As a whole the retreat was touching, but very succesful. Through this, all 173 fellows of 87 countries and from 15 different campuses in USA said goodbye to the program & committed to make a change in their own countries.

I will never forget the great event of such a retreat.

My son back to Bangladesh

After a very hectic schedule of 15 days, my son Mohibul Islam went back to Bangladesh on May 3 last. He came to USA on 15 April'08, attended a 3 day long student conference to MIT on golbal poverty alleviation, travelled to NY city, Amarillio, Texas (to his maternal aunt's and cousins house), participated some dinner parties I hosted, joined one of our weekly Humphrey seminars and also my graduation ceremony on 2 May. He went to some ethnic relationship parties (to Andover, Lynn), also bought so many electronic gadgets (Xbox & others) for him as well as for his friends. To his own words, joining in MIT conference was simply "Life Changing"
His return to BD via London, Bahrain, Doha was most thrilling & also frustrating. Because his BA flight from London was so delayed that he couldn't catch the next connecting Gulf flight from Bahrain. So by alternate flights of Qatar Airways, he flew to Doha & then from Doha to Dhaka. But his luggages were not reached Dhaka till today. He also missed his flights on his travel from Amarillo to Houston on 28 April & came back to Boston by having alternate and costly alternative flights (Amarillo - Cleveland- Manchester). So he is full of experiences in airflights both in USA and also in international routes. In futute these experiences should help him in mitigating risks (to some extent, by a proper risk management plan) in flying.

Humphrey Graduation

Finally my graduation day from BU arrived & also passed by on May 2. It was a very touching & emotional day for all fellows and people associated with the BU Humphrey session 2007-08. BU President Prof. Brown conducted the graduation ceremony, held at BU Castle at 225, Bay Street. The keynote speaker was Prof. Hakkani, H.E. The Ambassador of Pakistan to USA. He highlighted the importance of taking actions from individual, cultural and local perspectives. His speech was so inspiring & enjoyable!

Amy Nemith spoke on behalf of IIE, Dr. Khinchuk spoke as the program coordinator of BU & Julio Canelo as the spokesman for the fellows.

All speakers emphasized on acting responsibly as the global citizens and making individual contributions for bringing positive changes in their own fields of works. We felt to maintain the spirit of friendship created by participation in the prestigeous Humphrey Program. Refreshment followed the ceremony.

I'm glad that my wife & son was present in the ceremony. It was indeed one of the colorful & memorable days in our lives.

Family Trip to NY city

A 2 day long hectic trip to NY city started very early morning of 21 April. Lucky Star Bus started from Boston at 6.30 AM & reached Manhattan Chinatown at around 11 AM. Then we took our lunch to McDonalds, bought subway tickets to Battery Park for availing ferry to the Statue Island. It was a long long que (both for buying tickets & checking into the ferry). Several hours were lost in ques. But it was a sunny beautiful day; so lovely journey along the Hudson river. We got off at the island, circled the statue, took pictures & came back to South Ferry area of Manhattan by the next available ferry. Then we took on a bus which gave great scopes to all skyscrapper building on NY including the Zreo Ground. By bus we went to the Central Park; walked & took rest there till the evening. Then at around 7.45 PM, my Jahangirnagar University classmate Rana picked us & showed different important buildings, statues and more importantly the glazing Times Square of nighttime. It was superb! Then we headed towards Queens & went to Matin Khan's house there. We chatted for about half an hour & started again. On the way Rana took us to the Bengalipara of NY (Jackson Heights).
Then we're taken to Rana's house at Long Island ( about 1 hour drive from downtown). Ooh! Nahid, another classmate & Rana's wife (who loved for long 6 years of university life followed by marriage) cooked many time delicious fods. We ate, talked & then went to bed at midnight.
Next morning Rana & Nahid took us to the Walmart & afterwards Nahid took us to the Sunken Meadow seabeach of Atlantic Ocean. After the lunch again to her house, Nahid carried us to the Huntington train station for travel to NY city. We got off that commuter rail at Jamaica station & took subway to go to Canal Street of Manhattan area. From there we boarded on Fung Wah Chinese bus at 6 PM to come back to Boston. At around 11.30 PM we arrived home.
Spending a couple of hours at home we at 3.00 AM headed towards the Sullivan Square to get our son boarded to Manchester Airport Shuttle as he had to avail a flight from Manchester Regional Airport on his way to the 5 day long trip to Amarillo, Texas (to her aunt's home).

Trip to NY proved a little too short, but the weather was great & we enjoyed many key attractions of the city.

MC Conference in MIT

Today finished the 3 day long Milleneum Campus Conference on global poverty alleviation. It was organized by the Global Poverty Initiative(GPI) of MIT and Milleneum Campus Network (a federation of student organizations based in different campuses across USA). The conference was superb. It seemed unbelievable that soley students can organize such a successful event. It was inaugurated on last Friday where former candidate of the US Presiential Election 2008 Jhon Edwards and USAID Administrator Henrieta Fore spoke. On the concluding day legendary Prof Jaffery Sachs of Columbia University & John Legend, winner of astounding eight Grammy Nominations attended with a unique session of music cum lecture. It was so inspiring that if I didn't make up to join, definitely it would have been a great miss during my Humphrey year.
John & Prof Sach presented the "Show Me- the poverty action tour". Also prof Amy Smith of MIT, Ira Magaziner, an expert of public policy; Paul Farmer, a physician cum anthropologist, among others delivered their keynote speeches with highlights on different aspects of poverty alleviation measures from the globe.
Me along with my son attended the conference. We both were fascinated by the works of others, particularly the students from MIT & other campuses in order to remove poverty curses from the world. We commited to make our own contributions in that cause.

My son coming to MIT today

Today is a very special day as my only child has already headed towards USA from Bangladesh. He's on plane right now at the moment.

He's coming to MIT to attend the ' Millenneum Campus Conference' on global poverty alleviation as an international scholar. The conference will be held during 17-20 April 2008. MIT is bearing his airticket as well as accomodation for the conference days. Being impressed by his writing qualities and experiences in relation to works on poverty alleviation, MIT selected him to sponsor in the conference. By the by, my son - Mohibul Islam completed his O level and A level courses from the EdExcel Examination (a British education system) and currently a 2nd year student of BBA in IBA(Institute of Business Administration) of Dhaka University. He's 19 plus.


Coming to MIT and participating in a MIT organized conference as an international scholar is really something to feel proud of. This will certainly add value to his future resume, I hope. I'm satisfied in contributing to his works and as a father feel proud of my son's success.