Recently we have come across a DVD series called The Torchlighters, Heroes of Faith. Tonight actually we will show one of the films and then talk about it with the kids. We find the series so good and also so easy to understand that we would really like to get a few more! Would anyone like to buy the "Home of Love" some of these DVD's and have them shipped out to us? The ones we are interested in showing the children are the following: Jim Elliot, Richard Wurmbrand, John Bunyan, Eric Liddell, The Gladys Aylward story, and the Perpetua Story. Let us know if you are interested in buying them and we can get you the details of where they are available. Let us hope that the children will identify with these great people and find personal heroes to model themselves after! posted
by Thomas at 7:43 AM
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Did you know that
more water flows through Bangladesh than through all of Europe?
Work, work and no play is not good for any team. So with that in mind, we planned a trip to the Hill tract district last week for some fun and fellowship with just the HOL foreign staff. Tobias, Markus, Sonia, Anneka and our family all went. We had to send in our passport information before we went and get permission to go there so we couldn't change the date of our trip even though it looked a bit stormy as we left. Our trip would have been fun I think,
IF Sage had been well and Patrick and her could have come with us, IF it hadn't poured like mad the entire 6 hours we were on the lake, IF we hadn't been soaking wet and freezing cold and IF we wouldn't of had to take 4 armed policemen with us in the boat!
Actually the trip was so wet, cold and crazy that there was little else to do but laugh so in the end maybe we did have a good time, at least we were together and not working...
These men are barely escaping the lapping water as they sit perched on the women' bus stop benches. The torrential rains over the last two days have killed about 110 people in Chittagong. posted
by Thomas at 12:43 PM
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Sara is everyone's doll
Sara has it best; she is adorable by anyone's standards and is loved by all. Her funny flat head even looks beautiful on her! Sara is now 7 months old and is so healthy and happy. posted
by Thomas at 12:32 PM
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Hospital Story III
When I left the hospital I could have easily taken another 3-4 babies home with me. Two women approached me seriously and asked me to take their children. Others were also interested. I tried to laugh at their proposals and look aghast, but they were earnest. They would have given me their children right there on the spot, had I been willing. I told the one family that it would break their hearts to give me their only son and their son would cry so hard for them. She looked at me straight in the eye and said, "What is worse a broken heart or an empty stomach?" Hmm, I didn't have an answer for that one. They begged me to consider. When I refused they offered their oldest daughter who was 15 years to come and work for us at the orphanage so that they wouldn't have to feed her. I didn't take any of these children because they had parents. The one child only had a Mom and an Aunt but they both had work at a factory and were at least earning something and so weren't in dire need but had no idea how they would one day put him in school as that costs a lot of money. Another lady complained tearfully that she didn't know what to do because now her baby was growing and wanted more food than breast milk and she didn't have any money to buy extra food. Can you imagine worrying about how to eat tomorrow? Stop and think about it for a second, we often think about WHAT is for dinner but never IF there will be any food. What if you had no food in the pantry, no money in your pocket, no relative to go to because you've been married out and are no longer welcome at home, no credit card or check blank, no homeless shelter and a bunch of neighbors that are the same as yourself. Imagine you sleep in a shack with mud floors, no electricity, no running water and a stinky stream behind the shack as your bathroom. Your husband has other wives and you are just one of them, he doesn't live with you but only visits occasionally. Your life looks hopeless. Would you also want to give your children away to a strange foreign lady?
As always written by Colleen and posted
by Thomas at 1:58 PM
Sunday, June 17, 2007
Ms. Park travels to Korea
Our colleague Miss Park is in Korea for a special meeting. She will be gone for about a month. We will hand over the reins to her when she returns and then take our family's annual summer leave. Our own three children have school holiday and so it will be a good time to get away. posted
by Thomas at 8:41 AM
Friday, June 15, 2007
Roben Report
Roben is now out of the hospital. We are so happy to have him back at the orphanage with all of us. He was not completely well when we discharged him but we felt we could administer the rest of his malaria medicine and watch his temperature. When one of the children is in the hospital then we have to have one staff go and stay 24 hours a day with that child, which is very difficult for our staff to have one person missing as no one can take their weekly holidays and the workload is increased. So, our staff was also very glad to have Beauty and Baby back! Thank you to our dear staff that worked so selflessly. posted
by Thomas at 9:34 PM
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Hospital Story continue...
