Alrighty. I've finally gotten a bunch of new photos up (60 to be exact) on Facebook. It took forever (aka three days) to upload them all on my stellar Bengali internet connection but they are up! Once again, if you want to see them go to:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=153953&id=549112159&l=a7e5d28285. You do not need to have a Facebook account by using this link. I hope you enjoy!
We are leaving Monday morning for southern Bangladesh to pick up three new babies. Babies is a relative term at this stage, but I think they are all under a year old. We were supposed to pick up four babies but a two-month old died early this week before we could go pick it up. Sad day in the neighbourhood :( It's a 10hr drive and we'll be making the journey with a couple from America and two people from BanglaHope. Not going to lie, I'm getting pretty sick of long car rides, mostly because my poor long legs have no where to go! Anyways, keep us in your prayers on our journey and pray that the little ones are in good enough shape to make it back to BanglaHope. While you're at it, please pray for patience because three babies in an already crowded van sounds like it's going to be... an experience to say the least :)
I'm sure I'll have much more to write about when I get back (which should be Wednesday or early Thursday) and lots more pictures! Stay tuned,
ami tomake bhalobashi
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Friday, October 30, 2009
of sidewalk chalk and WWU care packages
Little Amber is doing so much better :) She has been well hydrated and fed since arriving at BanglaHope and the wrinkles are going away. Even the caregivers at the orphanage are surprised that Amber's head had been shaved in patches. But again, what matters most is that she is thriving here!
Yesterday was a little bit of a trying day. The internet here was so poor that I couldn't talk to anyone back home. I could see people were online but my Skype messages and Facebook chat messages were not going through. I really did feel like crying. But my day got better when I decided not to go back to my room after dinner. Instead I played with the children, helped with worship, and even got to feed little Natalie her dinner. That is easily one of the cutest things I've seen here YET. Bengali's don't have the whole, "open wide for the airplane bit" so when I started swerving around the spoon on the way to her mouth, her little head swung in time with the spoon. It was so freaking adorable. If that doesn't bring you up from a funk, nothing will :)
Late last night (6am West Coast time), I actually got to talk to my dad! Ahhh... After a day of frustration, mild anger, and even a couple tears, I heard a familiar voice. I couldn't believe it worked! Even though the conversation didn't last long, now that I know I CAN talk to my parents I feel like a certain weight has been lifted off my shoulders. After talking to Dad, Skype decided to work for even a couple minutes and I heard my mom's voice for the first time in almost two weeks. Again, God knew I needed Him to come through for me and He blessed. And then I slept peacefully :)
Today was another Friday for art. Keeping it simple, we gave each kid a fat piece of sidewalk chalk. Like handing Picasso a paintbrush, we knew we would be witness to many concrete masterpieces. And that's exactly what happened. As with times before, the kids began timidly drawing on the ground, but eventually bright rainbows, sunshines, and hearts emerged. I helped them to discover that you could trace yourself on the ground, which led to many handprints, footprints, and even flip flop prints. Soon names were scrawled between the pictures, followed by ABC's and even the Bangla alphabet. We had given them a 20x30ft piece of concrete to use, but the art began spilling over until the sidewalks to our apartment building and orphanage were covered in beautiful pictures. Once again, each child became an accomplished artist in their own right.
Mr.Waid and Litton got back today from Dhaka. Litton is the accountant here and the two made the journey to Dhaka to make sure the orphanage gets the NGO status it needs to exist in a Muslim country. We still don't know if we got it or not, but please pray that we do! Anyways, a package came in for Elliot and I from the Walla Walla Student Missions Office. What they sent may seem small, but Elle and I were practically giddy! We were sent the first two Collegian editions (school newspaper), a school calendar (which I am again not in :P grr...), and an SM newsletter. We were also given a package of peanuts. Not sure why--maybe that's what they've heard SM's crave while away. We were so excited though. It really is the small things over here that put a perma-smile on your face!
