Love at first byte
Article:
A young couple met and got married over the Internet at a Grameenphone Community Information Center (CiC) in Bangladesh
Most marriages in rural areas of Bangladesh are arranged by the parents. So was the one between Nur Islam, a restaurant worker in London and Shirina Akhtar, a college student at Thakurgaon. Neither the bride, nor her parents had ever seen the groom until a friend of Shirina suggested her to visit the local CiC and try to get in touch with her husband-to-be.
Shirina went to CiC at Thakuragaon and from the north western tip of Bangladesh, about 450 kilometers away from the Bangladesh capital Dhaka, met for the first time her future husband, living and working in London. The couple consented to the union and decided to arrange the wedding ceremony at the CIC.
Marriage vows over Internet
The marriage ceremony was conducted at the Thakurgaon CIC on 31 March in the presence of the bride’s parents, family and hundreds of people, who had crowded in front of the CIC to witness the extraoridnary event.
“At first I was a bit confused seeing all those unknown people milling around the CIC, but later I felt very happy knowing that I was the first person to get married through Internet in this area,” says the bride.
The marriage vows, religious edicts and the exchange of consent were completed over video conferencing enabled by Internet facility at the Thakurgaon CIC.
Love is in the air
Mamunur Rashid who runs the local CIC has a vision to enable to people in his community to use the benefits of Internet at the very low cost.
“I am very happy that I had the opportunity to be involved in this noble cause,” said Mamunur Rashid.
While the CIC marriage ceremony in Thakurgaon was not the first in Bangladesh, news about the ceremony was published in several national and regional newspapers and has generated a lot of fanfare in the community.
“My brother also lives abroad. Now that my wedding ceremony was completed without a hitch I’m planning to arrange my brother’s marriage through internet,” she says.
Over 500 CiCs in Bangladesh
Grameenphone had established over 500 CICs throughout Bangladesh to provide Internet access to rural communities, giving over 20 million people access to the Internet and email service for the first time.
A place to learn and plan for future
Although Internet is still relatively new for them, people in Bangladesh have found many ways to benefit the use of Internet. Farmers are using the CIC’s to look for information on crops and fertilizers as well as solving soil or pest-related problems with their crops. Students from local areas are coming to the CICs to research various subjects, while jobseekers are visiting the CICs to apply for jobs overseas and handle visa related administration on their e-mail accounts.