Lucy Lawless: Five Days Banged in Bangladesh

Chapter 2

Located in the Ganges river delta, and mostly low-lying and prone to flooding, Bangladesh indeed had mild winters. It had marshy jungles and forests with endangered species, and was home to the royal Bengal tiger. Summers were hot and humid and monsoon season lasted from June to October and brought much rain. Winter would last until March. Dangerous natural weather calamities woudl occur ever year, making the volatile and impoverished region even more dangerous. The nation also contained the largest unbroken natural sea beach in the world. It was divided into six divisions, each divided into districts. There were 64 districts in the nation. The districts were divided into police stations. The police often had to file reports of Muslim attacks on Hindus, including rapes of Hindu women. They didn't always do much about them though.

A long non-stop flight over the Pacific finally ended many hours later the next morning when the plane began to touch down toward the airport in Dhaka. Dhaka was the largest and most populated city. It was also a division. Despite international aid, the nation remained very underdeveloped. As noted by WV, a lot of this was due to poor political governance, political strife, insufficient resources and use, slowness, and corruption. Corruption was very rampant in political institutions in Bangladesh. In fact, it was by far one of the most politically corrupt nations in the world. Elections were often rigged, and Muslims would often intimidate and victimize Hindus to alter election outcome. Much of the political corruption stemmed from the Muslims' efforts. In a village area that Lucy would soon visit, Kaliganj, just a couple days before a girl had been brutally group raped. This had also happened a couple weeks earlier in late December 2004. President Ahmed did very little about these incidents, which some secularists and Hindus complained about. The outflow and diaspora of the Hindus due to Muslim atrocities and group rapes also was hurting the nation's economy and skilled labor. This was particularly noted by WV, who knew that one of the biggest reasons the nation was still so poor was the Muslim atrocities and pressures on Hindus and non-Muslims, which drove many out. This was the Muslim's goal in fact, and something that WV strongly opposed and strove to counter-act. The value of the taka, the official currency, continued to plummet despite international aid. The violence was an impediment to direct foreign investment, one of the reasons any growth had been accomplished since 1990. This was hurting the nation's ability to attract foreign investment and combat its poverty.

Bangladesh was one of the ten most populated countries in the world, with a population like Russia's despite being much smaller. Most of the people were young and Bengali. There were some tribal groups still in more remote areas, causing ethnic tension, and human trafficking was a problem. As Lucy would soon see, the area was so poor girls and women often sold themselves into sexual slavery, becoming prostitutes, and even if they did not some were often captured and made sex slaves which was not uncommon to some Muslim areas. It was one of the worst cases of child exploitation, and female exploitation, in the world, as WV noted. Most spoke Bengali, and English was a second language. Most people, almost nine-tenths, were Muslim, and the nation had a dwindling and victimized Hindu minority. Most people were rural farmers and actually lived on half a US dollar a day! Literacy was quite low and there were many health problems, including malaria and arsenic in the drinking water. Women were usually especially illiterate.

Still, it was a new nation in an old area that had civilization 4,000 years earlier. Culturally it was like the bordering Indian state of East Bengal. It had musical and literary traditions. Lucy knew a little about Indian traditions as she had practiced yoga for many years since after her daughter Daisy was born, and it was her preferred and main form of exercise. There were not many tv's, but BBC and the Voice of America were aired. Food in Bangladesh was similar to Indian and middle eastern traditions. Rice and fish were favorites, and the saying was "Fish and rice make a Bengali." The most widely worn dress was the sari, an traditional Indian dress for women that purposely bore their navel. This was among things that angered Muslims and they often blamed the fact that the women were wearing saris and bearing their navels on the group rapes as an excuse. Although very prominent and important in Indian culture, as Lucy would soon learn, baring the navel was actually considered pornographic in Islam and was forbidden in public. WV had actually talked with Lucy about the situation and she was told not to wear clothes that were too revealing, or to appear with much make-up, as there was a considerable security situation in the country.

Cricket was a very popular sport there, and then soccer, and Lucy had read in the notes for the doco that they had planned for her to play soccer in the village with Banik. She never considered herself very good at sport and grew up with the nickname "Unco" given to her by a close childhood friend, Gabriel in Auckland. She was usually among last to be picked for soccer teams in school but Lucy's coordination and agility had definitely improved from Xena and she thought she would enjoy the soccer game.