The SM office included a Wish List. I guess they get churches to make donations and then the office sends SM's Christmas packages. What do I really want here...? I found Heinz ketchup in Dhaka so I'm practically set! lol Luckily, they included a convenient list of most notable things missed while away. Elliot and I are thinking of asking for a fitted sheet for Christmas. Again, may sound small but when you wake up sleeping on the actual mattress, you feel kinda yucky. That or scented candles. It's amazing but when someone asks what to send, you really have no idea. I just want to know people are thinking of me, missing me, wishing I was home. I have mostly everything I need here, or at least access to buying it. But I don't have you [insert your name here...] in Bangladesh and definitely don't have access to buying you over here. Call me sentimental but all I want for Christmas is to know someone back home misses me (but if you send gifts I won't throw them away lol).
I have to prepare tonight for a different kind of class. Mrs. Waid found the programs for nursery, kindergarten, and primary Sabbath schools. What a coincidence there are three of us SM's here. I am charged with "Wild Animals - Kindergarten" and, call me crazy after the awful job I've done with short vowels, but I'm actually pretty psyched. I get to use felt Bibles, "Jesus Loves Me" pennants, and a variety of stuffed animals while singing the good ol' songs that we all know and loved. Then I get to teach them about the brown bear! Again, call my crazy but I'm excited :) I think spending so much time at an orphanage with 89kids has brought out the kid in me!
It's almost time for Vespers here. Yes, most of you are still asleep in your beds and I'm starting Sabbath. I'm still amazed that I'm literally on the other side of the world. Elliot and I were asked to sing tonight and we don't have a song yet... Ah last minute planning--at least I haven't lost my knack for that!
Happy Sabbath [when you get to it...]
ami tomake bhalobashi
Yesterday was a little bit of a trying day. The internet here was so poor that I couldn't talk to anyone back home. I could see people were online but my Skype messages and Facebook chat messages were not going through. I really did feel like crying. But my day got better when I decided not to go back to my room after dinner. Instead I played with the children, helped with worship, and even got to feed little Natalie her dinner. That is easily one of the cutest things I've seen here YET. Bengali's don't have the whole, "open wide for the airplane bit" so when I started swerving around the spoon on the way to her mouth, her little head swung in time with the spoon. It was so freaking adorable. If that doesn't bring you up from a funk, nothing will :)
Late last night (6am West Coast time), I actually got to talk to my dad! Ahhh... After a day of frustration, mild anger, and even a couple tears, I heard a familiar voice. I couldn't believe it worked! Even though the conversation didn't last long, now that I know I CAN talk to my parents I feel like a certain weight has been lifted off my shoulders. After talking to Dad, Skype decided to work for even a couple minutes and I heard my mom's voice for the first time in almost two weeks. Again, God knew I needed Him to come through for me and He blessed. And then I slept peacefully :)
Today was another Friday for art. Keeping it simple, we gave each kid a fat piece of sidewalk chalk. Like handing Picasso a paintbrush, we knew we would be witness to many concrete masterpieces. And that's exactly what happened. As with times before, the kids began timidly drawing on the ground, but eventually bright rainbows, sunshines, and hearts emerged. I helped them to discover that you could trace yourself on the ground, which led to many handprints, footprints, and even flip flop prints. Soon names were scrawled between the pictures, followed by ABC's and even the Bangla alphabet. We had given them a 20x30ft piece of concrete to use, but the art began spilling over until the sidewalks to our apartment building and orphanage were covered in beautiful pictures. Once again, each child became an accomplished artist in their own right.
