FIRE!!!

Twas six days before Christmas and all through the campus all the children were napping, yes, even the teachers. 

There bellies were full with the rice and the curry, and they lay there head down to rest from the scurry. 

When up from the haystack there rose such a clatter, the word that was spread was, “Get up! There’s a FIRE!” 

All came from their rooms and looked up, to see all the smoke filling up the now darkening sky. 

I jumped to my window to see what’s the matter, and saw from my perch the flames start to scatter. 

I threw on my shoes and ran down to see, if I could help carry buckets of sand or of water. 

The caregivers, guards, cookers, and teachers, they all came to help with this now leaping fire. 

I helped calm the flames with the buckets of water, the smoke burned my lungs just like many others. 

After buckets of sand and of water besides, the fireman came with their hose of great size. 

We all worked together to to pull the hay out, yes, out of the pile looking like a smoke spout. 

Lots of throwing, and spraying, and soot in the face went into this afternoon of such disgrace. 

When all smoke was gone, and the hay strewn about, we were covered in ash but put out a great shout. 

Thank you God for protecting our campus so small and letting it burn only the hay for the stall.

you can see the banana trees behind were singed as well

This was once a neat hay stack, now it's all over

soaked with soot and water, my pants were once white. =)

Independence Day

Brightly colored flags lined the fence and the kids excited voices could be heard all around. December 16 is Bangladesh’s Independence Day. The teachers had planned a special day for the kids. They call it “Sports day”. I could see excited smiles on every face, from the young ones to the caregivers and even the guards. They flew their Bangladesh flag on a very tall bamboo stick and in the grassy area they had chalk circles and lines for the various games. To start out the day of games, they separated the kids in 4 different groups depending on their age. (They would compete within these groups.) All the groups lined up in single fill lines looking like an army ready to march.

 After singing their national anthem, the races began. The first, was just a simple running race. It took awhile to get through all the groups because they did a caregiver group, teacher group, and guard/other men group besides the four kid groups. The first, second and third place winners got to stand on podiums that were created from bricks. It reminded me a lot of the Olympics. 

After the running races they had frog hopping races, musical chairs, and a hilarious game where they had tied candies to a string. Then they tied the kids hands behind their backs and had them run over to the string and they’d have to jump up and try and catch a candy in their mouth and pull it off the string to win. The kids had a lot of fun with this one and it was so cute to watch all the kids jump with their mouths open wide toward the sky.

 A few weren’t used to loosing in games like musical chairs where they had to be pulled out, and they started to cry. I took the ones who were crying to sit down, but I think it didn’t help to have them all together cause they would start to stop crying and then hear the other crying and start all over. But for the most part everyone had such a blast. After the games were done, they did a reenactment of the “Freedom Fighters” fighting for independence against the Pakistani's. They painted mustaches on a few boys to play as the Pakistani fighters and they had the freedom fighters in bright orange. Everyone enjoyed watching.  

In the afternoon they had an awards ceremony. For the program, we were asked to dance again. Two other dances, some poems and a song made up this program. Then awards were handed out for the different groups. Prizes varied from candy, to hair clips, to handkerchiefs, to toy airplanes. Everyone had such a good time and you could see it in their eyes. It was a new and fun way to celebrate. 

Volleyball, Weddings, and Caterpillars

It’s been a while since I last blogged. I do confess that too many things happened on my last trip so I put off the story telling and now it’s been so long. So I’ll just share some of the highlights of the trip. First, the purpose of the trip was to go to a wedding and to hand out “pocket money” as they call it to the students sponsored by BanglaHope. We ended up at the Adventist College near Dhaka. And we traveled down south to one of the schools down there. Anyways, here are some snippets of the trip. 

• I got to play volleyball with a group of the guy teachers at the college. (I guess here in Bangladesh, girls don’t play volleyball.) Then I got to play a second time down in the South with another group of students and teachers. This time it was a lot more intense. They had speakers set up with an announcer and music playing in the background. It was so fun. 
• At the college, we were hanging out with some of Banni’s friends and I saw a guy, tall for Bangali’s, having his friend take a picture of him next to me while my back was turned. I turned around while the picture was being taken and they started laughing. I knew what they were doing and I laughed too. But one of the friends interpreted that he had placed a bet with his friends saying that he was taller. He had bet 100 taka! So I told him he could come stand side by side just so he could see. I was about an inch or two taller and everyone let out a burst of laughter. It was quite entertaining. I’m pretty sure he was shocked to see a girl that was taller than him. 
• Our bus tire exploded as we went over a bump. 
• Drank fresh coconut milk for the first time. And got to see them pick them as well. 
• Ate more delicious curry.

• Had a spider the size of my opened hand in our bathroom.
• Saw a frog smaller than a penny
• Rode on a Launch and a Ferry. Both were packed as full as they could get. 
• Helped to cut some vegetables with they’re knife.

• Went to a wedding where the marriage was arranged. But even more crazy was that he is from Korea and she was from Bangladesh. They don’t know each other’s language and both speak a very tiny tiny bit of English. They met 4 days before their wedding! They are brave! The wedding ceremony was a lot like American SDA weddings because they were SDA. Not much was different.

• Went to a Bangladesh amusement park and water park. So fun to see their reaction to the “roller coasters” and water slides. They had one room called “Ice Land”. It was so fun to see their faces as they walked on the floor that was all covered in ice. They had never seen it before. =) The rides would have been little kid rides in America but we were having such a blast! The Water park was different. We went in our clothes since they don’t wear bathing suits over here. It was so crowded and I didn’t really wanna think about how dirty the water was. Luckily we didn’t get any strange sickness or disease from that. The park was quite an experience to say the least. 

