Home of Love

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

William

This is our orphanage cook. William has five small children at home in the village and a wife. He only gets to see them once a week on his holiday. William is a big blessing, we hate the fact that he has to live separate from his family but have been impressed with his skill, ambition and attitude. William knows a bit about everything it seems from goats to gardens to kitchen stuff. His chicken biryani is my favorite. If you do not know what biryani is go directly to the nearest Indian restaurant and order some. I bet you will like it! William cooks for about 80 people every day, this includes some outside staff like the guards. He always has it ready on time and it tastes good.
William's shirt reads: Do you believe in love at first sight or shall I walk by you again?

posted by Thomas at 9:38 AM

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Thank you for the new books!

Thank you to North Hills Community Church for the voucher at Amazon. Pictured are some of the many books you enabled us to purchase! What a great gift and blessing.

posted by Thomas at 2:24 PM

Sunday, April 27, 2008

Poem

BANGLADESH

On this country's face there's such beauty
From the rolling plains, the riversides
And the local flora and fauna

But deep below the ricefield's soil
Lies powers and principalities
That holds this country ransom
Seemingly lying dormant and forgotten

What is it that holds this place in its hand?
What is it that holds this place from its destiny?
What is it that must be stopped?

These are the questions
The time is at hand
The mission must be successful
For a country's future is at stake.

written by Damian, a visitor from Australia

posted by Thomas at 8:39 AM

Saturday, April 26, 2008

Morning Shift

Here are the throngs of people going to work at the clothes factories. Some of these workers could have been the ones to have sewn the Gap jeans you are wearing. Or the Northface jackets you have for winter, the Eddie Bauer backpacks you carry, or the Docker dresspants you wear to church. If you check the label of the clothes in your closet I am sure that you will read: "Made in Bangladesh" more than once. You might not care about brands, the Bengalis that make the clothes certainly do not know the difference and could care less!

posted by Thomas at 9:39 AM

Thursday, April 24, 2008

Barber

We kept the barber in business for 2 days the last time he came to cut hair! The sound of snipping from his old fashioned metal scissor filled the air. He has to constantly be moving his scissors back and forth to keep them from sticking, so he even when he isn't snipping hair he is working the scissors! He cut all the younger boys' and girls' hair.

posted by Thomas at 3:17 PM

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Bird Nest

These bird nests fascinated us on our hike. We found two that had fallen down and took them home as souvenirs! I hope the birds don't mind. The nests are attached to a thick palm leaf upside down. The two holes represent their front and back doors, this is information that Ruben, my son told me! The intricate work of the nest reminds me of God and how vast and amazing He is to teach birds to not only build nests but to have them build such interesting abodes.

posted by Thomas at 10:35 AM

Monday, April 21, 2008

Hira

At the March Birthday party, Hira led the show. She did a great job and facilitated it all well. We had a lot of fun doing a type of lottery where if you got your name picked you would get a present but first had to do some type of trick or sing a song, etc. We all laughed and laughed. Sometimes Thomas and I secretly dread another Birthday party. If I do the math, I guess we have planned or sat in a LOT of them. Maybe I will write a Birthday party manual when I get older...Ha!

posted by Thomas at 1:17 PM

Sunday, April 20, 2008

John

Our little John is now in preschool and learning to write his name. The preschool teaches the kids the alphabet in Bangla and English at the same time, so he is very busy with that. John is an eager student with a bubbly personality.
As you might remember, John has club feet. Our daughter Hannah is now doing his therapy every day for a bit of pocket money. John wears reverse shoes during the day and Dennis Brown splints at night. In this tropical hot season he often has very sweaty feet...All of the other kids go barefoot all day.

Recently, when I grabbed his old shoes to throw them away, as I had just gotten new ones made at Malumghat hospital, I had to stop for a moment to marvel over John's development over the past 3 years. He came to us a schizophrenic, abused, handicapped baby and has turned into a bright, active boy who loves and cares for others. When John sees me, he normally shows me his muscles, without me saying a word. That's because I have always called him, "Sokitschale John" (strong John) or "Sohose John" (courageous John). It was the continuing proclamation over his life of what he was to become as a toddler.
John can be completely trusted to take two candies and only eat one. He will give the other to whoever you tell him to. If you give him a candy or piece of fruit he will almost always ask if Sara or Liton (our babies) got one and want to take theirs to them. John has a good heart. Maybe one day John will grow up to work with handicapped people. In our village I know of a handicapped girl, she lives in isolation. In all of Chittagong there is no school or facility for her. Her family is poor and feels they are cursed because of their daughter. I dream of the day, John would become educated and open a school or home for such as these lost and forgotten ones.

