A Boat for Bangladesh

2013, 15 minutes

On the northern shore of the Bay of Bengal, within the delta of the Brahmaputra River, exists an ephemeral group of islands that are locally known as "chars."  For 3 million people who could not find room to settle on the mainland, the chars are home.  Everything here is transitory and difficult.  Agricultural land appears, then disappears.  The average char islander moves 12 to as many as 40 times in a life.  Ten years ago, an NGO named Friendship began to provide health and community infrastructure for these islanders, using boats.  The group is led by a Bengali woman named Runa Kahn.  Her friend and colleague Lisa Genasci envisioned and executive-produced A Boat for Bangladesh, triggered by the arrival of a new boat in the Friendship fleet -the RAINBOW WARRIOR 2, formerly of Greenpeace.  Lisa is a former journalist and CEO/Director of ADM Capital Foundation in Hong Kong.