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Monday, October 31, 2005
Ramadan
During the holy month of Ramadan most of the Bangladeshi people are fasting during daylight hours. Households are up before sunrise (3am) to cook heavy meals to eat before daylight appears and then are not allowed anything until the sun retreats at about 5:30pm. During the fasting time nothing is allowed, not even water or for the radicals not even their saliva. That is why Ramadan can be a bit messy on the streets. The fasting and early rising plus hot sunlight causes tempers to flare easily and traffic to get outrageous. The people seem more aggressive and shops are only open at specific times. It's an interesting time to visit for sure. At a precise time each day the siren goes off at the end of the day and the eating and merriment starts. Suddenly life is tolerable again and a spirit of happiness permeates the bustling city. The beggar babies are smiling as they smear food all over their dirty cheeks for Ramadan is a good time to be a beggar as most are especially generous during this month, like we are in the west at Christmas. Above is a picture of what is called Iftar. That is the food people eat when they break their fast.
posted
by Thomas at 7:45 PM
Friday, October 28, 2005
2 Corinthians 4: 7-11
But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our mortal body.
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by Thomas at 7:41 PM
Sunday, October 23, 2005
Camp
These 5 girls, plus 2 not pictured, went to camp recently. They had a great time of fellowshipping with girls from all around this area. Camp is always a highlight in the kids' lives as they get to go away and have individual experiences, something that is not possible when you live with 50+ brothers and sisters! The camp theme was Princesses for God and they learned many new songs, one of which they shared with us in church on Friday. Camp is sponsored by the AWANA program for which we are grateful.
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by Thomas at 10:00 PM
Thursday, October 20, 2005
Facts
Did you know that Bangladesh which is smaller in size than the state of Iowa has 140 million people? Compare that to the approximately 2.8 million that live in Iowa.
posted
by Colleen at 10:34 PM
Tuesday, October 18, 2005
Update on playground status
Thank you to those who have promised to pray, what an encouragement! We believe that the playground will arrive safely to Chittagong and then onto the Home of Love. The playground has been officially ordered! We finalized the plans, colors, size, and price then ordered a wonderful playground that will be for all ages and should last a long time. The playground is being manufactured in Missouri and then should begin the long travel by ship on Oct. 26th, this year. We hope to see the playground by the end of Dec. 2005 in the port here. God has put the details together for this project so we continue to thank and worship His goodness. Thank you also to Bev, who has worked tirelessly on fulfilling this "dream".
posted
by Colleen at 7:43 AM
Sunday, October 16, 2005
Wet Soccer game
This week we had a small group of young people visiting from Maui, HI. They taught some games and English to the Bora School students and had a fun day with the orphanage. The girls made signs to decorate the rooms. We have signs at the door that say "Don't forgate to read your Bible" and in the dining room we have one that says, "My room everyday clane, our kitchen everyday clane!" and many others reminding us to not throw 'garbuge' on the floor and to love our brothers and sisters! The boys played soccer in the pond with the two young men visiting. They used reeds for soccer posts and in between threw moss at each other while tackling and wrestling their neighbor. It was a wonderful day for the boys to be boys. Our new boy Elio surprised us by jumping in and swimming across the pond, the kids in the Hill Tracts learn swimming at a young age.
posted
by Colleen at 10:51 PM
Saturday, October 15, 2005
Sound Fruity?
Imagine a stranger sending enough money to buy 50+ kids fruit for an entire year? Sound interesting? It is God networking again and it's exciting. Last week we hosted a team from Kentucky for just one day; they spoke in the Home of Love church and spent some time with the kids. The kids whooped with delight as dolls and cars were passed out from the teams' church.
One lady asked about the children's diet and promised to look into helping us with money to buy fruit; something that is not in our budget. We were so happy to hear through an email yesterday that someone in Kentucky has pledged to give money to buy fruit for a whole year! (twice a week) God takes care of our needs! We had a previous fruit sponsor who moved away and wasn't able to continue and now God allows someone else to fill this need.
posted
by Colleen at 8:30 AM
Monday, October 10, 2005
Prayer is needed
Thomas is reading the biography of Gladys Aylward (1902-1970) to our daughters. At one time in her life she was on a train going to China, she was traveling there to give her life in service to the Chinese people. On the train she met a couple and told them of her plans, they were so impressed and moved by God that they committed to pray for her every evening at 9pm for the rest of their lives. You might have read in previous articles that we are in the process of ordering a playground from the US and having it sent to Chittagong by ship. This doesn't sound too complicated but it is, we will be dealing with one of the most difficult ports in the world. Bangladesh is infamously rated the most corrupt country in the world, now 3 years running. We would like to ask you if you would like to commit to pray everyday for the playground to arrive safely at Home of Love (hopefully in December 2005). We strongly believe that the Giver of good gifts not only wants to give the children something to play on but will help us with all the details in bringing it here. There are many details and many extra costs that could arise with bribes and taxes so if you feel led to pray we would be greatly encouraged.
posted
by Thomas at 11:07 PM
Wednesday, October 05, 2005
Boys failed major test
Unfortunately our two oldest boys, Genodoe and Gabriel failed their college exams. They took them in May 2005 and finally got the results just a week ago. That is what happens when more than 400.000 students are tested at once and the results are hand graded! Only 59% of the students that took the exam passed. The two boys are disappointed but still have next year to try again. They will not have any school for the next year just the test again in May, so it's up to them to be disciplined to study hard each day in preparation. Genodoe is our chief goat caretaker and is very good with all the chickens that he raises. Gabriel helps out where needed in the garden, tutoring the little ones and often helps with the grocery shopping at the bazaar. Both boys have good futures ahead of them and we are proud to be their guardians.
posted
by Thomas at 11:54 AM
Sunday, October 02, 2005
Peace Corps Volunteers
Evelyn is just finishing her 2 year tour of Bangladesh. She has been a good friend to our family and an encouragement to our kids at Home of Love. Evelyn has been helping at Bora school with our P.E. program and teaching the teachers English. It is with faithful help from many volunteers that we are able to keep bright spots in our kids' lives. Thank you to Evelyn who made the l-o-n-g bumpy trip out to Fatirabad (our village) so often. We won't forget you.
A big thank you also goes to Eden who is currently teaching the children at Bora school in their English classes. Eden still has another year in Bangladesh and we look forward to teaming up more with her and also having her to spread some of her affection and love at the orphanage. Thank you also for making the trip out to Fatirabad, it's not exactly smooth.
posted
by Colleen at 7:21 AM
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