Home of Love

Badminton tournament!

2010-03-08T12:53:00.000+06:00

A few days ago we had a badminton tournament. Rules were pretty simple, who can keep the birdie up in the air the longest wins! Thomas and Hira won with over 500 hits. Ina organized everything. There were different divisions according to ages. We had counters, spectators, players and cheerleaders. It was a fun time for everyone.
Now it has gotten so hot that I don't think we can play anymore during the day!

"Oh, its time to get the kids from school."

2010-03-07T16:07:00.000+06:00

This sentence is not said lightly in our house. Let me try to document yesterday for example. Its 12:30pm and although, my son, Ruben is not done with school until 1:30pm I already need to get ready to leave the house. 12:45pm finds me walking in glaring sunshine on a dusty path about 1km up to the main road. At the main road, I pray like always for a kind and not corrupt driver and God answers my prayer in seconds. I see an acquaintance, an older man who has driven me countless times. I ask him if he will take me to the city for a good price. He agrees but explains that his wife is waiting for the vegetables that he has just bought in order to cook lunch (the Bengalis eat lunch anywhere between 1 and 4pm). I groan and tell him that I will be late to pick up my kids. He summons a nearby person and whips out 10 Taka (7cents) and commands him to take the vegetables to his wife. It is unknown to me, if he knows this person or not. Anyways, we begin. The driver and I chitchat back and forth a bit. I take out my book and began to read while bumping along. I pause only when the bumping is so bad that I have to hold on or my head will get smacked. Sirens, horns, shouting and chaos encircle me. I continue to read. And periodically wipe off my book. Why? It gets covered in dust and I am not exaggerating. It really does. That is just how dusty it is. I notice that I can draw pictures on the vinyl seat, in the dust that settles next to me. I continue to read until the real dust hits, where they are doing road construction. Here I cover my whole face, concentrating on my nostrils.
Shaking out my hanky, I take out my book again and read. My driver friend stops to talk to someone, (his wife?) who calls him. Rules like not overtaking on the wrong side or passing a truck when another truck is headed straight towards us and other basic safety rules; the driver does not seem to care about... but not talking on the mobile while driving, is one he must feel strongly about.
Off again, now we are in the crazy city. I don't use that word just because it's an easy adjective but because it literally true. Somehow we manage to make it through to the school, to do that we did have to drive the opposite way on a 3 lane highway but we have arrived, along with hundreds of other parents. I jump out to get Ruben. Walking the 25 ft. to school is not without its own set of perils. The traffic is so dense that I constantly have to watch my feet that they do not get ran over. Tires are inches away from my toes; again I am talking literally. Rickshaws are going up, down, sideways and backwards. Let's just say, walking to the school is not a time to think what you are going to cook for dinner that night… After getting Ruben from the schools guard, I remind him to watch his little feet and try my best to protect him from getting run over. Back in the taxi, I decide to get some groceries, but because of traffic jam, we sit for 30 minutes in the open taxi and sweat. I mutter to myself, "Why did I choose today to get groceries?"
Groceries in tow, we drive back to school to get the girls who get out of school an hour later. The three foot long bench inside the taxi is now divided between 4 people, 3 heavy school bags, and 4 bags of groceries. We bump home; our driver driving recklessly but us not minding as we want to get out of the taxi as soon as possible. Half way home, the driver slows down to ask a fruit vendor who is pushing a cart along, how much his oranges are. I plead with the driver to not do his organic fruit shopping right now but he does not listen and pulls over. We raise our eyebrows at each other and shrug. Purchase in hand the driver hands me the paper bag, as if we had lots of room to put more things! I scoff and take them. We drive off and the driver smiles and says, "Give one to the kids! Really, give one to them!"
I get out a mini orange from his bag and give my kids each one to make him happy, again because we just want to get out of the hot taxi as soon as possible.
Two full hours later I have returned from getting my children from school and tomorrow it will take Thomas about 2 hours to drive them to school in the morning by car.
Sometimes I think to myself, "Why was it again that we live so far out of town in a dusty little village?" About a millisecond later, when my mind pictures the sweet faces of the kids, I adore at the Home of Love, I remember exactly why: to share our life with 62 children who have no family.

We will watch you work

2010-03-03T11:06:00.002+06:00

The little kids were just here at my door, when I told them I had to work on the computer and wouldn't play right now, they paused and then said, "Ok, Auntie, we will just come into your house and watch you work."

John, Probati, Awbek

Sara

Daniel

Probati

Abraham and Roben

Houses of Tin

2010-03-02T04:24:00.000+06:00

Last Friday, the kids' free day, they decided to do a little extra while playing the game "family." They built little houses or shanties as you could call them. They were made out of all different types of material, but mostly tin. Everything else was made out of whatever they could find- clothes, cement bags, some discarded wood, and tree branches. There were several different families living in this "shantytown".