Those were the man things that went down during the trip. Now, These are the things I’ve been up to since then. 

• Teaching English, Math, Art, and PE
• Playing with the kids. Today I got on the Seesaw along with 12 other laughing kids! It was a good leg work out!
• Had a poisonous caterpillar crawl into bed with me and decide to sleep on my arm. (at least that’s what their guess was.)
• Made pumpkin bread.
• Learned how to make chapattis
• And lit my Christmas Tree Candle numerous times. =)

So that’s what I’ve been up to the last month. Sorry I had to write in bullets, but that’s what happens when I haven’t been keeping up with blogging. 


Time is going by so fast here. Today is the mark of 3 months here. I only have 3 left and I have a feeling they’ll be even faster then the past months. I’ll let ya know what happens next and hopefully I’ll be better about posting it. Happy Holidays to all! =) 

Of Sickles and Cells...

The sharp sickle made a clean slice as it cut through the small bundles of rice grass. The early morning sun puts a deep golden orange glow on the already gold stalks. A smoky haze is over the rice fields as we begin to cut. As I’m bent over, I can hear the sounds of the other sickles crunching and crackling through the golden stalks. I am so excited that I finally get to do this!
It’s a BanglaHope tradition to have as many people from the orphanage come out on the first day and help start the rice harvest. So all the staff, some of the caregivers, and the first and second graders all come and help. Everyone just finds a spot at the beginning of the paddy and blazes their own trail through the field.

The sickles are so sharp it doesn’t take any sawing back and forth to cut the rice. Just one swipe and it’s through. The rice grows in bundles and we could average about 3 to 4 bundles across as we moved ahead. When a rhythm was created, we could get moving pretty fast especially if a little competitiveness kicked in. (maybe the competitiveness was just me. hehe) When we got a handful we just laid it neatly behind.

Then someone else came tying them all up and handing them to the kids who carried them to the awaiting carts. We did about four paddies in about an hour. But the experience was so worth it! I have to say that the laborers that do it all day, bent over in the hot sun have my respect. It’s not an easy job but being able to do it for a few hours was a blast!

People Watching... Wait... They're Watching ME!

We’ll we took a trip into the nearest big town, Panchbibi. We took the three wheeled, flat bed cart, which is now named Mr. Puffin Toot. Anyways, Kelsey and I sat on the back. This trip was so fun. I have so many stories just from the six hours we were away. So since I don’t feel like writing them all in one big story, I will make them into bullet stories. All of these stories are about the people here and how they interacted with us. =)

• As I said, Kelsey and I were on the back of Mr. Puffin Toot with our legs swinging freely. It’s an exciting ride since you can’t see what’s coming ahead. We just see what everyone does after we pass. Sometimes, when we pass guys on bicycles we can tell they start pedaling faster and a huge smile comes across there face. Some make an effort to stay so close to us and will come inches from brushing their front wheel against our knees. We got a chuckle out of a few that stuck with us for a ways and decided to make a story of why they were trying so hard to pedal after us. One even tried several times to get close enough to ask us where we were from. Finally after a few miles he asked us the second time and we replied “Bangladesh”. He thought that was funny but then began to pedal less and less until he was too far behind to catch up. I guess that’s all he wanted to know. 
• We passed many groups of children playing on the side of the road. Some playing badminton, some football (soccer), some just talking with each other. Two boys as we passed got the biggest smile on their face and started sprinting after us with their badminton rackets still in their hands. I was quite impressed how fast they could run and how long they kept up with us. Another group of kids started singing so loud as soon as they saw us. Another group of older kids pointed energetically at us and as they did they said, “How are YOOOUUUUU!” and then laughed and danced about. A little girl saw us pass and gasped and said loudly, “OH! Baba!!” Which is the Bangali equivalent to “oh my goodness!” or something of that sort. Then she realized that she said it loud enough for us to here and giggled as she timidly hid behind a friend. 
• I was looking for a birthday gift for Banni at a small shop. Two men were chatting with the owner and as I came over to look at the stuff in the counter, I saw out of the corner of my eye that one of the men looked down at my feet wide eyed and then up to my head. Then nudged his friend to look at my feet and see that I wasn’t wearing any kind of heel. I find that many people look at my feet here just to see how much of a heel I should be wearing. Then when they see I’m only in flip flops, I can see their mouths drop and big grins come across their face. 
• While we were shopping, Mrs. Waid asked one of her Bangali friends to see if he could get a better price on one of the containers she wanted to buy. He would go into the shop by himself and see if it was just our skin color that was making the price go up. We waited out in an ally-sort-of-place and stood under a little grass shade shelter. After being there only one minute a crowd had started to gather. 10, then 20, then 30... I think there must have been 40 people there by the time we left. The Bangali that had come with us tried to get them to walk on by but only ended up convincing two people. So he just started to translate what they were all saying about us. A man that was leaning against one of the bamboo supporters told us that, “We never see foreigners, so when we do, we like to stand and watch them. It makes us very happy.” When we heard this, we chuckled. He saw and said, “See, they are happy and we are happy. So, it’s ok for us to stare at them.” An older woman made her excuse to be, “I am a woman. So I should be able to look at other woman.” After awhile of listening them talk back and forth to each other Mrs. Waid laughed and said to us, “Do you fee like monkeys in the zoo?” And she told the translator to tell them we were monkeys that had escaped from the zoo.       I must say these people are very friendly and they ones crowding around us were so entertained by just watching us stand there that they brought us chairs so we could sit while they watched us. After awhile, the man came back to tell us the price. He had gotten it a little cheaper for us. When we started to walk away we looked behind us and the whole crowd was following us like a parade. I felt for a second what Jesus must have felt like as He walked through towns. Always having His disciples and others following behind Him. No wonder why he went by Himself to pray!