Lucy's plane soon landed at Zia International Airport in Dhaka. She left the plane and walked in the airport lobby wearing a modest brown shirt and had her hair tied up, and did not have make-up. She had been following the instructions WV had given her not to try to arouse or attract any of the men there, and especially not in public. Lucy was thrilled to meet Even Banik. Already though a situation appeared forming. It must have been something of a shocker for the huge crowd of people near the airport to see a tall and beautiful western woman, taller than a lot of the men, walking with video cameras and a crew near her. A huge crowd lined up outside the airport and watched Lucy as she walked by. The tension and danger was already apparent. She noted that there was a sense that anything could happen, and a very loosely controlled chaos as she smelled curry, open drains, and exhaust fumes. Lucy soon got in the World Vision van driven by a Bengali, cameras still on her and on in the car, and remarked to a Bengali beside her that she realized she came from a sheltered world and felt that NZ was soft compared to this. She saw a couple Bollywood Indian actresses on billboards on the way, contrasted with people in wagons.

Her first stop was to the marketplace where she met her guide, David Hider. He was an experienced Bengali man, intelligent and fluent in English, with dark hair and a thick mustache. Lucy wore white pants and her gold-colored tiki jewelry necklace, which was really made of plastic and not jade though some thought it was. The tiki was traditional to the Maori in NZ. David had worked for WV for over 30 years and Lucy said he looked something like Arab actor Omar Shariff. The name David reminded her of a fan she had met months ago in early August 2004 in San Francisco. She later learned he was the famed "James Bond Loves Lucy" online, an extremely devoted fan who loved and cared for her, and was very greatly aroused by her. She could be amused by him and recalled him as she spoke of her guide. He would translate from Bengali to English for Lucy on her journey. They walked through the marketplace and Lucy went to her hotel room with other WV employees to relax and prepare for the next day.

Lucy had not slept well that night but continued the doco. She spoke of a project of WV's in a city and noted seeing many young children. Lucy narrated about runaways picked up by WV, including girls. She then stepped out of the van and shook hands with grateful Bengalis who knew that this project was being funded by money from her home country of NZ. She was greeted with attractive bouquets of red and white flowers. She thought her guide David was a warm man. Lucy was soon told why the center was focusing more on protecting and sheltering girls now, and Lucy asked of their vulnerabilities with a little tension and low-level anger in her voice. She had heard of the rapes. A Bengali woman explained that on the streets men had eyes on the girls and they would be exploited and sexually abused. Lucy sat listening and was angry about this and compassionate for the victimized girls. Lucy knew that rapists were not very far away at all from them.

She interviewed a young girl called Marium who had runaway from home. Marium implied that she would have been a bad girl to stay at the railway station. Lucy knew she was implying that girls were raped there. Marium then explained that she ran away from home because her mother beat her. In a very touching scene, Lucy hugged the girl to her and the girl hugged herself to Lucy in her arms, and Lucy remarked about a shortage of good parents in the world. Lucy's love was incredible and she could feel the girl long for her embrace and love.

Lucy next went to the railway station where children ran away to, holding two girls' hands in each of hers. Lucy said it was dark and scary and no place for children, Marium had told her she had heard someone being murdered one night. The kids who slept in holes there were hungry and people beat them they said. Marium had been saved from the predators and went to the Street Children Centre of WV. Lucy left the railway station with a low-level anger because the children had been so abused and neglected. Poverty broke down the bonds between human beings she said, which she would repeat later in the year after what would happen in New Orleans, and her second day in Bangladesh had made her angry and disappointed. It was getting chillier so Lucy wore a jean jacket. She let her beautiful light brown hair down and looked very lovely as she visited a children's center.

Early the next morning, still in darkness, she travelled an hour and a half in the van outside of Dhaka to the village area of Khaliganj. It was the third day. WV had a large development project there. She wore her jean jacket, dark jean pants, white t-shirt, and dark boots, and a white purse was slung over her right shoulder. She looked very tall and had an incredible figure, incredibly proportioned, beautiful, and fit looking. That was not something she could hide. Before it was even 5:30 AM, jolly early Lucy remarked, she had to get to the house of a boy named Serjan. He was 11. Serjan's family was very poor so he had to work at his young age. Lucy was notably taller than her guide David as they walked together. Her long beautiful legs in her jeans were a sight.

