Photos from incoming students continue to roll in.  Enjoy.

Name: Nameera Nuzhat

Admission in: MPA

Pictures taken in: Bangladesh

The Bengali New Year known as “Pohela Boishakh” is celebrated very big in Bangladesh by people of all religions and caste in union. As opposed to the western New Year where celebrations begin at midnight, the Bengali ritual is to rejoice at the break of dawn with traditional dance, music and food. This is at six thirty in the morning when performers and audience gathered for some entertainment, “Pohela Boishakh” style.

Little ones are super excited and dressed up in Sarees to perform in shows celebrating the arrival of spring. “Bashonti” (yellow and Orange) is the color of “Boshonto” (spring) and everyone around the country dress in yellow attire on the first day of the month of “Falgun” to welcome spring and youth.

Weavers of Roopganj (literally means the village of beauty), beside the Shitalakkhya river are the only people apt at making this special kind of fabric called Dhakai Jamdani. A saree (six metres of fabric) of such intricacy takes about 3 months to make and draws about  US $ 350 at a fine store/ boutique. Sadly the poor weavers have to be satisfied with $ 80 at most for a piece that is sold for so much higher.

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Name:  Tanita María Preston Bertie.

Program:  MPA

My hand – Taken by my other hand in Lahore, Pakistan, on December 27th. As women inside the house got prepared to attend the wedding – main purpose of the trip –  the streets were adorned with marching women remembering Benazir Bhutto.  This picture always makes me remember too.

Sunrise in the Atlantic ocean on a regatta to San Blas, Panama. I have no words

I just like this picture. Nature framing nature, I took this one scuba diving in the Cayman Islands … by the way…love Scuba Diving!

The new student photo series continues again today.  If you have sent photos, thank you and we will work on posting.  If  you have yet to send photos see this entry for details.

Name – David Eisler:  Degree Program – MIA (International Security Policy)

“Alexander’s Castle” – Qalat, Afghanistan

During one of many helicopter flights in southern Afghanistan I managed to get a fantastic view of a castle built by Alexander the Great.  Overlooking the city of Qalat in Zabul province (where I was deployed for a year), this castle has been used by every army to ever come through Afghanistan, including the British, Russians, the Taliban, as well as Afghan National Army and some US forces.  I never got tired of looking at it.

“Kabul” – Kabul, Afghanistan

This is a photo of the Tajbeg Palace on the outskirts of Kabul.  I was there for a conference in February, and we had the opportunity to actually walk up to the palace and look inside.  It was built in the 1920s and housed the royal family of Afghanistan, though over the years it has seen multiple attacks and fires.  It was the only day of my deployment that I felt like a tourist, looking at the country’s history rather than the current conflict.

“KAF Sunrise” – Kandahar, Afghanistan

Taken during the early hours before a helicopter flight from Kandahar Airfield.  I loved the colors.

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Hi, my name is Rebecca Saxton-Fox and I’m in the MPA program. Attached are a few photos I’ve taken over the past two years at my job working on board a Flying Eye Hospital – a fully-equipped ophthalmic teaching hospital inside a DC-10 airplane. We train ophthalmologists and other healthcare workers, while performing free eye surgery for patients in the countries we work in.

The first photo was taken in Zanzibar, Tanzania. I love the colors, the attitudes, and the contrast between the local girls and the seemingly unaware European children playing in the sand in front of them.

The second photo was taken at a school in Libore, Niger, temporarily converted into a vision screening clinic. These women are waiting to get their vision checked by our doctors. Those that needed surgery were taken to the capital, Niamey, for follow up.

This photo was taken while driving just outside of Deir Ezzor, in Eastern Syria. This part of Syria, close to the Iraq border, is all desert, and there are frequent sand storms. It is quite shocking when you come across the lush Euphrates river that cuts right through the desert and the city.