• Now, a short story on road conditions. The roads here vary. There are some that are way better than what I would have expected. And actually well kept. These are in the big cities, like Dahka. When you get out closer to where we are it’s still not too bad but there are pot holes you need to swerve and miss sometimes. And then when you get into the villages there are dirt paths that they drive down. I’m not going to even call them roads. They are quite fun to ride on. It’s like off roading while going as fast as you can, while you try and figure out which side of the path might be a better choice. We had to laugh at the road repairs here. When there is a hole that is really big or deep, they will dump a pile of bricks in there. It definitely makes the hole less deep but it doesn’t make it smoother, that’s for sure. 
• One last story. This one happened today actually. We went to visit the village school, which is walking distance from the orphanage. They were having a “picnic” and we were invited. Here a picnic just means a day of playing games. So we went with the Waids. One thing about Bangali’s is that if you have guest come over, you need to feed them food. So when we arrived they took us into their house. (The school teacher and wife stay’s in a house attached to the school) They gave us fruit, fried egg with cauliflower, this funnel cake type stuff, and palau rice. The funnel cake thing was very interesting. It tasted like deep fried sweet dough but when I bit into it, there was little droplets of sugar water that came out. They make it by frying dough and then put it in a pot of boiling sugar water.  Usually Bangalis don’t like sweet things, but I guess this is an exception. Anyways, we visited for awhile and then started back. When we were almost back home, we met two of the women that work at BanglaHope coming the opposite direction. We asked them where they were headed and they said to make rice flour. I asked if we could join them. Wow! I’m so glad I got to watch! They went into the village real close and went to a friends home. All the houses are made of mud. And this rice flour maker is made into the mud house floor. It’s about 6 feet long. The was it works is there is a big hole in the ground where you put the rice. There is a big log on a level contraption. At the end of the level there is a pounder that goes into the hole. They make this hammer go up and down by pushing the other end down with there leg while gravity does the rest of the job by slamming down into the hole with the rice in it. It took about 30min or so to completely grind about a gallon of rice. We got to help make the flour. It was so fun to see and to help. I would have taken a picture but I didn’t have a chance to grab my camera before we left. So hopefully the description makes sense. Maybe I can get a picture later if we go back sometime. 
  
  
  Well hope you enjoyed a few more stories about what I’m experiencing over here. We’ll be going on another adventure on Tuesday. We’ll go to the village schools in the South and then up to Dhaka to see a wedding. So there will be more stories coming in a week or so. 
  Hope that each of you are having a wonderful November! Enjoy the fall leaves! =D 
  
  
  

Trip to the City

Disclaimer: This entry is really long and not written the best. Just a warning. But there are a few stories in here somewhere. =)

We took a trip to Dhaka this week! The Waids were wanting to buy things for the kids such as, sweaters, shoes, leggings, shirts, blankets, and other things. We traveled by bus starting from the nearby town, Helee. The buses were in better condition then I thought they would be. We each had a seat the whole way. It was more like a charter bus. They sold us the four seats in the very front of the bus. The good thing about those seats is that they have much more leg room. The bad thing is that if the bus was in an accident, those seats would be the first seats to get hit. And let me tell you, it’s not uncommon for accidents to happen here. They drive so crazy here. It’s like they are playing a constant game of chicken with every car. It’s pretty entertaining, actually. On the way, I saw a bus on the side of the road that had gotten hit on the drivers side by an oncoming car. The whole side of the bus had peeled back just like a banana peels. The seats were exposed to outside and the windows were shattered. This is what most of the buses look like here (or worse):

Anyways, back to my trip, I got on a side story. So, us four Americans are sitting in the very front. The other 4 Bangali girls sat in 4 seats towards the back. And the 3 kids that we were taking to the dental clinic, sat on our laps in the front. It must have been quite an unusual sight for the people climbing into the bus; us white people with Bangali kids on our laps. The trip took about 7 hours, but I enjoyed looking out the window and seeing the countryside and cities. I loved watching the kids look out the window as well. It was there first time outside of the little area around the orphanage. They had such a good time pointing out sugar cane, trains, planes, and much more. We finally arrived in Dhaka and got settled. Then headed across the busy street to a place where they had shops. Little did I know that the next day would be packed full of shopping! As packed as the busy streets here; with people and cars and bikes and taxis. 