Written und picture taken by Larisa and

Get well soon, Paul!

2010-02-28T15:06:00.001+06:00

Please pray for Paul, who is in the hospital right now. He has a serious bout with pneumonia in both lungs. Today after talking to his doctor, Mr. Jay from the USA, we found out that he also has TB (tuberculosis). Since Paul has already had TB in the past, he will need to be on a higher dose of medication, known as 2nd level TB. We are very concerned about Paul's health. He is not improving as quickly as we had hoped.
Last week, Thomas took him down to the missionary hospital, 3 hours south of here. It took the whole day to get him admitted and checked out. We are thankful that Paul's brother, Matthew, is able to take time off of work at Sun Rising school and stay down there with him.
If I am ever sick, I would wish to have "a Matthew" taking care of me. He has been so sweet to his younger brother. The Bengalis are very tender with the sick, even not sleeping at night if needed. Those of us from the West could learn a lot about nurturing from the Bengalis.

Snack preparation

2010-02-27T14:21:00.002+06:00

This is part of our afternoon snack today.

Before it can be eaten the coconuts need to be cut and cleaned.

Best friends

2010-02-26T15:05:00.002+06:00

Friendship isn't a big thing - it's a million little things. Author Unknown

Hannah and Hira have been friends for years. Friends when Hira was taller than Hannah and now friends when Hannah is a head taller than Hira. Friends when it was fun to play "house" and friends when it was fun to play "dress up" and friends when they learned basketball. Memories of swimming in the pond, hikes to the big hill, secret snacks, picking tamarinds and mangos high up in the tree and and. Like in the above quote, the million little things...
Hira is a born athlete but due to her country's rules, her gender and her social status she will never be able to pursue her dreams in sports. She will never have the thrill of winning a tournament or being the top player.
Accepting of her fate, she graciously and whole heartedly cheered for Hannah this basketball season. She waited anxiously for the news of the outcome of each game. More than once, she asked me to relay some BB advice to Hannah and was just delighted to hear of Hannah's points and rebounds. Today when I watched the two of the watching the final BB tournament video, I thought, "How lucky Hannah is to have had a best friend like Hira... a precious gift from God."

Mother Language Day

2010-02-23T09:39:00.000+06:00

On Feb. 21st we celebrated National Mother Language Day for Bangladesh. It was on this day that the Pakistan army surrendered and the Bengalis were given the freedom to speak in their own language, Bangla. The nation was thus named Bangladesh; "desh" meaning land/country. So the translation is the land that speaks Bangla.
It is a national holiday and so that meant that ALL of the kids were home, something that has started to be more and more rare! We did a morning of big cleaning, the boys cleaning the big water tank and redoing the filter (made up of sand, charcoal, gravel at varying levels) and the girls cleaned the library and big meeting room. Thomas cleaned the deep freezer. I took the Bora school kids to clean up litter all around the property and the drains. The middle school kids were assigned to scrub the playground and they definitely had the most fun spraying each other with water!
And so, as you can imagine, we were all ready for a big lunch when the noon bell rang. What a happy bunch of hungry children lined up to get their rice, fried cabbage and egg curry!

After a lunch out on our new benches, Ronald painted Bangladesh flags on cheeks, hands and noses! We sat outside and talked and enjoyed not having anywhere to go or anything to do. I was so happy I felt like I bursting. I just LOVE it when everyone is home and we are all working and playing and joking and talking. My mother heart just swells. Anyways, back to Mother Language Day, after the face painting, some guests arrived. We showed them around and then asked them to judge the art contest.

We had divided the pictures into 6 groups depending on ages. The kids had drawn the pictures before and had given them to us to hang up.

We had all speculated on who would win. After the judging, we had a mini-program and gave out prizes.

It was a great day for everyone, except Paul who is sick in bed... God, please heal Paul.

2010-02-21T09:29:00.000+06:00

Ina arrived about one month ago and is making herself at home in the guest house. Ina is from Germany and has been a friend of ours for a long time. We met her at a ministry base in Germany where she worked and served for 7 years. This is not Ina's first time to Bangladesh, she also came in 2002 to visit us and see the orphanage. Ina has recently completed a DTS with outreach in Nepal and India.
We are happy that she is here with us and have hopes that she will soon feel a part of the big family here. Ina plans on staying at least for 6 months. This gives us hope for the future of HOL, because as you know we are planning on leaving for good, this summer. Can you pray with us for more staff to come and join HOL, after we leave?
Ina is a kindergarten teacher and has a lot of experience in living in community, in office administration, in children's work and more. This week, Ina began a language class to learn some Bangla. She is also busy helping in the preschool, kindergarten, teaching at the Sunrising high school once a week and doing John's therapy daily. She took over from our Hannah. Besides that she is our unofficial lice remover and just a big help in many different ways.

