I came into the room and saw he was gone. Panic gripped me.
Then I heard a giggle and saw two tiny legs sticking out from under the bed.
Why are you hiding under the bed, Nasir?
I’m not hiding, Amma (mother). This is the only part of the house that’s not hot.
I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Hide and seek to cope with a heatwave.
Bangladesh baked in 2024. The country experienced its longest heatwave on record in April, and heatwaves have continued throughout the months of May and June.
Six year old Nasir Ahmed felt the heat. Nasir lives in a 150 square feet (the size of a large single garage) two-room house in Karail, in Dhaka, Bangladesh’s capital. Korail is the largest slum in Bangladesh, situated next door to the country’s most affluent suburbs. Nasir lives with his mother, Bilkis Banu, his father and his grandmother. Nasir’s situation is increasingly common