posted by Thomas at 12:12 PM

Saturday, April 19, 2008

Just fill 'er up, please

The boys' playing field has become higher; 88 truckloads of dirt have been unloaded and levelled out. This has raised the field by about 1 foot. All of the work was done by hand. The dirt was loaded nearby, driven here and unloaded by men with jute baskets. The trucks here do not have hydraulic lifts to dump. Then the loads were smoothed out by shovels over many days. This project gave work to many thus enabling families to eat and also will improve our chances of fighting the floods this monsoon season.

posted by Thomas at 11:45 AM

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Observations

Today as I (Larisa) glanced out my window, I saw Isita (one of our preschoolers) wearing her school uniform and dancing up and down the corridor at 6:30! What made me laugh was that while the other girls were sleepily getting out of their beds, a 7 year old girl had her uniform on, all ready to go to school, which begins at 9:00. Only after telling my dad did I find out that they were going on a school picnic. But, anyway, its good to have a love to learn!!!!

Isita

posted by Thomas at 11:32 PM

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Real life at the HOL

I hope you do not think that life at "Home of Love" is always sunshine and lemonade, because many times it's downright cloudy and our drinking water is lukewarm. That is how we felt some time ago, when we found out that one of our boys had sold his brand new tennis shoes that he had received from Miss Park. This was supposed to be a guarded secret but it escaped. It was not nice and we had to talk to the boy who at first lied but later confessed. He was given punishment and will repay the orphanage the full amount of the shoes once he gets some money. Last week before our combined meeting, two boys were fighting and one was bleeding. We dealt with that and the boy that started it got a big cleaning job as his punishment. Resisting the temptation to not favour certain children plagues the staff at times. Being fair, upright and Godly is a daily struggle for us and the staff. Remembering exam dates, homework, doctor appointments and personality quirks makes us want to buy a blackberry for both hands. Then there is the child that has a torn backpack but the records show that that child just got a backpack last month or the younger generation that devours pencils and erasers at an incredible rate making us wonder if we are supplying the whole village or just their needs. I hope that one day we do not find out that one of kids had a secret thriving stationery shop in the village supplied from our cupboards...We try to document all materials that leave the office, each child writes down when he gets a bar of soap, pen refill, etc. but still there are discrepancies and allegations that so and so put a bar of soap down the drain...

posted by Thomas at 3:00 PM

Monday, April 14, 2008

Special day

Today was a special day in Bangladesh, the beginning of the new Bengali year. It always starts on April 14th. Anyway all the staff from the "Home of Love" went out for dinner to a revolving restaurant. Sorry the picture is not better, the restaurant is at the level where the lights are. We went up about 15 floors by elevator. That was the first elevator ride for several in our group. (We held on tight to each other) It was a busy day at the restaurant. We had soup, appetizer, Rice and Chicken Massala and Ice cream at the end. The surroundings very beautiful. Thank you to our other APAB Korean colleagues Ms. Mee On and Ms. Ginny. The came to the orphanage to supervise while we were gone.

posted by Thomas at 10:04 PM

Brick by brick

The construction of 8 new bedrooms above the girls' wing is going on. The walls are up and the doors are being put in. The girls say that they already feel a difference in temperature as before their rooms were blazing hot with the sun shining directly on them but now that there is another structure on top it is cooler for them. We live with room temperatures of 90-92F about 8 months of the year. This construction crew have been polite and hardworking, we are thankful for a good group of men.

posted by Thomas at 10:26 AM

Sunday, April 13, 2008

The New One

Daniel and his mom

Someone recently wrote us and asked if the new one had received a name yet or it is going to be Newone? We have named our newest child, Daniel. Our colleague, Miss Park actually thought of the name because she said she thought he looked and acted smart! We hope that that is true and that Daniel will be a scholar and a great boy! Daniel took about 3 days to get adjusted to all of us, the loss of his family and Mom, formula opposed to breast milk and another language. He is rambunctious and fun. Most kids here at Home of Love have a nickname and Daniel was quickly christened "Um Ba" as that is the word he likes to say over and over again for everything.
Other nicknames here include "Bangladesh" for Kiron, "football" for Roben, "uncle" for Mark, "one potato two rice" for Larisa.

posted by Thomas at 4:41 PM

Saturday, April 12, 2008

Visitors

We had Rick, Mike, Phil and Jesse visit us the first part of April. Sorry no picture. It was great to see them and laugh together as we shared our lives. Mike is the one who did our video, prayer cards and website. A new update will be coming soon on the website. Mike is a humble, gentle man of great character with a huge heart.
The others- Rick, Phil and Jesse are also pretty darn nice. Now that I think of it, they are wonderful because they brought out many many new books for the library!

posted by Thomas at 10:07 AM

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Blue, Red, Yellow, Green, YOU'RE OUT!