It is here

2010-02-17T13:11:00.000+06:00

It's 6am and Thomas gets a phone call, "Your new generator is at the front gate!"

And this time it was even the one we ordered! The generator traveled down from Dhaka with 5 passengers. They were the lucky ones that got to unload it! The extremely heavy generator was unloaded using round poles and manpower.

We had to break a hole in the generator room to get the old one out and the new one in. After the new generator was installed and everything was finished the workers came to plaster the wall back up with bricks. Thank you for praying and Thank You, God for this wonderful gift!

From our national newspaper

2010-02-16T14:05:00.000+06:00

According to a recent study, 78% of girls in Bangladesh are married before the age of 18 years. One third of girls from the ages of 15-19 years has already given birth or is pregnant.

We are thankful that the older girls at HOL; like Hira, Hanna, Susanna, Dorothy, and Apphia, are able to study and become educated before getting married and having a family. We realize that many are not that fortunate in Bangladesh.

2010-02-15T15:19:00.003+06:00

Last week we ordered a new generator and even had the finances up front to pay for it! For that we thank the good Lord and all the supporters of "Home of Love" that stand so faithfully with us. You are amazing.
Our old generator, which we have had since 2006, already has some 4200 running hours on it and we anticipate that in the future it will need some upkeep and repairs. Since we are leaving the orphanage in summer 2010, we felt it was important for us to buy and install a brand new generator so that the next few years will (hopefully) be without much worry or problems concerning the generator.
Last night, Thomas got the news that the new generator was on its way from Dhaka on a truck. Early in the morning it arrived and sat proudly outside of the orphanage gate. We were relieved that it had indeed arrived so quickly so that our volunteers from Germany could help us set it up, before they left. Unfortunately, when Thomas took off the plastic cover he saw that it was not the generator that he had ordered! It was the right kind and size, but Thomas had specifically ordered one with some extra modifications. The supplier understood that they had made a mistake. We would have taken that generator, but we had paid already for the better one. We asked if they would then refund us the difference between the better generator and the one we received, but they would not. So the big green generator spent just 7 hours in hilly Chittagong before driving 7 hours back to Dhaka...Our point was not to be nick picky, but when we are talking about a generator worth $12,000, we would like to have the right one! The right kind is supposed to come tomorrow. Please pray!

Visitors from Thomas's hometown

2010-02-12T09:56:00.000+06:00

We have 5 visitors from Muelsen in Saxony, Germany. They are all good friends of us.

Today we went together to Rangamati which is in the Hill Tracts of Bangladesh. This town is located near to a big manmade lake that is used for energy winning purposes.
We rented a van to get there which took about 2 hours. There we joined many local tourists and hired a boat to take a boat tour. Many years ago this was kind of a secret place to go to, now there are hordes of people everywhere. Above in the middle is the boat we hired and the boat captain.

The boat ride is very scenic and the highlight of the trip especially from November to February.

Since we are foreigners we have to take a police escort with us. They are armed and are supposed to protect us. From what I am not sure...

A special highlight for me Thomas was, that my older brother Stephan also got to come on this trip. He is working for VW in Germany and this was his first trip to Bangladesh.

Love your neighbor

2010-02-10T16:31:00.002+06:00

Last week, we began to take deep sighs and shake our heads as we looked out our window and saw our neighbors building their annual fair right next to our boundary wall. It is just a stone's throw from our bedroom. A fair is normally fun but in our opinion not this one. Why? They play loud music constantly for 3 days, without stopping even at 2 or 3am! The music becomes a part of our life whether we like it or not. It is so loud that people, who call us on the phone, can hear it, even when we talk to them inside our house. It is so loud that I just had to shout at my daughter Larisa who is sitting 10 ft away from me, in order for to hear me. The style and lyrics of the music also do not appeal to our liking. It is very hard for the HOL children to concentrate in school as the music permeates the building. It hard to pray, read, collect thoughts or sleep. The whole thing challenges our "Love your neighbor" theology greatly.
I keep thinking, "If only my neighbor lived in a sound proof box".

If you look very closely you will see a loud speaker hanging from a tree, pointed in our direction.

Quick snips

2010-02-09T16:11:00.002+06:00

That could be the name for our barber. He is quite a quick snipper and keeps his scissors snapping out and in the entire time. We can hear the shish, shish sound of his scissors even up in our house. The boys, like any in the world, dread the barber as its just plain awful to have to sit still while others are playing. Also because it's scratchy, Mr. Quick Snipper, does not bring a gown for his young customers.

