The Casual-Trousered Philanthropists

Financial Times

By Andrew Jack

March 10 2006

Dhaka airport looks slightly different as Bill and Melinda Gates’s private Bombardier jet touches down in the early-morning heat. Two enormous hand-painted portraits of the couple have been hastily put up next to the runway, and on the road just outside, another huge sign welcomes the world’s biggest philanthropists to the capital.

The Gateses are here as part of a four-day trip to Bangladesh and India, where they will be given a firsthand look at what their gargantuan charity, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, is doing in the region, and where it might next direct its attention.
The couple make a trip like this every year, but the travel arrangements aren’t usually on this scale. As soon as they leave their plane, they are whisked into a 10-car entourage, complete with a military escort and an ambulance, and swept through the city’s unusually empty streets.

Police have erected dozens of road blocks to keep back drivers and pedestrians. Snipers stand ready on almost every tall building as the cavalcade heads towards the Dhaka Sheraton, the city’s most luxurious downtown hotel.

An advance party, including several former White House aides, has been out here for several days, working on an itinerary that has been closely guarded from all but the couple’s personal staff and the handful of journalists traveling with them.

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