Tuesday came so soon and we were up and going bright and early. Bungo Bazar was our destination and it took about an hour through thick traffic to get there. They had a 12 seater van pick us up because of all the supplies they were going to buy. The trip over was eventful to say the least. Besides squeezing past cars with only inches to spare, and getting to see the big city, we had an issue with the kids we brought with us. Apparently it’s very common for Bangali people to get motion sick. We didn’t have a problem with it on the way because they were given medicine right before they left. But today, they had a full stomach and the right amount of motion for them to be miserable. The two girls were fine at first, laughing and chatting away. But, slowly they became more and more quite. Tisha needed to go to the bathroom but we were in the middle of traffic and had no way to get out. We had just stopped about 20 min before for her to go so we figured she would be ok for a bit. Wrong! A couple min later the floor was wet and she had a smelly dress. Not 2 min later, without warning, Deborah leaned forward and threw up on the floor of the van. They both looked very miserable now. We had no bags or napkins or anything except a newspaper. So they laid that down and explained that she should come to the window next time but if she couldn’t get there fast enough to try and get it on the paper. Literally, right when they had explained that to Deborah, Tisha threw up. Oh dear! All we could do was laugh at the coincidence. I looked over at the driver to see what he was thinking about all this mess now on the bottom of his van. But he was just laughing at the crazy timing of it all. We still had a ways to go and I felt so sorry for how miserable they were feeling! But after several minutes of being on solid ground they were feeling better. 

Bongo Bazar is so crazy! In the morning it was pretty quiet except for the sellers trying to get you to stop and look at there items. By the afternoon, the path between shops was crowded. These shops are lined up one after another like cells. The walkway is about a yard and a half wide and it’s all inside. You can walk back and forth between the rows and columns for so long! They have so many different booths. They sell everything you can imagine and more than 20 people sell the same type of item. 

(this is one of the walk ways, as you can sort of see, it's stuffed with stuff)

Mrs. Waid got right to work with her bargaining and buying. We got there around 8:30 or 9 in the morning and she didn’t stop till about 4 in the afternoon. I was amazed. I got a chance to go see another market where they sell sports equipment, appliances, and electronics. It was nice to have something to do because otherwise we would just stand around. But when we were standing, watching Mrs. Waid it was still interesting. She is fun to watch and very good at getting the price she wants. You can see a sparkle in her eye as she’s getting the price lower and lower and you can tell she’s having fun. While she was busy getting sweaters for the kids, I got a really good deal and bought a nice sweater for a little less than 2 dollars! All the products they Have here are seconds. They can’t export them to other places because they have some kind of flaw, like a stain or a crooked seam or a little hole. But for only $2 it’s a great buy! 

I got to stay an extra day with Mr. Waid and Banni. He had to see a lawyer about something and they only time he could do it was at 7pm. So everyone left at 5:30 the next morning and Banni and I chilled in Dhaka. We took a rickshaw to a place where there was supposed to be a movie being filmed but it was closed. So our trip just turned into a nice scenic ride. For lunch Mr. Waid took us to a really nice Indian food buffet. In the U.S. It probably would have been a 5 star or close to it. But here it only cost us 4 bucks for all you could eat. They had wonderful Nan, curries, and salads. Soooo tasty! I would have never guessed I’d be eating at such a nice restaurant here. It was quite a treat. That evening we headed over to a place were Mr. Waid got his hair cut. This was crazy! He got a hair cut, shave, massage, facial, and wash for just over two dollars! I was so surprised. And the massage took longer than the haircut. They just do the massage after the hair cut while you’re still in the chair. Neck, shoulders, arms, hands and head. Quite impressive! We headed over to the Lawyers office and while they talked, Banni and I walked in the night market. 

(They like having their picture taken)

It was mostly vegetables and fruits but there were a few selling shoes and shirts and little toys. We wondered back  and forth listening to the venders try and call us over to get us to buy something. Then, all of a sudden a little boy came up to me and grabbed my wrists so tightly. He was shouting something at me but I couldn’t understand him. He didn’t look like he was a street kid because he was pretty well taken care of. I think he just assumed that since I was white I would have money to give to him. He would not let go. It took two random strangers that saw this happen to pry him off of my arms. After that I felt pretty safe and protected. They said it was the most crime infested part of Dhaka but when two men were willing to go out of there way to help me I felt protected. 

After Mr. Waids appointment with the lawyer we headed to the bus stop. It was set back in an ally and so filthy. People were crowding around the tables trying to buy their tickets and then going over to buy a cigarette to smoke while they waited. We sat down for about 2 hours before our bus left at 11pm. It was quite exciting to be leaving at night. This added a whole new level of adventure since traveling at night is more dangerous. They have these medal bars the separate the passengers from the bus driver and they lock the gate between the door and the seats so that if a thief came in they wouldn’t be able to get into the passengers. As we got going and headed into the traffic, I heard a screeaapp. The sound of metal on metal. That sound makes my skin chill. I turned to look out the window and saw that we had gotten too close the the bus next to us. There was quite a shouting argument between bus drivers as they tried to decide who was going to move over first. It was pretty intense looking out the front windshield wondering if we would make it back in out lane before the bright headlights coming toward us would hit us. But thankfully our driver had good night vision and good depth perception. 

(a trip in the rickshaw)

Well this has gotten longer than I expected. So if you get this far, I’m impressed. ;) I have more stories but they’ll have to wait. I miss every one of you!!!

Lisa Goes to the Doctor

So I’ve had this weird infection type wound on my wrist for a little over three weeks now. Many people here have been noticing it and pointing it our. I’m not exactly sure what it is. But I haven’t been worried about it. I thought it was a mosquito bite at first, but now I just don’t know. Over the past few weeks though, I’ve been getting more and more spots everywhere on my body. One on my stomach, and leg and two on my face. There really odd. Mrs. Waid looked at it today and said I needed to go see a doctor right away because it looked like ringworm. I said REALLY! That’s kind of exciting! (Not the going to the doctor part). Now you have to know something about me. I really don’t like going to the doctor, especially if it’s just a wound on my arm or something silly and small like that. Secondly, I don’t like taking medication unless it’s absolutely necessary. And thirdly, I trust my dad's opinion a lot! So, they were wanting me to go to a doctor I didn't know, in a country I didn't know, and about a silly little wound on my wrist! It was not my ideal plan of a Monday evening. Anyways, after they kept telling me I should go, I gave in and we headed to town. 