Mr.Waid and Litton got back today from Dhaka. Litton is the accountant here and the two made the journey to Dhaka to make sure the orphanage gets the NGO status it needs to exist in a Muslim country. We still don't know if we got it or not, but please pray that we do! Anyways, a package came in for Elliot and I from the Walla Walla Student Missions Office. What they sent may seem small, but Elle and I were practically giddy! We were sent the first two Collegian editions (school newspaper), a school calendar (which I am again not in :P grr...), and an SM newsletter. We were also given a package of peanuts. Not sure why--maybe that's what they've heard SM's crave while away. We were so excited though. It really is the small things over here that put a perma-smile on your face!The SM office included a Wish List. I guess they get churches to make donations and then the office sends SM's Christmas packages. What do I really want here...? I found Heinz ketchup in Dhaka so I'm practically set! lol Luckily, they included a convenient list of most notable things missed while away. Elliot and I are thinking of asking for a fitted sheet for Christmas. Again, may sound small but when you wake up sleeping on the actual mattress, you feel kinda yucky. That or scented candles. It's amazing but when someone asks what to send, you really have no idea. I just want to know people are thinking of me, missing me, wishing I was home. I have mostly everything I need here, or at least access to buying it. But I don't have you [insert your name here...] in Bangladesh and definitely don't have access to buying you over here. Call me sentimental but all I want for Christmas is to know someone back home misses me (but if you send gifts I won't throw them away lol).
I have to prepare tonight for a different kind of class. Mrs. Waid found the programs for nursery, kindergarten, and primary Sabbath schools. What a coincidence there are three of us SM's here. I am charged with "Wild Animals - Kindergarten" and, call me crazy after the awful job I've done with short vowels, but I'm actually pretty psyched. I get to use felt Bibles, "Jesus Loves Me" pennants, and a variety of stuffed animals while singing the good ol' songs that we all know and loved. Then I get to teach them about the brown bear! Again, call my crazy but I'm excited :) I think spending so much time at an orphanage with 89kids has brought out the kid in me!
It's almost time for Vespers here. Yes, most of you are still asleep in your beds and I'm starting Sabbath. I'm still amazed that I'm literally on the other side of the world. Elliot and I were asked to sing tonight and we don't have a song yet... Ah last minute planning--at least I haven't lost my knack for that!
Happy Sabbath [when you get to it...]
ami tomake bhalobashi
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
of a new baby named Amber
When I was halfway done writing my last post, Banni busted into our room saying there was people downstairs that wanted to give their newborn to the orphanage. So I of course put the post on hold and ran downstairs with Elliot. A man was sitting with two women, who turned out to be relatives of the newborn's family, outside of the office. After some business was settled, Mrs. Waid, Elliot and I jumped into a rickshaw van with Banni and Rosemary and the family in a van behind us. We rode about 5km to a village I've never been to.
We pulled up to mud and cow dung house and walked inside the dark room to find a man and woman lying on a small bed. The man was half paralyzed from a stroke and the woman was extremely weak--from what we don't know. Besides the woman was this small, brand new baby. As the parents spoke to Banni and Rosemary about their little girl, both began weeping at the thought of giving her up. They had two boys who would go to the local mill to beg for small bits of rice and an older girl who had gone to live with their grandfather. There was no rice, dhal, meat--no food at all. Banni and Rosemary translated that the little girl was five days old and because the parents couldn't work, they couldn't keep her.
Mrs.Waid had brought tiny pink baby clothes and a diaper for the baby. After wrapping the baby up, Mrs. Waid gave the baby back to the momma to be breast fed one last time. The mother had barely any milk to give and wept as she let the baby finish. While holding the baby for the first time, Mrs. Waid asked Elliot to take a picture of the parents for the baby to have when she gets older. It was a heartbreaking scene that makes me cry even as I think about it now.
Mrs. Waid gave 1000taka to the man who came to the orphanage so he could buy food for this poor family. It may not seem like much to us but it will buy so much rice and staple food for them.
We all took turns holding the little angel on the way back to the orphanage. Because the baby has the same birthday as Mrs. Waid's daughter Amber (October 22), the name stuck and little Amber arrived at BanglaHope. [Mom I know that's your birthday too but you would have only gotten a middle name so I'll name a baby we'll pick up next week after you lol] We noticed little Amber has mosquito bits on her face and for some reason her soft baby hair was shaved off recently. I'm not sure what the reason behind that was but she is still the cutest little angel.