Roben is doing much better, he is on malaria medicine and his anemia is slowly going away. Thank you for praying for him! Another staff, Baby, has went to stay with Roben and let Beauty have a much deserved rest. Today we met many sad people in the hospital. Hopeless would be the best word, I guess. Thomas gave money to one woman who had been deserted by her husband or so it seemed. She was supposed to be discharged but she hadn't heard from nor seen her husband in five days. She had no money to pay her bill, eat or get home. As her baby clung to her wet unkempt sari, her eyes met mine and searched my soul. Thomas asked a Dr. if the hospital would give a discount if we paid 75% of the bill, they said they would work something out. We trust that God will comfort and make a way for that woman and her baby. Another mother shared with me that out of desperation she had adopted a baby boy a year ago. She had three daughters but what good would that be when she is old? So, her and her husband adopted a newborn baby from a hospital. The baby had to be bottle fed and the milk powder has taken a huge chunk out of the family's income. It has become so desperate that the oldest daughter in the family has decided to quit school; she is in 9th grade, in order that they might save the school fee money to pay for milk powder. She told her mom that maybe one day her brother would grow up and provide for them all. As I spoke with this mother and her husband I realized that they were putting their stock in this little boy completely. He is their hope for the future but for now he is sick with pneumonia. Whenever we go to the Children's hospital, (we have been there many times with sick kids), people ask us again and again who we are and what we are doing. They can't understand why we are holding a Bengali baby, why we are even in the hospital, why we care and why we are not back in our own clean nice countries. They are often speechless. Our babies are normally in the general wards that are not too nice and where all the poor people are. To see a white person there is definitely something to talk about and talk they do! I am drawn to the hospital as it reminds me of my good health, my good life and my good fortune. It shocks me back to reality if I am forgetting what life and death means and the priorities I strive to keep. It shakes me back to the essentials of life and how I take so much for granted. I do not look forward to any of our kids being sick but when they are, I learn so much about humanity and my heart breaks as I see the suffering of so many in the hospital. posted
by Thomas at 2:27 PM
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Roben has malaria
Our new toddler, Roben had to be admitted to the Childrens hospital last Sunday.
We figured he had malaria as his temperature had been high for more than a week and he came to us from the Hill Tract area where malaria is prevalent. We had taken Roben to two different doctors before I happened to run into an American doctor and asked him to help. I told him that I had a baby in a bad way that needed someone's help! Normally, we dislike begging for help but in this circumstance I knew that I needed to speak for Roben who cannot speak for himself and who had no family to speak for him. Upon hearing the news of the blood report, the American doctor advised us to take him to the hospital immediately. Later that night, Thomas gave blood for a blood transfusion for two year old Roben. The Children's hospital, which normally has over 200 sick children daily in its care, does not stock blood. When Thomas went to give his blood, he first had to have his blood tested then was sent to the pharmacy to buy needles, syringe, and a blood bag. Then he had to pay a fee of 7$ to the hospital in order to give his OWN blood! We are still scratching our heads about that fee... The next morning, Monday, we found ourselves scooping buckets of water before breakfast, as our whole property seemed to be sinking under water!
Rintu working hard as always
Chittagong was inundated with 8.5 inches of rain in a period of three hours! We used all the buckets we could find to scoop the flowing rainwater into our drains as we tried to assist our new drainage system that delivers into the nearby stream. Before we knew it the water was waste deep and the playground had turned into a water park.
The gardens disappeared and the two ponds around our house became one big pond as they started overflowing and joining forces with the standing water in between the orphanage and our house. It was a big mess. With all the rain it was impossible to go and see Roben in the hospital. In Bangladesh it is a necessity to visit your family while in the hospital because patients are responsible for their own food, have to buy their own medicine from the pharmacy, wash their own laundry/bedding and flag down a nurse if any emergency happens. The phones were out at the hospital and the roads were completely under water, so we had to trust that God would take care of our little Roben and Beauty, an orphanage staff who was staying with him. Today, Tuesday we were able to get through and see Roben. We had to walk through brown knee deep water in order to reach the hospital entrance; I tried to not think of all that was floating around my feet.