After driving into Hili, we got to this walled in compound. It looked really nice the walls were all white and there were multiple stories. We went into the building and they pointed to a room, not 4 feet from the main entrance.  There was a desk with some chairs around it and then a beat up gurney in the corner. I wasn’t quite sure if this was a waiting room or the actual examining room. After a conversation between the women that took me and some people in the room, we learned that the doctor wasn’t going to be in for a couple hours. But we were in luck, there was another doctor right Outside the government hospitals gate. And I mean literally right out side. It looked like one of the small shops everyone else was selling stuff in. To give you a perspective of the size of this place, if I stood in the middle of the pharmacy I could touch all the walls. And the “doctors office/examining room” was maybe a little bit wider and maybe two and a half times as long. Well, back to the story. We “check-in” at the pharmacy, they write my name down as Lita, and we sit down in the “waiting room”. Let me explain the waiting room. Picture a very busy street with shops on both side, bicycles going swiftly past and people busily walking by. Now, add a couple chairs on the side of this street and you have the waiting room! Of course, there were people coming and staring, asking where I was from and who knows what else they asked that I didn’t understand. After waiting about 15 min or so we got called in to the other room. This room was all windows on the side facing the street and had a huge doorway going from the pharmacy to this room. Luckily they didn’t examine me like Banni had warned me they would. Instead, my name and why I was there, (I told them I didn’t know in English and then Banni told why I was really there in Bangali) he wrote my name down as Risa, looked at my wrist and the two on my face and asked, “Do you have any history of insect bites?” I answered a little puzzled, “Yes”. Then he proceeded to ask if we had mosquitos in the US. I said, “yes” holding back my smile. He then talked some more in Bangali and wrote down my prescription, 3 oral pills and a topical cream. We were about to leave and I hadn’t heard what he thought my problem was. So I asked him. He said, “Dermatitis”. =) Oh dear, I came all this way for him to tell me in a fancy way that I had skin rashes and to give me some medication. Well, it was an adventure for sure! We got my medication and I learned later that they only gave me enough for 3 days supply instead of a week like they were supposed to. I still don’t really know what it is beside dermatitis. So, I’ve decided to wait and talk to my dad (who's opinion I trust a lot, remember?) =) about their medication and have him show a dermatologist back home the pictures before I decide if I’m going to take this medication. Like I said, I don’t want to take it if I don’t have to.  Anyways, we headed back towards our ride home which was back inside the government compound. They tried to start the “motor van” but it wouldn’t start. It still wouldn’t start after about 20 min. Finally, I had this feeling to pray with someone out loud. So I told Banni and we prayed. I knew God could start it. But, they tried some more times and it still wouldn’t start. Finally, the 5^th time after our prayer it started. I have no idea why God waited a little bit before He answered my prayer. But, I’m pretty sure He was wanting to remind me that His timing is better and that I need to be patient. It was dark by now and someone had brought a flashlight to help out. As we left they shown it in my face and tried to take a picture. 

Oh look! I just discovered a new infection starting on my knee. hmmmm... I'll keep ya posted on if all this turns out to be something more exciting than dermatitis. =)

Well, This sure was quite a day! I had already been to Hili in the afternoon with Mr. Waid. And this trip to the doctor was not in my plan at all. But it made for some good stories and a good lesson in patients and waiting on God. 

An Afternoon at the Fair.

I had quite a packed afternoon! Mr. Waid told us stories of how they adopted their daughter and how many miracles it took to do so. Then he shared how the orphanage got started and so many other stories. It was a great way to spend some of the afternoon. Then, After lunch we went for a short little walk around the closest village. A group of us grabbed two kids and we lead them out of the orphanage. This was a real treat for them because they don’t get to leave very often. On the walk we saw a calf that had just been born several minutes before. It was so cool to see. 

On the second walk we took, with the other group of kids, we heard beating drums and yelling. It kept getting closer and closer until we saw them coming down the road. I learned that these were Hindus and this was the last day of one of the festivals celebrating this particular god. 5 nearby villages take their idols and bring it to a certain spot and worship on the last day of their festival. We took the kids back and a few of the teachers and Banni took us out to see this festival. They call it a fair. There are a few booths set up selling jewelry and hair accessories. There’s also toys being sold and other fair type trinkets. One of the traditions here at the fair, is to take some paint on your hands and then try and smear it all over peoples faces. It was mostly the kids that got in on this game but sometimes an adult would fight back, trying to get revenge. A little boy came up and smeared dark purple paint on Banni’s face. I managed to escape this, but it could be that they would’ve had to jump to get up to my face. The main thing at this fair was the drums and dancing. Many men, with drums or without, all danced around. It was more like a mosh pit. There wasn’t any pattern to this dance but it was more of uncontrolled, spastic movement. It was quite an experience to watch. 