Serjan and other young boys worked carrying bricks. He could carry 8 at a time. That was 20 kilos Lucy noted! It could stunt the kids' growth as well as compress their discs. Still, Lucy thought this was a healthier community than Dhaka, and functioning. What she didn't know much about was the high incidence of rape rates of grown women and wives as well in the villages here, and that there had been at least two reported incidences of brutal group rapes in the Kaliganj area just shortly before her arrival. Lucy thought the boys looked so young but strong carrying the bricks. David explained that Serjan would go to school as well as work many hours here.

Later that day Lucy visited WV's office in Khaliganj. It was on Chowra Road. The Khaliganj Area Development Program of WV was located in the nation's Gazipur District, still in the division of Dhaka, and about 45 kilometers northeast of Dhaka. The ADP area encompassed 130 villages. (more info to be added here) Khaliganj was close to the ... River and had 6 unions or wards, and 93 mauzas (or mahallas, another division). There were over 100 villages in the area. She was served very sweet tea, made with milk. Lucy began interviewing the project's manager William, a tall Bengali with glasses. She had changed clothes to a black t-shirt with a green emblem, a shirt she would wear several months later in May meeting with fans in Seattle's Space Needle after her Gentleman Prefer Blondes performance. She also wore dark pants and had an orange celebratory hoop around her, similar to some in Hawaii for festivities. Lucy listened to what he was reporting, wearing a watch on her left wrist and her tiki necklace still. He spoke to the camera in Bengali

Later that afternoon she returned back to the villages to Serjan's place. It was time to feed the cow, a gift to their family. Lucy asked David about the cow given to them. It was getting chillier again here out in the village, and WV had advised Lucy to put her hair back up this time and change dress. She was wearing her jean jacket again. They had been informed of a reported rape incident in the area just a few days before. Lucy avoided appearing nervous as David interviewed Serjan's mother in Bengali. Lucy looked upset though and she wiped a tear in her eye trying not to cry as they turned off the camera. Something else was bothering her as well.

They started filming again, she thought this was better for the doco, I'll just put my hair down, so she did and changed clothes again to more like what she had been wearing early that morning. She was so upset with conditions there she didn't really want to think about her own risks. Serjan mentioned he wanted to continue his education as Lucy encouraged him, and later teach children. Lucy complimented him, "Fantastic." She walked him to school with David, her posture excellent, as she was very fit from her yoga practice which helped posture. She waved goodbye to Serjan good naturedly and felt that at least among other children there, Serjan had a brighter future. The streets were wet with rain as Lucy walked in it with her boots and passed wagons drawn by a sort of bicycle.

Lucy awoke the next day to begin filming the fourth day of the doco. She was in the wet rice paddies in Khaliganj. The large and dark blue WV van drove her through the villages and thousands of acres paddy fields. Lucy mentioned she thought survival was the human instinct. Today Lucy had been asked to visit an area outside of the Development Program. She introduced Bina, a 7 year old girl who lived in a small village west of Khaliganj. The family was extremely poor and Bina's younger brother had an illness. Lucy wore a dark blue blouse over her white pants. Her figure and beauty were incredible, greatly standing out, and her height for a woman and grace of movement as she walked in the village. Her light brown hair was long and very beautiful. Her sunglasses were on her chest as she sat and interviewed Bina with David. Bina said her brother, who was retarded, was 5. He could not even walk. He was born like that, David explained. Lucy lovingly picked him up, not afraid of disease. He wore only a shirt. Lucy put him in her lap and asked his condition. His mother said he was also mute and she had to carry him everywhere. David explained the mother was trying her best. Lucy had asked how long the child was expected to live but it went unanswered. Probably not too long. His mother explained to Lucy after she asked that her hope was for Bina to get a good education and survive. Bina's mother explained that she worked as a maid sometimes in a Christian house so she could feed Bina before sending her to school.

At this point Lucy looked visibly upset, increasingly, and crossed her arms together and inhaled. Lucy looked away from the camera, and when her beautiful face could be seen again she appeared very upset. She quickly got up, gracefully as was her nature with her beautiful long legs, and walked away. The camera followed her. Bina's mother said she had no tears left. David told her he felt bad as well and told the retarded boy that Lucy cried for him. The camera showed Lucy wiping her tears with a cloth and she said that the boy was only 5, maybe weighed about one of those bricks. He was younger then her boys. She said his smell was very bad, his hand, and started crying again very upset as she said his hand was rotting and he was sucking on his rotting thumb. Lucy broke down, crying. Her wedding ring could be seen. Material from his skin had peeled off and landed on Lucy. She remarked his situation was terrible as she wept and dried her eyes. She was visibly very upset and distressed after seeing the boy. Being a mother to young boys herself, and very compassionate, it upset her particularly.

