Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, February 24, 1992 TAG: 9202240150
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
LAWYER FINDS BANGLADESH CROWDED WITH HOSPITALITY
When Joel Branscom stepped off the jet and into a Bangladesh airport, he Branscom wasn't sure what to expect from the second-poorest and most densely populated country in the world.The first thing he saw - soldiers carrying guns, a reminder of the unstable political climate of the Third World country - didn't ease his apprehension.
"Then I saw something in the air that was coming at my head," Branscom said. "It was a bat; there were bats flying around in the terminal.
"That's when you realize you're not in Kansas anymore."
Branscom, an assistant commonwealth's attorney for the city of Roanoke, recently returned from five weeks of touring Bangladesh and studying the country's legal system.
When he signed up last year for a Rotary Foundation exchange program that gives young professionals a chance to see their vocation practiced in different cultures, Branscom was hoping for a trip to China.
But after returning from an out-of-town murder trial last October, Branscom found a message waiting for him. It said he was bound for Bangladesh.
"The only thing you hear about Bangladesh is floods, famine and cyclones," Branscom said. "At first, I didn't think it was that good of an idea."
But Branscom, 32, decided to go, joining a group of five people who traveled through the country as guests of Rotarian families.
As soon as he arrived in Dhaka, the Bangladeshi capital, Branscom was overwhelmed by the sheer number of people. Bangladesh has a population of 110 million - nearly half that of the United States - crammed into a Wisconsin-sized country.
And it seemed as if everyone there wanted to meet the Americans.
"They associate Americans with riches," Branscom said. Wherever the group of visitors went, a crowd was sure to gather. Nearly all the photographs he brought back are group shots, with 15 to 20 people crowded into the frame.
Branscom remembered a time when he and friends were sitting on a deserted beach at Cox's Bazar, a city on the Bay of Bengal. Not only did a crowd turn up, but so did a couple of entrepreneurs who quickly set up a makeshift concession stand to sell food to the American-watchers.
"It was really unnerving," Branscom said. "They would watch you sleep if you would let them."
Such close quarters - combined with primitive living conditions that included contaminated water and limited plumbing facilities - sometimes led to a feeling of claustrophobia despite the hosts' good intentions.
"There were times that I swore I had to get out of there," Branscom said. "It was like being held hostage with hospitality at times."
As he toured the court system and sat in on trials, the prosecutor found that it had basic similarities to the system in Roanoke. Not only is the Bangladeshi criminal system based on the same English common law, but arguments were sometimes made in English, Bangladesh's second language - especially when American visitors were in attendance.
"The judges would turn to the lawyers and say: OK, gentlemen, let's do this in English now," Branscom said.
While in Dhaka, Branscom sat in on the trial of Hossain Mohammad Ershad, a former president of the country who had been ousted and charged with fraud and financial crimes. He also met a former Bangladeshi leader who had the distinction of being the only president to leave office voluntarily, instead of by the more traditional means - assassination or imprisonment.
Despite the widespread poverty, crime didn't seem to run rampant in the predominantly Muslim country. "I got the feeling that the punishment was a little swifter, once it was handed down," Branscom said.
What made the headlines more often was political unrest, particularly at universities that were often closed by violence.
A meeting that Branscom was to attend was canceled suddenly because groups of rock-throwing students had blocked the streets. Each time - even when a concert he attended turned violent - Branscom was assured there was nothing to worry about.
"The Bangladesh way of explaining a problem is to say: `no problem; no problem,' " he said.
Now that he's back home, Branscom has a different perspective on the trip. He's grateful for simple things - like being able to drive down the interstate without playing a "constant game of chicken" with oncoming traffic, or having to dodge an occasional elephant.
"There are so many little things here that we take for granted," he said.
Memo: CORRECTION