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Wednesday, March 29, 2006
Barmite goes home for a visit
Barmite is one of our older girls. She is about 18 years old but doesn't actually know for sure her age. Yesterday she went back for a visit to her home village to see her Mother. Barmite hasn't been back to her village since she arrived some 13 years ago. If she still remembers the language? Probably not but words are not so important to Barmite because her kindness speaks for itself. Barmite's mother is blind, her sister and niece have been abandoned by the husband and they all have no income. This trip will most likely break Barmite's sweet heart, she will want to help them and without a doubt will give every drop of the money she has earned as a part time staff at the orphanage. Barmite had asked for permission to go back for a visit. We normally send all older children back to their villages for one month after the 10th grade, during this month many eyes are opened to the reality of life in a village and the poverty of the poor. Barmite had never made such a trip because she dropped out of school and didn't reach the 10th grade.
posted
by Colleen at 9:04 AM
Sunday, March 26, 2006
Fun Park
Today we took 65 children and staff to an amusement park outside of the city. Many of you might have taken your family to an amusement park before but have you taken 50 + kids at once? It was a bit of a happy chaos I can assure you. I had tickets, hats and water bottles along with a stream of about 10 kindergarten age kids all pulling on my sunburned arms at once. Was it stressful? A little but it was wonderful also.
They all had a ticket for each ride, a boat trip, snacks and lunch.
Most of our staff was also able to come. They dressed in their prettiest saris, complete with bright smiles and looked resplendent. We would like to thanks Kathi Parks and her family who made this possible.
Our housemother said that it was good that we made the decision to go so quick, (we decided the day before) otherwise the kids wouldn't have been able to sleep the last few days. We try to do something like this every year and it's a real highlight for all.
The kids were so thrilled to be at the park. Today was Bangladesh's Independence Day and a national holiday. Happy 35th Birthday, Bangladesh! As always written by Colleen and
posted
by Thomas at 4:31 PM
Saturday, March 25, 2006
The universal boredom of waiting for the Dr.
This man must have been too tired and decided to take a nap while waiting for his turn to see the Dr. This clinic is directly in front of the Home of Love facility and is the place we take all of our kids to when they are sick. The dream of the clinic administrator, our Korean colleague Miss Cho, is to see a 10 bed hospital here one day. Please pray with us that one day that might happen. We will also need an experienced Doctor, which is another prayer request.
posted
by Thomas at 10:22 PM
Thursday, March 23, 2006
Dorothy wins the reading contest
The beginning of January we began a contest to see who could read through the Bible the fastest. Every single page must be read and turned. Last year we had the first one finish after 6 months but this year Dorothy finished in just 7 weeks. That is a lot of reading in just 49 days! Dorothy, age 14yrs., received the big prize but the rest of us (37 signed up) are still competing for 2nd, 3rd and 4th place. All who finish the sixty-six books of the Bible within one year will receive a prize. Congratulations to Dorothy!
posted
by Thomas at 12:54 PM
Tuesday, March 21, 2006
Peter the mechanic
Today Colleen went to a different part of the city with Peter to get him admitted to a mechanic training school. Peter (in the red shirt) is about 16 years old and has been in the orphanage since he was a toddler. He failed the 8th grade twice and so we decided to take him out of school and see if he could get some vocational training.
The school, he will attend is run by an American man, who has invested much in teaching life skills to young men. We thank Tom Sartor who has such a heart for the development of youth in this country. We hope and pray that Peter will give his full attention and learn much for his own benefit. Colleen told Peter that she wants him to have a wide variety of skills so that one day he can provide well for his family. Our desire is to raise independent citizens who contribute in many ways for the improvement of this country. May Home of Love graduates not only have skills to pass on but also a good strong value system. Pray for Peter, his training starts the beginning of April.
posted
by Thomas at 7:55 AM
Sunday, March 19, 2006
High School Construction (class 6 and up)
A new building is now under construction right in front of the Bora elementary school (where are orphanage kids attend). This, God willing will be a High school for our older kids and the village.
The foundations were dug about a month ago but the work was stopped due to some unjustified court cases from our neighbor. Yesterday a whole crew started work again, some 35 men total as the cement was being poured into the foundations. Without a cement truck to stir the cement and dump it, we had 35 men doing it all by hand. Some were operating a rustic cement machine with an old steering wheel, some where adding water by the bucketfuls, some were putting in broken brick chips + sand and the rest were carrying the finished gray mud to the work site. Quite a process that supplied many families with a daily wage!
posted
by Thomas at 7:48 AM
Saturday, March 18, 2006
Away...
Sorry, that we had no news for a while. I was away for my Birthday. Nepal with my son Ruben (4 years) was fun.
friends we made along the way
to travel in this bus over the mountain roads did sure hurt.
posted
by Thomas at 10:23 PM
Monday, March 06, 2006
Subarno is learning how to paint. Here you can see is painting shelves and learning about sanding the paint afterwards, etc. One of the bigger lessons is of course learning to clean up after painting which is not the favorite and seems to be easily forgotten...
posted
by Thomas at 9:26 AM
Friday, March 03, 2006
Smiling Uncle
One of the volunteers that recently visited us was dubbed "Smiling Uncle" by the kids. Here is Ken with two of the boys, Ronald and Sugota.
posted
by Thomas at 1:02 PM
Thursday, March 02, 2006
Sunset
A couple days ago.
posted
by Thomas at 4:36 PM
Wednesday, March 01, 2006
Air Force Band Visits "Home of Love"
On Feb. 27th we had an American Air Force band visit us at Home of Love. What a treat to hear the Pacific Brass Band give an informal concert on our behalf! Not only did they give a concert but they explained how the different instruments like trombone, trumpet and tuba work. The kids were enthralled with the band. They even played a traditional Bengali song and our older girls got up and danced. We clapped until our hands hurt! Thank you to this group stationed in Japan for coming to us way out in the country. We loved having you!
posted
by Colleen at 9:02 AM
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