We came back for a bit and then all of a sudden I saw Banni and one of the teachers running toward the gate. I figured they were going to watch the idols be thrown into the pond, so I went with them. (The Hindu's take their idols and throw them into water after the festival is done.) We ran to the other side of the pond just outside our compound and found the small group of villagers still dancing around and beating drums. Then they took the idol off the cart and carried it into the middle of the pond. As soon as they let the idol fall into the water, they all started throwing the mud all over each other and the small group on the side. We waited till they were done throwing mud and then went back over to where they had carried a lady who had fainted. I thought she might have died but then I saw her breathing. They were smacking her face, pulling her ears, prying her mouth open, but nothing would revive her.  They tried putting her face over some smoking wood as well. We left before we found out when she woke up. I had an eire feeling watching all of this take place.

The whole afternoon was a really neat experience and it made me really glad that I only serve ONE God and don’t need to worry about loosing His love if I don’t give him sacrifices and build statues of Him to worship. 

Welcome!

The compound is a buzz. All the kids are so excited that, “Today is Grammy and Grandpa!” Everyone that talks about them coming, has the biggest smile on their face and such a sparkle in their eye. I can tell the Waids are loved so much! They canceled school in the afternoon so everyone could be at the gate to welcome them. They spent yesterday and this morning decorating the pathways, gates, and even their door. At the beginning of the walkway to the staff building and to the apartment where they live, they made a bamboo arch and covered it with balloons that read “Happy Birthday.” The sides were also covered in bamboo leaves. Neon flags were lining all the pathways and connecting each flag were strings that had tissue paper triangles, reminding me of prayer flags, except these flags were all brightly colored. At one o’clock we heard the most awaited sound. The bell rang and kids started running out of their rooms toward the gate. Everyone lined up behind the gate waiting to catch the first sight of Mr. and Mrs. Waid. As soon as someone pointed out their van coming down the road, you could see everyone’s face beaming and they could hardly stand still. I hadn’t even met them yet and I found myself getting so excited to see them. I felt like I had known them for a long time. Their van pulled up and the door slid open. Cheers came up from all over. Hugs were given and smiles were everywhere. The Waids gave hugs to all and went to the children to give them their love. I could tell instantly why they are loved so much here. After the majority of the hugs were given, some of the kids had prepared a special dance for them. They were taken up to their room to finish off the welcoming ceremony. When I finally met the Waids, I just felt so warm and felt like it was my grandparents I was seeing. The afternoon was spent organizing their bags and eating dinner. Then I played a game of Badminton, which is Mr. Waids favorite. I feel like I have known them for a long time. When they talked to us at dinner, I could see the passion and love they have for the everyone here and that love is given straight back to them. The sign decorating their door tells so much, “Welcome back to home”. 

Sky

I can hear the motor van go “putter, plob, putter” as it takes us back to BanglaHope from the village, Hili. The sky is turning colors from blue to orange and then pink. To the East, I see a huge thunder head off in the distance. It is also changing to a glowing orange from the hot orange/pink sun slipping slowly beneath the horizon. The fields of green rice in the sunsets light, just add to the beautiful scenery. The quietness suddenly changes when we enter a small village. We stop to let one of the men who came with us, buy some sugar cane. As soon as we pull over and wait, it seems like the whole village comes crowding around us just to simply star at some rare versions of humans, us. The children are the closest, giggling and smiling. Then the women are nearby studying our faces like a student studies their books. And the men are around as well. I feel like a museum exhibit or some kind of rare piece of art that is making it’s debut. Everywhere we go it’s like this. I’m used to it by now. And honestly, it’s quite amusing to see everyones reaction as we drive by. As we leave the few shops and head back into the countryside women working in their rice fields stop what their doing to watch us go by. I look into the still blue sky and see the almost full moon shinning as white as a florescent light bulb. 

I’m sitting outside now and as I look over toward India’s border I see fireworks filling the sky. It’s a special Hindu holiday honoring one of their gods and today was the last day so they celebrate even more than they have this past week. I’m unable to write more than a few words at a time because the bugs are swarming around me. There is a bright light on over at the other end of the roof and it’s attracting thousands of bugs. I feel like a light myself. So many keep bouncing into me or landing in my hair. I must say, it is quite distracting.  I don’t have to use a light to write tonight because the moon is so bright. I love looking at the night sky!

Well, the fireworks seem to be slowing down, so maybe I’ll go inside and escape these tiny critters. Just thought I’d share what my afternoon and evening was like.  “Shoebow Rawtree” (good night)

Stillness

As I sit by myself on the roof of our building. The stars shine down brightly. The moon reflects off the water below me and I can hear the quiet chatter of the village people close by. I can also hear the loud conversations of the crickets and frogs arguing back and forth across the pond. Small wisps of clouds float by as they glow with the moons light. I can hear my self think. It’s been a while since I’ve been alone. But still I am not completely alone. I can sense someone greater pulling me towards the beauty around me. I like to think of the stars as God’s eyes, and sunsets, His smile. As I sit looking all around, I wonder what He’ll teach me while I’m here among the smoke filling sky. It’s hard to be patient. It’s hard to let go. But I’m working on both, on this roof top and I will try my best to continue as I climb down from my peaceful perch. 

(This picture was taken in Walla Walla)

The blogs are here!

We have internet now! So, I have written blogs and have posted them in ascending order. If you go to the blog right after the one titled "eyes", that is my first blog of my Bangladesh adventure. Enjoy!

Learning...