The heartbreaking thing is that Amber would not have been able to survive if she stayed with her family. Even though she is five days old now, she is still wrinkly, which suggests dehydration already. Even if her mother could produce a little milk for her, the chances that the milk contained all the necessary nutrients are slim. Before leaving, Mrs.Waid assured the parents she would be taken care of well and given a good education. I still can't imagine the agony the parents must be in right now...
I have to say this: I don't know about you, but seeing these impoverished conditions makes me want to do something. If you are interested in sponsoring a child here, please do so! I've seen first hand how the money is spent here and I assure you these kids are so much better off being at BanglaHope than any other orphanage. It costs a $100 USD to fully sponsor a child each month and if that is too much, it's only $35 USD per month to partially sponsor a child (three partials make a whole). Please just think about it--and please don't make a rash decision that you won't be able to follow through with. The hardest thing to do is to tell a child their sponsor can't help anymore. BUT if you have thought about it and are able to do so for the long term, please call BanglaHope headquarters in Kennewick, WA at 509-586-4259 to join the sponsorship program. I'll even help you pick out a good one (*wink wink* just kidding, they are all so special!).
I really hope everyone who reads this realizes just how lucky we are to live in North America...
ami tomake bhalobashi :)
We pulled up to mud and cow dung house and walked inside the dark room to find a man and woman lying on a small bed. The man was half paralyzed from a stroke and the woman was extremely weak--from what we don't know. Besides the woman was this small, brand new baby. As the parents spoke to Banni and Rosemary about their little girl, both began weeping at the thought of giving her up. They had two boys who would go to the local mill to beg for small bits of rice and an older girl who had gone to live with their grandfather. There was no rice, dhal, meat--no food at all. Banni and Rosemary translated that the little girl was five days old and because the parents couldn't work, they couldn't keep her.
Mrs.Waid had brought tiny pink baby clothes and a diaper for the baby. After wrapping the baby up, Mrs. Waid gave the baby back to the momma to be breast fed one last time. The mother had barely any milk to give and wept as she let the baby finish. While holding the baby for the first time, Mrs. Waid asked Elliot to take a picture of the parents for the baby to have when she gets older. It was a heartbreaking scene that makes me cry even as I think about it now.
Mrs. Waid gave 1000taka to the man who came to the orphanage so he could buy food for this poor family. It may not seem like much to us but it will buy so much rice and staple food for them.We all took turns holding the little angel on the way back to the orphanage. Because the baby has the same birthday as Mrs. Waid's daughter Amber (October 22), the name stuck and little Amber arrived at BanglaHope. [Mom I know that's your birthday too but you would have only gotten a middle name so I'll name a baby we'll pick up next week after you lol] We noticed little Amber has mosquito bits on her face and for some reason her soft baby hair was shaved off recently. I'm not sure what the reason behind that was but she is still the cutest little angel.
The heartbreaking thing is that Amber would not have been able to survive if she stayed with her family. Even though she is five days old now, she is still wrinkly, which suggests dehydration already. Even if her mother could produce a little milk for her, the chances that the milk contained all the necessary nutrients are slim. Before leaving, Mrs.Waid assured the parents she would be taken care of well and given a good education. I still can't imagine the agony the parents must be in right now...I have to say this: I don't know about you, but seeing these impoverished conditions makes me want to do something. If you are interested in sponsoring a child here, please do so! I've seen first hand how the money is spent here and I assure you these kids are so much better off being at BanglaHope than any other orphanage. It costs a $100 USD to fully sponsor a child each month and if that is too much, it's only $35 USD per month to partially sponsor a child (three partials make a whole). Please just think about it--and please don't make a rash decision that you won't be able to follow through with. The hardest thing to do is to tell a child their sponsor can't help anymore. BUT if you have thought about it and are able to do so for the long term, please call BanglaHope headquarters in Kennewick, WA at 509-586-4259 to join the sponsorship program. I'll even help you pick out a good one (*wink wink* just kidding, they are all so special!).