Thank God for lazy Friday afternoons

2010-02-05T20:00:00.001+06:00

Its 3pm on a Friday. I have just had my weekly Friday nap and am thinking about how much I love my life here. Outside some are playing basketball, others hide and seek, some are reading the newspaper and Agnes is swinging upside down in deep thought.

I just spied Ruben and Jonaton from out my bedroom window; they have climbed up the tamarind tree looking for tamarinds.

May they not fall out...

Downstairs, a few unfortunate boys are sitting patiently while the barber cuts their hair. It won't be long until they are back in the hiding seek game and another will be called. The babies are all sleeping and most of the staff. Soon it will be T.V. time; today I will show a movie. Written by Colleen and

Visitors

2010-02-04T15:06:00.003+06:00

This week we welcomed our good friends from Germany, to the "Home of Love". Werner and Daniela have been friends of ours, for the last 20 years. Werner has been our accountant in Germany, for HOL and our family since 1997. He is our most important partner in ministry in Germany. Werner does not really like to travel so getting him here took some time, but he finally came along with his wonderful wife. Daniela enjoyed getting to know the children and visiting Asia for the first time.
It was very important to me that Werner could see tangibly all that he has been part of in the past 13 years of our time here.

Huge birthday celebration

2010-02-01T17:39:00.000+06:00

There was a total of 18 kids and youth when we celebrated birthdays recently. There were so many other programs and things to celebrate in December so we put two moths together and the number was especially big this time. As always, people performed in song, dance and drama. Others shared and prayed. We had some visitors so it was especially fun for the kids. They like it when many people watch their program.

Suborno

2010-01-31T12:28:00.003+06:00

Suborno is back! He left the HOL about 7 months ago and said he wanted to go back to his village, he was fed up with our rules and boring school. At that time we pleaded with him to stay. We tried to explain what a foolish thing it was to stop his education, but he would not listen to us, nor his relatives or the HOL older boys; in fact no one could get through to him. After just a couple of days after his departure though, we received phone calls from his relatives saying that Suborno had made a mistake and wanted to come back. But, we knew right away that it was not Suborno, who had a change of heart but his relatives who wanted what was best for him. So, we said, "No, he cannot come back right now, he made this bad decision and now he needs to stick it out a while".
We told them to contact us again in the new year, when the Bengali school year starts and then we would make a decision.
Hurrah, Suborno recently did contact us and promised that he had changed and would try his best in school. We felt like he was sincere, and so the prodigal son has returned. Presently he is on a 3 month type of probation and then we will make the final decision if he has really changed or not. But for now, we rejoice. Thank you for those who prayed. In the above picture is a relative who brought him back.
Welcome back, Suborno, we missed you.

Carrots

2010-01-30T14:38:00.002+06:00

At this time of the year carrots are inexpensive and that is why we buy them and give them in the afternoons to the kids and youth at the HOL.

They really like them and we know carrots are good for your health.

Job offer

2010-01-30T12:19:00.002+06:00

Colleen is looking for a tutor for a girl in the village that goes to Sunrising school. We put the sign up at the HOL, but no one was interested. Then Colleen put it up at the boys hostel and it looks like a boy from there will do it. Thanks to Gabi who after meeting the girl years ago has not forgotten her and keeps sending money so she can get a good education and opportunities she would not have otherwise.

Nostalgia

2010-01-28T20:43:00.002+06:00

The girls are baking Christmas cookies.

Before I put the December 2009 pictures into the archive I went through them again. I want to put up some more pictures for you all to see. Christmas is the best time of the year in the HOL. There is so much joy and anticipation. We all love that time of the year. Where we (the Kuehns) will be next year for Christmas, we do not know. One thing is for sure we will remember all the many Christmas times and celebrations since 1997 and the kids and youth from the "Home of Love."

A special cake. HE (Jesus) is the reason for the season.

Special Christmas dinner with guests on December 24th. The four helpers are there to serve food to the guests.

Even the best time comes to an end. Christmas decoration clean away on December 31st 2009.

Here we are

2010-01-28T15:41:00.000+06:00

We are some of the smaller children from the "Home of Love." We all do like candy and each other.

Train and Plane

2010-01-27T15:28:00.002+06:00

All the visitors from Korea are gone, now the Germans are coming. I have been up to Dhaka twice in the last 5 days to pick up people from the airport. Normally I go up by night train which takes about 7-9 hours. I wait some time in Dhaka and then the Emirates flight from either Munich or Frankfurt via Dubai arrives. Then we take the next flight down to Chittagong.

Babies

2010-01-25T07:54:00.000+06:00

Priya and Rolian are the smallest and youngest at the HOL at the moment. God willing both will be turning 1 year in April. Our colleague and friend of many years Suk Hee Park is holding the two sunshine's on her lap.