Sunday, October 3 

Well it’s been almost two weeks since I left home. If someone told me it had been a month I would believe them. Its felt like such a long time! I have learned so much in these past weeks. And so many new things have been packed into this little amount of time.   

Things about Bangladesh: 

• They hit their baby’s and children for fun and as a joke.
• They don’t use their left hand to eat, and they eat with their fingers.
• Looking down is a sign of respect
• women shouldn’t keep eye contact with men for more than a glance

-All the people here are so beautiful!

Common Bangla words/phrases that I say:

(the spelling is not right. I just spelled how it sounded) =)

• “Ami nahm Lisa” My name is Lisa 
• “Twome goman acho” How are you
• “Ami ballo achi” I am good
• “Ami tumakay ballobashi” I love you
• “Ahshow” - Come here
• “Boshow” sit
• “ballo” good
• “Na” no / “Heh” Yes
• “Donobahd” Thank you
• “Shoebow ratree” Good night
• “Shoebow shacall” Good morning

Friday, October 1  

Right now I am so thankful for generators. After a long while tonight without the electricity, the generators finally kicked in and we have air circulation in our room!  Woohoo! The humidity tonight is around 70% and it’s about 94 degrees. This is the equivalent to 118 degrees! 

After vespers tonight we said goodnight to the kiddos and then got invited into Olie’s room. She is a woman with the biggest heart! (She also is very talented with craft things and cooking.) A small after-vespers chat became a multiple hour story, learning and eating time. That’s the way this culture is. She first told us the story of her family’s situation. Olie has 5 sisters. Her second sister is divorced and her sister’s child lives with her parents. Her oldest is married and her 3 younger sisters are in school. Since they have no brothers, they have to work to help support their parents. Supporting the parents is usually the son’s job. Just recentlyher dad broke is back and had to have surgery but, they think that somehow, in the operation process, they cut his esophagus so now the food and water seeps out into his body instead of all going to his stomach. They don’t have enough money to pay for another operation. So Olie being not married and not in school has the job of caring for her family. She has such an incredible attitude. When she talked about giving her money to her sisters when they need help and to her parents she’s filled with joy! She said, “When I give to other’s, and I see that they are happy, it makes me happy too.” She loves to give to others and told us that she always thinks of what Jesus must have felt on the cross. Nothing we can do compares to what He did for us, she said. And that example is what she truly tries to follow.  She is such an amazing woman and her attitude is so positive! Her story was so so incredible to listen too! 

Beauty!

Monday, September 27  

There are a set of older twin girls her named Tonia and Sonia. They hardly now any English but they are so sweet. They’ll come up to me and hold my hand. (In Bangladesh, holding hands is a sign of good friendship. So you’ll see old or young, males or females holding hands.) Anyways, we’ll try to talk to them but they can’t understand much English. We’ve managed to point to things and learn Bangali words but not very much conversation happens. Even though they don’t get to speak with us, all they want to do is be around us. It’s so special. We sat outside the kids rooms this evening just before we went in to say goodnight. We heard them start their worships in their rooms and they sang their songs so loudly! It was so precious to hear such energetic and happy voices. The boys room wanted a story and song. The younger middle girls room wanted kisses so they crowded around us and gave us kisses. The older girls wanted a song and kiss (apa) so we sang and gave them hugs and kisses. They smuthered us with love.  They are such happy, beautiful children. Have I mentioned that all the people here in Bangladesh are beautiful! Every one of them! 

Memories being made...

Sunday, September 26

Sunday was so good! We went to Hili to get our clothes made. It’s wonderful because Kelsey and I have been wearing the same clothes for quite a while now. The town was bustling with so many people. We took a 25 min “van” ride into Hili. The vans here are a tri-cycle with a wagon type bed in the back. We squeezed 6 people and the poor man peddled us into town. Everyone stared so much and came to the shop windows while we were picking out fabric. Picking the fabric for the Salour and Kamees was a challenge. There are millions of designs here and many with crazy busy patterns on them. We finally chose them and took them to a tailer. They charge $1.50 to make a complete outfit.  And we payed about $5 to get the material. So cheap! We got back to the compound and they knocked on our door with an invitation to a program at 3. They had prepared a lovely program to welcome us even more. Banni had also taught us a traditional dance to preform for this. Oh man, it was embarrassing!! Lets just say, I can not dance! But it was fun to learn and laugh about. They decorated us like they traditionally do. This means painting our feet, tying our hair in a bun and putting flowers in it, painting our finger tips and putting a circle in the palm of our hand. They put a red dot on our forehead and put eyeliner and eyeshadow on our faces. The makeup was definitely for darker skin. It made me look like a clown. The program was so amazing. The little kids had divided into their age groups and prepared something special to do. Some danced, some put on a modeling show, some sang, and some did acting. One group of tiny boys acted out the rhyme “no more monkeys jumping on the bed”. It was adorable! It was such a fun program! And to see some of their traditional things was a great welcome gift! 

RAIN! =D

Sabbath, September 25  

Today it rained so hard! While the closing prayer was being said during church, rain came out of no where and it poured. The roof is tin so it made a beautiful sound. After church we ran outside in the rain and one of the girls here, Banni, took us to the roof of the staff building. This building is the tallest object for several miles around. The compound is surrounded by many rice fields and we could see in every direction for a very long ways. We could also see lightning flashing around and hear the thunder. I was in my element! They had a chili plant growing up there and we tried one. I bit into some of it instead of licking it and wow was it spicy!  I could still feel the heat after 15 min! It was so tasty though! We stayed up on the roof for a bit then all of a sudden the loudest thunder sounded and we jumped and ran inside. I loved it!

