Working girl

My first day at work was only a few hours; a tour of the small office which is in a busy area of town called Ramna (where all of the TV and media companies are), and I met my colleagues, twelve in total, who presented me with a bunch of orchids. The following week was when the real work would begin.

On Sunday morning aka the new Monday, I arrived at the Pan Pacific Sonargon hotel, a five star haven of luxury, for the World Pneumonia Day press conference and roundtable discussion. My new boss introduced me to so many people from various media organizations, TV stations, and other NGOs like Save the Children, and within minutes the press conference began. I was asked to take ‘notes’ in English but there was such a fuss that I was in the crowd along with the press, that I had about four cameras on me, filming me constantly! Later on, TV stations across the country used footage of me, referencing me as a foreign journalist. Classic! Haha.

After the press conference, everyone had lunch and before the roundtable, my boss pulled me aside to tell me that I would be hosting a half hour talk show and interviewing British MP Dr. Desmond Turner, and a renowned professor. ‘Tik ache?’, he asked, which means, ok? Um, ok?! Uuuuuh, oh God... Me on TV? Hosting? Interviewing? Interviewing MPs and professors about pneumonia? Pneumonia!? Oh. God. I was about to be a complete idiot on camera, in front of the whole nation. Uuuuh… ‘Tik ache‘, I responded. What else was I going to do? Say no? Shit. I was actually going to doing this and had absolutely no idea what I needed to ask or what the hell I was doing. Baptism by fire I suppose.

I frantically wrote down some questions alongside the MP and professor so they knew what I was going to ask them, and then it was lights, camera, action. No prep time, no time to read what I was saying, no time for hair and make up. Awesome. I sat down in the studio they had set up in the hotel and looked up to about fifty faces, gazing at me, waiting for me to start the show. My boss piped up, ‘Lisa, just say a few words, open the show, ask the questions, and then conclude. Tik ache?’ Tik-a-bloody-che alright. It was time to suck it up, so I smiled, and began. God knows what I said, it was a blur. I asked the questions, I nodded, smiled, probed, asked even more questions than I was supposed to and then concluded. Done. Phew. Then the lights went off, the audience cleared and I just sat there. How bizarre I thought, I just presented a prime time talk show in Bangladesh, and it wasn‘t as nerve-wracking as I thought it would be. Who would have thought? I doubt this will be a regular occurrence, even though my boss thinks it should be(!), but Barbara Walters, watch out. Haha.

World Pneumonia Day, November 2nd 2009, was a turning point in Bangladesh. Over 50,000 children a year die from the disease here and after twenty years of having a vaccine available in the developed world, they still don’t have it in Bangladesh. Shocking, isn’t it? Anyway, the second day of the conference was a larger event promoting the issue here, with presentations from medical experts all over the world, plus influential parliamentary representatives from the Bangladesh government. Part of my role within my organization here is to work with PACE (Pneumococcal Awareness Council of Experts), headquartered in Washing DC, to highlight and generate awareness around pneumonia and pneumoccocal disease here. They need a full plan for the year up until the next World Pneumonia Day, 2010. It’s an enormous task but something I’m eager to sink my teeth into. I’m working on developing a communication plan to present to them on Thursday. My first client meeting in Bangladesh. Surreal!