I am writing from Katakhali village, Patuakhali. I have met all the women in the Samhati program and the Her Words project work has begun with 12 of the women. So far we have met to discuss the project, started the oral histories and each woman has written several pages about herself. They have also been drawing and painting. They are very excited to each receive a journal, a pen, a pencil and sharpener. They will continue to write after I leave and I will send them new journals when they are done. I am absolutely amazed by these women and how resourceful and confident they are. I have had a one-on-one talk with each of them now, and each woman said that her favorite part of all the activities of their cooperative is learning to read and write. They feel that their world has changed and they want to do more. I am planning to visit each of their homes, if possible. I have been to two so far. One woman, Zakia, proudly showed me her huge vegetable gardens, where she grows peanuts, sweet potatos and papayas. She even has a solar panel on her house to provide light and to play a small tv.

Today we will start the sari work. We have lots of gorgeous saris, paints and wood blocks to work with and the women will get their cooking and chores done early so that they can work for several hours with me today.

Tuli and Koli (my daughters) are also having an incredible time. They spend all day playing with the goats, lamb, cows and chickens and ducks. They have made friends with some village children. Yesterday, Tuli went to visit the primary school. Both girls have brought their toys to donate to the new pre-school here and they set them up in the play room yesterday. Tuli and I are trying to gather data on climate change. We spent our first morning walking around one side of the island and took a small boat to another island to understand the topography. We sat with a group of high school students to try to draw a map of the area and understand the climate patterns and how the storm surges affect it.