Lucy began to interview David about disease in the nation after barely being recovered from being as upset. Lucy said poverty was a great evil and noted Bina's bad cough observantly and upset. David said Bina had a meal a day and it wasn't enough. She showed with her hands how much food she would have a day. Lucy was visibly upset. Then Bina brought out a tray full of lovely flowers for Lucy, who was stunned as they were so poor. Lucy said they were beautiful, and asked which was her favorite. Bina picked the marigold, a lovely yellow flower, and put it in Lucy's hair. Lucy looked extremely beautiful, bright, and adorable with the flower in her hair, it looked very natural on her. The family had actually spent a week's wages to prepare a feast for Lucy. Lucy wore her celebratory ornament again and watched Bina gut fish. It was a Bengali staple. Lucy asked Bina about her dreams for the future and then walked with her in the rice paddies. Wearing white sandles and socks, Lucy walked through the mud with Bina. Lucy was about five foot ten, certainly taller than the average man in Bangladesh. Her sandles grew muddy and she went to wash them.

Afterwards, she was no longer wearing socks, only the white sandals. Her bare feet and toes were shown in the sandles as she sat by the camera. Lucy wore her tiki and played a wind-up musical toy for Bina. It was time to leave. The van drove Lucy away as the sun set that day.

The next morning, back in Dhaka, the sun rose on the city. It was the fifth and last day of the doco. Lucy was tired and missed her family. But before she could return home to LA, she would have to make one more trip to Khaliganj. She wore her black shirt with a green emlem again as she sat in the van and said it was a good day. They were going to the village to see Even finally, her sponsored child. The van was stuck at a railway crossing for an hour and finally made its way through the city. Lucy wore black pants and her white sandles as she walked happily through the village. Banik had grown to 15 by now.

She finally saw and met him, and he presented her with lovely red roses. He was almost as tall as her, getting close, and they hugged. Lucy remarked it was great to see him and he was a big man. Even smiled happily. Lucy thanked him for the flowers. She was given another ornamental ring. The camera showed her from behind. Her buttocks were incredibly beautiful and attractive, amazingly shaped, tight and firm. Lucy met the rest of Even's family and smiled very beautifully, brightly. She was incredibly gorgeous. She was also particularly happy because before she had left for Khaliganj that morning, she had been approached by a couple television producers to do a tv film for them. (more detail to be added)They had sought her out for the role of an insect specialist, Dr. Maddy Rierdon, and the film was to be called Locusts. Lucy thought it sounded a little funny but it would help her career and she hadn't done any major acting on tv in some time. She agreed to the role and was told filming would begin in New Orleans soon, at the end of February and would last until mid-March. Lucy looked forward to it and returning home to her family. She had been to the city before and enjoyed it. And the Xena convention was coming up sooner.

Banik explained in accented English, with an accent similar to Indian, that he was moving up in class. Lucy congratulated him, saying "Excellent." He responded that math was his best subject, which Lucy pluralized as maths in the NZ tradition, and Banik said he wanted to become an accountant and would go to Dhaka University for that. Even said for fun he liked football, meaning soccer, and cricket. Lucy smiled and nodded. The camera then showed Even playing soccer with other young boys, without shoes. Lucy remarked happily. Then she took off her sandles, put on her sunglasses, and walked onto the dirt soccer field. She said it was time to show the boys a thing or two about football.

Barefoot now, she played soccer with them. Her beautiful feet and toes, something she was famous for, were visible. Her true height was as well now that she was barefoot. She appeared about five ten or very close. She remarked about her pants, which would show some of her beautiful legs as she moved. Out of breath, she walked off camera. She later explained to Banik as they sat on the grass together about the Xena show she did, that it was like kung fu and fighting, and did a beautiful Xena yell. She explained that they did an arc with Hindu gods, referring to the fourth season, and that she played the goddess Kali. Banik was interested in this and was a bit amused by the show. Even confirmed he would not have come as far if it wasn't for WV and Lucy's help, and Lucy was very happy and said they hoped that one day all kids would be able to live like Even. Lucy then rode a bike WV was giving as a gift to Even to his home. She remarked about her pants again. They would part and show her long beautiful bare legs as she peddled wearing her sandles. She had a very beautiful and arousing expression as she rode the bike. The men stared. They had never seen a woman even near as beautiful as Lucy.

