Home of Love

Monday, November 29, 2004

School director

In February 2005 the new primary school (above) will be officially opened. By then we hope to have many eager students filling each classroom. What we desperately need before February though are some good local qualified teachers! We feel like we are looking for a needle in a haystack; searching for people who would love to teach kids just for the joy of teaching instead of the sole delight from each month's paycheck. What we are also praying for is a school director, someone to oversee the teachers (classes must start on time, no beating the kids, etc) and administrate. Best of all would be a foreigner, who speaks English and has an education background, but we would consider any who have this type of ministry on their hearts. Is anyone interested? Or do you know of someone who might enjoy giving a few years of their life to invest in the children of Bangladesh? Please contact us if so.

posted by Colleen at 7:47 AM

Wednesday, November 24, 2004

What would we do without him?

In this photo you see Tusar Dio. His wife unfortunately died in Dec. 2003 and his little 3 yr. old lives with relatives. Since the beginning of 2004 he has been working at Home of Love as our head cook. He manages to cook for about 60 people, 3 times a day on a gas stove from the stone ages! We need about 50 lbs of rice a day.

posted by Colleen at 10:18 PM

Monday, November 22, 2004

You were there? Let's find your name!

With all the visitors that "Home of Love" receives we thought it would be fun and interesting to have a guest book for all of our guests to sign. To document all the countries that our guests come from would be quite amazing. Just thinking back a few months I am reminded of people from Columbia, Germany, Japan, Papua New Guinea, South Korea, Sweden and USA. We've had Air Force Colonels, Embassy officials, pastors, company presidents and last but not least many Bengalis. It would be a fascinating journal in the years to come. The only problem is that we do not have any good paper or guest books in Chittagong to buy. Is there any one that would like to send us one? It should be big and with durable paper as it will have to withstand many examining hands! Our address is:
Thomas Kuehn; House 30 Road 1; Hillview Nasirabad; 4000 Chittagong; Bangladesh.

posted by Colleen at 8:50 AM

Friday, November 19, 2004

A Father to the Fatherless

Psalm 68:5 "A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling."

I look into her eyes, expecting to see the pain of an orphan, I child without father or mother. At first I cannot see the pain so I wait. I look into her eyes again, and again I see no pain, only joy.

Joy?

"Lord" my soul cries out, "she is an orphan where is her pain?" Convinced of my own blindness, I wait and watch. They share their meals with me; their laughter muffled my mouthfuls of rice. They share their games with me, their patience with my mistakes, unending. They share their love for me their hugs and kisses brightening even the dreariest of days. They share their lives with me, and yet I cannot see their pain.

"Am I so blind?" I cry out to my God, "am I so hardened that even this does not affect me?" But, my God doesn't answer he only waits.

Hours turn into days, days into weeks, and weeks into months. Still I watch and wait. I hear their songs in the morning, praising the God I know so well. I hear their prayers at mealtimes; I hear their devotions at night. I see their smiles all day long, but still I cannot see their pain.

"Lord", my heart cries out again, "I saw pain on the streets today... The beggar, the rickshaw wallah... the store keeper... The pain in their eyes almost blinded me." "But", my heart cries out again, "why can't I see the pain right here?" These are the fatherless, the orphans. They have no on... and I cannot see their pain.

And then ever so softly, he answers,
"My child..."
"Yes", I reply.
"Who comforts you in times of trial?"
"Why you do lord?"
"Who loves you enough to die for you?"
"Only you lord."
"Who is your Father?"

At first the words refuse to come, but at last I cry out...
"Lord you are my father... And you are their father as well. As much as you love and comfort me, you love and comfort each of these little ones."

"I am a Father to the fatherless..." He reminds me, "and I set the lonely in families".

Tears running down my cheeks, I thank the Lord for his provision and walk down stairs for dinner. Small arms wrap around my waist, and the pair of bright eyes stare up at me. And still I cannot see their pain.

Written by Kristin Hammond, (now Vanderende) who came as a volunteer to the orphanage in summer 1998

posted by Thomas at 11:51 PM

Wednesday, November 17, 2004

Breaking the fast

During Eid everyday at about 5:15pm, a loud siren is heard throughout the city at this moment everyone dives into their food. Some traditional treats are shown in this picture. The snacks are sweet and also spicy.

posted by Colleen at 11:21 PM

Monday, November 15, 2004

Eid Celebrations Explode

The night before Eid started we heard fireworks going off and everyone was buying special food. Eid is the biggest Muslim holiday of the year and the culmination of the holy month of Ramadan. Thomas was going to take pictures of the decorations and flower displays around our neighborhood when his digital camera broke. Now we are without means to send you any pictures or put them on the www, so that is why you only read and can't see! We are working on trying to get another one but they are not available in the country nor can be repaired here. We do have many pictures on file that we haven't used yet so for the time being you'll see those.

posted by Colleen at 10:34 PM

Saturday, November 13, 2004

Memory Olympics

On Friday after service we had our first Memory Olympics at Home of Love. Two weeks previous we had given the kids verses to learn by heart. They were anywhere from 2 to 15 verses in length depending on the ages. Our little nursery kids memorized 2 verses, we were so proud of them! Class 5 learned from Isaiah 60:1-3. The college boys learned Rom. 5: 1-15 and could recite it perfectly. They had really studied hard! Afterwards all the ones who got their verses correct got to pick a present from the awards table. The bottom photo shows the kids eyeing the prizes! We plan on doing this more often as it was a real success and lots of fun.

posted by Colleen at 10:33 AM

Tuesday, November 09, 2004

Nursery poetry

Here are the youngest kids, they are saying a poem altogether that they have learned. The Bengalis enjoy poetry very much. It is not unusual for one of the teenagers to write poems or songs and then perform them for us. The Bengali language is poetic and beautiful, we love to speak it. The Bengali language was the reason of the war between Pakistan and Bangladesh in the 70's; the Bengalis were not willing to give up their mother tongue and fought long and hard for their own nation. Thus the name Bangladesh, bangla is the language and 'desh' means country, the land of bangla speakers.

posted by Thomas at 9:38 PM

Wednesday, November 03, 2004

Ramadan

As winter slowly approaches the whole country heaves a sign of relief as the intense heat gets ready to depart. This month is Ramadan in the Muslim world. This is the time when they fast from sun up until sundown in pursuit of holiness and purity. It is a real festive mood outside and the whole city is glowing with lights and decorations. Ramadan is now more than half over.
At the orphanage the kids are starting to play outside more and have built a makeshift volleyball court and the girls enjoy playing badminton. During the other 9 months of the year the kid's do not enjoying being outside as it is just too hot. Also they are careful not to get a suntan as the Bengalis dislike too dark skin. When our boys work in the garden they always wear hats, long sleeve shirts and long pants!

posted by Thomas at 9:33 AM