Friday, September 23 

We arrive at the orphanage after a 6 hour drive through crowded cities and small villages. Driving here is quite exciting. Without a car horn you would not be able to survive the roads. They use them every time they come up to pass another car to let them know they’re close by. They also use them to let the drivers know they won’t be moving. So when both drivers are using their horns it is quite the experience. They don’t pay attention to the lines in the roads and while passing someone, they’ll wait till the last second to pull in front of the car they’re passing to avoid the oncoming car. All the while, using there horns to communicate. Anyways, we get to the orphanage and are welcomed with very warm smiles. The children were all taking naps so we had some time to take our stuff up to our room and get acquainted with the compound. It’s gorgeous here! We’re set back, away from a city and in the middle of many rice fields. Everywhere is soooo green. I love it! 

Once the children woke up we went to meet them. Some were timid and others came right up to us to hold our hand and to be held. They are so precious and beautiful! That night they had vespers and welcomed us with a bouquet of flowers picked from their compound. I didn’t understand much of the program because it was said in Bangla. Hopefully I will learn to understand most of what they say. 

Thursday, September 22 

I’m here! After a really long trip we finally made it. We didn’t have any trouble getting to where we needed to be except when we arrived in Dhaka and went through immigration. They asked us to write down the address of the place we were staying and we didn’t know. After much discussion with the security officers about how we would get past, we remembered we had the phone number of Simson, the man who was picking us up. They tried calling that number but it was the wrong number. As it turns out, the last two numbers were switched. After a while I noticed a man pointing and waving his hands in huge gestures. He was far enough away that I couldn’t read the sign he had in his hands, but I was pretty sure he was motioning to us. I asked the guard if I could go out and see if this was the Simson and told them that if he was our ride, he would know the address. The guard agreed and escorted me out. It was Simson! It was such an answer to prayer! By this time most everyone had been cleared out of the airport and our luggage had been collected off the baggage wheel. They stamped our passports and gave us our luggage and we were off. We were thankful that Simson had waited around and found us. 

Now, let me back up a bit. We had an 11 hour layover in Hong Kong. This would have been quite dull if we had stayed inside the airport. However, we were told that there was a great place not that far outside of the airport that we could get to very easily by bus. It’s called Lantau Island. We took a public bus to a gondola station and then took a 25min gondola ride up a gorgeous mountain. We could look down on the bay and the airport. As we got further up the mountain we could see waterfalls and green landscape everywhere! When we got off the gondol we walked through this cute little town with shops and booths set up. Up ahead we could see this HUGE Buddha statue. Apparently, it is the tallest stone Buddha statue in the world. We climbed many steps to get to the top of the hill where the Buddha sat. Also in this village, they have a monastery. The landscaping was so peaceful and beautiful. While we were there we got to hear a monk chant and hit a big bell with what looked like a carved log. We wondered around the town for a bit longer and then headed back to the airport. We had to pay per hour for our luggage to be stored so we didn’t want to be out too long. The Hong Kong airport in gigantic so we hung out in there for the remaining 6 hours. 

Eyes

One of the first things I notice when I meet someone is their eyes. I think eyes are absolutely beautiful. I love how many different shapes and colors there are and how you can learn so much about the person through their eyes. I love that eyes are the way most of us view the world. These small things on our faces give us beauty, color, and depth. Unfortunately, they also soak in the not so pretty things of life. These eyes of ours help us create an attitude, good and bad, of all the things that happen in our life. I've thought about how it would be to view the world through someone else's eyes. We all have different attitudes and perspectives that together create such a diverse world. Then, I think about God's eyes, filled with compassion and love for all, wanting the best for everyone. What would it be like to view the world through His eyes?


I'm leaving in less than 2 days! I'll be heading out for an adventure of a lifetime. But for some reason I just can't seem to grasp that I'll be half way around the world in just a few short days. Hearing everyone say they're back at Walla Walla and ready for the new school year makes me miss seeing everyone. But, I know that going to Bangladesh is what God has in mind for me and I'm excited for the opportunity to grow and learn. I'm ready for something new and challenging! I'm ready for God to use me. 


And I want to see the world through His eyes. 

Plans

So... after a bit of waiting, it looks as though we may be headed in the direction of Bangladesh! =)  I'm sad about not being able to go to Africa, but I'm excited for the plans God has for me.  More to come later!

Thoughts...

It's frustrating when the little plans that you have get put on hold. Kelsey and I talked to the coordinator of the orphanage where we're going next year. We asked some questions about what to bring, what our job would be like, and what types of food we would need to learn how to cook. When we came to the end of our phone call we asked if the 6-9 months would still be ok with her. Without a delay she cut in and said bluntly, "Well if you're only going to be staying for that short of a time, don't bother coming. It'll just waste our time. We need you here for a year. No less." Now, I don't want to make her sound like a grouchy, stern person,  but that answer just left us stunned. We haven't made up our mind yet on what we'll be doing but right now we're just praying and trying to process what to do next. I know it will all work out to what God has in mind for next year, but it's just hard to wait sometimes. 

"I know what I'm doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for. When you call on me, when you come and pray to me, I'll listen. When you come looking for me, you'll find me. Yes, when you get serious about finding me and want it more than anything else, I'll make sure you won't be disappointed." Jeremiah 29:11-13 MSG