Even was very happy about the bike, a surprise, and Lucy hugged him. Even's father glanced at it and looked a little stern but happy about it. Lucy laughed and looked very beautiful, making jokes. Even had actually never ridden a bike, so Lucy got behind him and pushed and steadied it as he peddled. The WV cameraman Greg later showed Even how to ride. Lucy hoped he would learn soon. Then she faced the family, posture, beauty, and figure incredible, and WV said they had come to say goodbye. Even's father said they were sad they were leaving and Lucy thanked him and said it had been a tremendous opportunity to meet them. Her smile was very bright, lovely, and gorgeous and her face so very beautiful. She thanked Even's father again and gave him a kiss on the cheek. He smiled, a little stunned, and was happy to have such an incredibly beautiful woman kiss him on the cheek. His wife noticed. Then Lucy hugged Even and said "Let auntie Lucy give you a hug," and Even smiled as they hugged. Lucy walked away with the WV crew and turned to wave. Her black shirt came up just slightly briefly revealing just a little of her beautiful stomach, and as she turned her incredibly, amazingly beautiful, attractive, and arousing buttocks could be seen, tight and firm and prominent against her pants. Even's father could hardly believe her beauty and was aroused by her. Lucy had off-camera remarked, knowing how incredibly beautiful they found her, that she hoped Even would have a lovely girlfriend one day.

Lucy would later note that Banik's family had responded to her as if she was angel. After she met Even, and throughout all this thinking her family at home had it too easy, Lucy called her daughter Daisy in LA and sternly told her to help out her brothers in the morning. Lucy was looking forward to returning home very soon and was keeping in touch. Lucy was about to threaten to ground her daughter on a Friday night, even though she was in Bangladesh.

Even no longer needed Lucy's sponsorship now, doing well, so she walked with David across the paddies to meet the girl whom she was transferring her sponsorship to, Fatima Akta. Fatima was a Muslim name, unlike Banik's. She vaguely recalled the name Fatima as a name the evil slave trader Gurkhan would want to give her Xena character in the Xena episode "Who's Gurkhan." Lucy met Fatima, a little girl who presented her with a yellow flower as Lucy stooped. They said "salaam," Arabic for hello. Lucy knelt down and met little Fatima, speaking a little Bengali WV had taught her, and made a very adorable expression when Fatima was told to hug Lucy. Lucy picked the girl up and was very happy. Then she met Fatima's mother, and recognized her from the photo WV had shown her. David translated for the mother who said she was very happy.

Lucy narrated that Fatima's family lived on a small island surrounded by paddy fields. Two of Fatima's brothers had sadly recently died of disease and the family had received a cow from WV. It would provide the family with milk. Although she had an Arabic name, Fatima wore jewelry on her face given to Hindu girls and women. The camera showed Lucy walking away alone on the rice paddy, and she said she was felt immensely privileged she was able to leave, and extremely humbly and effacingly said that there were many better, braver, and more intelligent people than she carrying bricks who would never make it out of the slums or even childhood. She said poverty reduced everyone's worth to what their bodies could withstand. She was an excellent, articulate, intelligent, and heart-felt narrator and host. Lucy ended the doco by saying she didn't want to tell the people in Bangladesh how much better things were in NZ because she didn't want to hurt them, and for that second she shied away from the truth as she saw it. Lucy was shown walking off into the distance, her white purse slung over her left shoulder. It was a nostalgiac, picturesque, and thoughtful sight. The program would be aired in early 2006, January 31st, on TV2 channel in NZ. A little over a year later.

The camera turned off and the WV crew experienced a sense of accomplishment and some elation as they had finished filming in the city. It was time to return to Dhaka. Lucy, tired but very eager and happy to return home, happy that she and WV had made a differece there, and knowing she had been very upset to see the problems Bina's family had, who was not sponsored, went up into the van. This would be the highlight of her year she thought, and an important experience. Unforgettable as well. She would not forget Bina and her family.

The van drove on in the afternoon, with just a couple hours before the sun would begin to set, on the roads back to Dhaka. It would take at least an hour and a half. Lucy was comfortable but tired and lay back in the seat in the van to rest, chatting a little. She expected to be home very soon.