This is just one of the jump rope sing-songs that are kids sing. They always seem to have a game for every season. Right now the jump ropes have come alive again for the short season of spring and because the kids just watched a Disney movie called "Jump In".

posted by Thomas at 1:52 PM

Tuesday, April 08, 2008

A Contrast

Hygenic, professional care in the jungle? Yes, at Malumghat Christian Hospital.

I wanted to write today about another medical experience in Bangladesh. This one is in contrast to the other one I wrote about earlier! This time I took Ruben to a hospital, called MCH that has been around for the past 50 years, one that has been staffed consistently with qualified doctors and nurses from the US and other countries. The amount of investment they have made is enormous. Not only is the hospital extremely clean and well run but it is efficient in this chaotic world. The doctors do not act as kings with subjects but mingle with patients, touch patients and spend time explaining procedures and treatment options.
In contrast, our housemother at HOL, Joli was recently treated at another hospital by a female doctor that wouldn't touch the patients; she sat and looked at them while commanding a lowly staff to write the prescriptions! She keeps her hands very clean, too clean.
The local staff at MCH are hand picked and have years of text book studying and looking-over-the-shoulder experience before they are allowed to handle even minor things. One of the aspects that impress me when I visit this hospital is the amount of recycling they do. Every slip of paper that is used for taking notes is cut from old paper. The sheets are recycled, the bottles, buckets, everything it seems finds it way into a second lifetime! The dispensary gives out tablets in handmade paper pockets made from left over office paper.
The machines at this hospital are ancient. When I looked at the x-ray machine I smirked and thought that it could be sold as an antique. Later when I came close I was amazed at how is sparkled and how beautifully well kept it was. I humbly had to admit: it worked perfect.
This time when Ruben was x-rayed I was even asked to leave the room, the plate used to support his arm was first sprayed with disinfectant, and they even had a clean pillow to rest his hand on. There were no signs of dirt, no smells of routine nasty perspiration and the medical staff even had uniforms on. The dark room looked actually dark, I couldn't even see into it very well. A good sign! I did see large basins for washing the films, measuring cups and chemicals perfectly labeled and shelved. What a difference from the other clinic.
This hospital has assisted us more times than we can count, with our HOL children and our own family. We have been treated, loved, comforted and counseled here for the last 10 years. I am so thankful to the Memorial Christian Hospital (MCH) in Malumghat. MCH is about 3 hours drive from Home of Love, the roads are better than they were but still challenging and life-threatening, therefore we cannot go with every little need, but we wish we could!

The hospital serves the needs of a huge area, more than a million people. It is difficult to get in and the patients must come very early in order to get a ticket.
This aging facility is now seeing the need to build a new structure. If you would like to support this important capital project, serving the needs of so many poor, please contact us and we will put you in contact with those responsible.

posted by Thomas at 8:19 AM

Monday, April 07, 2008

Is it fixed?

We hope the bug is fixed and the blogging works again. Keep checking the website and come back for more news.

posted by Thomas at 9:55 AM

Friday, April 04, 2008

Sorry

There are lots of things to write about at the HOL but I have been unable to blogg since a couple days for some reason (to blogg means to load things up to our website). Mike, our friend who designed the website is with us in Bangladesh at the moment. He is looking into it. Please bear with us and pray for us instead of checking the website!

posted by Thomas at 2:44 PM

Wednesday, April 02, 2008

Job Title: Insulter

It is rare that I ride on a Ranger, a mini bus with a loud revamped engine, but recently I had the chance. A Ranger stops at street corners and intersections. Rangers have normally 3 personnel on board. A driver, who fully concentrates on not hitting speeding buses, successfully passing big trucks on narrow people-filled roads, and somehow surviving each trip without killing himself and the passengers. You could say, he has his hands full...

The other two staff take money and yell insults. The insulter, rides with the majority of his body hanging out of the Ranger in order to have a good view, he holds only on to the handle bar on the door with one hand. His job includes whooping and yelling at passing cars, rickshaws and the other many forms of transport that you have probably never seen before. At the same time he slaps the side of the Ranger as a jockey would whip his horse to go faster. Every once in awhile he must dip down or pull himself in quickly in order to save his fragile life. The whole day he is breathing in the some of the most polluted air in the world.
When the Ranger wants to pass someone, the insulter begins to scream at the car to get over and slap louder. The degree of insult seems to differ according to the vehicle.

With all the traffic and the masses of people he needs to be good at screaming.
A poor rickshaw driver will be called many terrible names but a fancy SUV is only glared at when they cut the Ranger off and nearly cause them to drive into a pond. The insulter must be extremely exhausted after his shift; he has cursed hundreds of vehicles and drivers and threatened even more. I cannot say I would want his job...

posted by Thomas at 4:25 PM