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Internet Extends Reach Of Bangladeshi Villagers
Mahbubul Ambia, who started an Internet center in the town of Charkhai, has helped customers find doctors, make Internet phone calls and communicate by video conference.
(Kevin Sullivan - Twp)
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One of Ambia's most popular services is video conferencing, using the little Hyundai Web camera mounted atop one of his computer monitors.
Entire families crowd in front of the center's camera to hold video conferences with relatives overseas. Ambia said a mother came in recently to hold up a newborn to give the father, working overseas, his first glimpse of his child.
"People even come here to see how things are being cooked in London, how they are cutting the fish," he said.
And Ambia was preparing to add a 21st-century twist to a traditional ritual, by hosting his first video conference wedding.
Aslam Ahmed, 25, said he planned to sit in front of the Web camera in Charkhai and marry his girlfriend, Jasmine, 17, who would be in front of a Web camera in her home in London.
Weddings conducted over the telephone are common in this part of Bangladesh. Many marriages are still arranged between conservative Muslim families, and often the bride or groom is living overseas.
A marriage certificate is also a fast route to getting a work visa to leave Bangladesh -- and conducting the wedding by phone is faster and cheaper than arranging for the overseas partner and family to travel home for a wedding.
An imam is present at both ends of the call, along with a civil official who certifies the vows. Duplicate sets of paperwork are then exchanged by mail for everyone's signatures.
Ahmed and his bride had planned a wedding by cellphone and knew they would have to pay $30 or $40 just for the call. The video conference over the Internet, however, would cost a fraction of that, so the imams conducting the ceremony would not have to rush through the prayers to save money.
Jasmine's family moved to London in 1986. Ahmed said he had met her just once, in 2002, when her family came back to Charkhai to visit. They spoke on the phone and exchanged e-mail regularly after that -- and once Ambia's center opened, they saw each other regularly by video conference, even though they live 5,000 miles apart.
"I don't know what other people say, but as far as I'm concerned she's Miss World," Ahmed said.