It was close to half an hour that the van had been travelling when Lucy felt the driver mutter something in surprise and slow down. She looked out the front window and saw that there was a car in the way, on the road. It was blocking their path. There was no other road to travel on. The driver of the van slowed, and several feet from the car he stopped. They were on a rather isolated stretch of road, and away from the paddies for a few miles at least. David said, "I think somebody's car broke down. They must not be able to get help," explaining his idea to Lucy. That was a dangerous situation because there were no villages for miles in either direction, and they were in a remote area. David and another man, seeing an occupant in the car and another behind it, with its hood up, apparently searching for something, decided to get out and ask them the problem. If they couldn't start the car, they would ask them to put it in neutral and they would push it away and let their van pass.

When David and another Bengali working for WV got out the van and walked toward the car, they were just a few feet from it when the man outside it said in Bengali that their car had broke down and they were stranded. David noted now there was a third man in the car sitting. They all appeared rather young. David said he was sorry for their problems. They asked David if they could get a ride in their van to Dhaka, and would later return for their car. It was a desparate situation. David talked with the other WV man. They nodded. It would be okay. There was room in the van. This would just further show how desperate some Bengalis really were, and would be another benevolent act of aid by WV. So the men put the car in neutral and took it off the road. Then with David and the second WV employee, they walked toward the WV van. They entered, all three of them. David apologized to Lucy and said these men were stranded and they had decided it would be okay to give them a ride to Dhaka. Lucy looked at them. They appeared young, and in better condition than most men she had seen in the country. Maybe they were students, she thought. She thought she felt slightly odd about them and they way they stared at her, but she attributed it to how tired she felt and that they probably had never seen a woman as beautiful as she, she knew.

The van's doors shut and it started moving ahead on the road. The stranded car had been moved aside. It started slowly and passed the car. Just moments after this, Lucy's heart lept and she gasped when one of the men they were giving a ride to took out a concealed pistol from his jacket and yelled at the driver. He held the gun in his direction near him and yelled him to stop the van. The others were in action now and yelled the same thing loudly. The driver was stunned and very frightened, unprepared and in some shock, and stopped the van as they yelled at him. One of the young men who sat by Lucy quickly opened the van's door and suddenly grabbed her by her wrist. Lucy screamed. "Stop!" she screamed and looked to David for help. David turned to help Lucy and struggle but the man with the gun turned it on David and yelled at him in Bengali. It was happening very quickly. Lucy hardly had time to breathe. The man with the gun focused it on the other WV employees and the third man grabbed Lucy's other wrist. The three forced Lucy out of the car and it became very clear they wanted her. The man with the gun kept it trained on the others, warning them.

Lucy was roughly dragged out of the van and hurriedly led to the car. She was forced inside, the man with the gun close by. "Lucy!" David yelled as he had stepped out of the van but was warned not to come closer by the man with the gun. Lucy was now behind the van, and suddenly one of the man started the engine. It worked fine, and it had been a ruse. Finally as Lucy let out a small scream she heard two gunshots. The gunman shot out the back tires of the WV van. He then entered the car, rolled down the window and sat right beside Lucy in the back seat. To her left was another man, and the third was driving. The car turned and screeched back onto the road, headed in the opposite direction from Dhaka. It was headed back toward Khaliganj.

The WV van could not give pursuit, nor reach Dhaka any time soon. The film it was carrying was undamaged and the employees unhurt, but they were now stranded. They yelled in Bengali panicking, the driver still quite scared and David very worried for Lucy. If word of this got out before she could somehow be found and rescued it could be an international incident and very bad for WV as well. Luckily though he had a cell phone and he scrambled and got it out, and called an emergency number for the Dhaka police. They would also connect him to the Khaliganj Police Station as he described that the kidnappers' car was headed back that way.

The car moved very fast, and Lucy was told in broken English not to resist or try to escape. She was very nervous, panicking nearly, and breathing rapidly. She had left her own cell phone which she had just used to call her daughter today in the van, and her purse. She was not carrying anything. Why she thought why oh God, why did this happen what do they want, why me...

Before a police car could arrive and pick up the WV crew and their film and equipment, and drive them back to Dhaka with another vehicle headed on the road to Khaliganj, it was close to two hours later. The car with Lucy was long gone and had taken some twisty turns and paths in the villages, speeding much, and Lucy was forced to wear a blindfold the whole time soon after it sped away.