Colleen and Bebi, Mridul in the background with our car
Roben had been in the best of hands with Beauty, who is a true angel. She had received help from relatives of other patients and they had helped her with buying medicine and getting drinking water. Beauty told us that she had spent the whole Sunday sitting on the metal hospital bed trying to entertain Roben while the hospital flooded. The water was about 18 inches high inside the wards!
Hospital entrance
The water must have been very dirty as the hospital has no real garbage system and all the syringes, gauze extras, needles, etc would have been swimming around. In the evening all of the patients were moved to the 3rd floor, the electricity was out completely and the generator was down. I talked to one nurse today who told me she had to give injections with a flashlight!
second from the left, Beauty
Beauty bought a candle and some matches so that she could see enough to care for Roben. That night no one came to sell food either. So the patients and their guardians were without. The hospitals' water supply also ran out as they couldn't pump water without electricity. It must have been a long night.
Written by Colleen and as always posted
by Thomas at 3:40 PM
Sunday, June 10, 2007
What can I do?
As I went to the hospital today in Chittagong and saw all the misery there, I was haunted... What can I do? May the words below give you inspiration, guidance and strength.
"Only one"
I've often heard your question. This message is My answer. You're concerned about the hungry in the world, the millions who are starving and in need ... and you ask Me, "What can I do?"
Feed one.
You grieve for all the unborn children murdered every day ... and you ask Me, "What can I do?"
Save one.
You're haunted by the homeless poor who wander city streets ... and you ask Me, "What can I do?"
Shelter one.
You feel compassion for those who suffer pain and sorrow and despair ... and you ask Me, "What can I do?"
Comfort one.
Your heart goes out to the lonely, the abused, and the enslaved ... and you ask Me, "What can I do?"
Love one.
Remember this: Two thousand years ago the world was filled with those in need, just as it is today, and when the helpless and the hopeless called out to Me for mercy, I sent a Savior ...
Patrick recently finished the see-saw he custom built. The kids have been see-sawing ever since! They race out to it as soon as they get home from school and play on it until they are called in for showers at 6pm. It is quite a hit. posted
by Thomas at 4:16 PM
Thursday, June 07, 2007
School reopens after break
The kids in Middle and High School have returned to class after their month of vacation. The Bengali school year goes from January to December so summer is the middle of the year for the children. Bengali schools do not have along summer holidays, they have their long holiday at the end of the year in December. posted
by Thomas at 2:41 PM
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
Need new staff
Our HOL cook is quitting and so we are looking again for new staff. It is hard to find a good willing heart that can cook with so many children in their way! Our present cook has only lasted about 3 months. Please pray with us that God would send us a good person. We also need another older woman to work in the nursery as our total has risen to 10 babies and toddlers. We have now created another baby room as the previous one was getting too cramped and the kids were suffering from lots of heat rash. A widow or older mother-type would be ideal, our staff all live at the orphanage so its best if they are single. posted
by Thomas at 12:29 PM
Monday, June 04, 2007
Bangladesh soccer game
Above see a couple seconds of a soccer game we recently had at the orphanage. posted
by mike at 10:30 AM
Sunday, June 03, 2007
Dentist
Thank you, Dr. Lorna for your help! Dr. Lorna came from Bangla Hope in Dhaka to check all of the children's teeth. First, she taught us about brushing and mouth hygiene and then looked at about 60 children's teeth.
We wrote down her findings and can now take those children to local dentists here in the city. Sometimes dentists here lie about the amount of fillings a child needs so that he can make more money, but now with Dr. Lorna's help we already know what needs to be done and can go in with confidence!
Some of the kids that came to us late like with 3-4 years old have terrible teeth and need a lot of work. We have two small girls' ages five and four that need numerous root canals! posted
by Thomas at 12:16 PM
Friday, June 01, 2007
Welcome Roben and Awbek!
The "Home of Love" has two new family members, Roben and Awbek. These two are not related but come from the same Bowm tribe. Roben is a 2 year old boy and Awbek is a 3 year old girl. They both have similar stories of poverty, malnourishment and the death of at least one parent. Roben lost his mother this spring but seems to be still mourning her. They both have cried for days now, we hope that God will heal and mend their troubled hearts and give them peace. Please pray with us for them. We are thankful that it seems their teeth are good and they were probably both breastfed as babies. We will start their vaccinations now, we have no idea if they had any shots in the jungle village they came from.