I really hope everyone who reads this realizes just how lucky we are to live in North America...
ami tomake bhalobashi :)
of tears in class and pistachios
This is why I should never be a teacher. In English class today, I made a grade one child cry. Well, four if you really think about it. After going over short vowels (I'm actually starting to learn those suckers!), Papri and I split the class into two and Papri took her half downstairs. We got each kid to read a page in their little Dick and Jane books. Well after a couple minutes, a couple of my kids started to get a little rambunctious. Little Jenny was aimlessly flipping through her book and loudly saying random words. Diana got up to take a drink every two minutes and kept turning around to talk to Jenny. Joseph decided his book looked better on his head and Rebecca somehow lost her book and took to staring at the wall. So I patiently went to each one, put their book flat on the desk with the page turned to the right spot and pointed where another student was reading aloud from. That didn't work. They kept doing what they wanted to do until I firmly told Joseph no and stop. This is when he started to mimic me. So I went over again, put his book firmly on his desk and said no. Then he started crying--which made me panic because I have no idea what I'm doing and Joseph is one of my favourite little boys..
Somehow I made it through the last couple minutes before the Bengali teacher Papri came back with her half. I took her aside and told her what happened, hoping that she could let the kids know that they need to listen to me. So she started lecturing the class in Bangla and my heart sank to the floor as I watched the kids' expressions. How do you explain to small first graders that you can have fun with Jehanna, singing songs, being goofy, and telling stories outside but inside you have to be quiet and are not allowed to have fun? One of the kids in my half tattled on the rest in Bangla when Papri asked who had been causing trouble. Then she got little Jenny, Diana, Rebecca, and Joseph to all come up, hold my hand, and say I'm sorry. Needless to say they were all crying. I gave them all hugs, hoping to assure them it was okay on some level. Then I got Papri to translate that I really do want them to learn to read so that they can go on to grade two in January. Whether they got that message or not... well I don't know. Later in conversational English Joseph came up and gave me a hug (did you know they don't have a word that means hug in Bangla? It's not a part of their culture so they don't have a word for it).
I was bummed out after class though, so I came up to our room and cracked open my can of pistachios that I bought in Gulshen. Gulshen is the ritzy part of Dhaka where I found Cheetos, Heinz ketchup and Snickers chocolate bars. Pistachios are basically happiness in a can--you should get some asap!
I'm going to write a more interesting post now--the two didn't seem to be able to live under one heading :)
ami tomake bhalobashi
Somehow I made it through the last couple minutes before the Bengali teacher Papri came back with her half. I took her aside and told her what happened, hoping that she could let the kids know that they need to listen to me. So she started lecturing the class in Bangla and my heart sank to the floor as I watched the kids' expressions. How do you explain to small first graders that you can have fun with Jehanna, singing songs, being goofy, and telling stories outside but inside you have to be quiet and are not allowed to have fun? One of the kids in my half tattled on the rest in Bangla when Papri asked who had been causing trouble. Then she got little Jenny, Diana, Rebecca, and Joseph to all come up, hold my hand, and say I'm sorry. Needless to say they were all crying. I gave them all hugs, hoping to assure them it was okay on some level. Then I got Papri to translate that I really do want them to learn to read so that they can go on to grade two in January. Whether they got that message or not... well I don't know. Later in conversational English Joseph came up and gave me a hug (did you know they don't have a word that means hug in Bangla? It's not a part of their culture so they don't have a word for it).
I was bummed out after class though, so I came up to our room and cracked open my can of pistachios that I bought in Gulshen. Gulshen is the ritzy part of Dhaka where I found Cheetos, Heinz ketchup and Snickers chocolate bars. Pistachios are basically happiness in a can--you should get some asap!
I'm going to write a more interesting post now--the two didn't seem to be able to live under one heading :)
ami tomake bhalobashi
Monday, October 26, 2009
of kisses and awful internet
The days since my last post have been pretty easy going. Life at the orphanage is almost the complete opposite to that of Dhaka. There is no rushing, pushing, or busyness. Yet at the end of the day, I'm always exhausted. Friday night I gave my vespers talk on the importance of praying without ceasing, hoping that something would click in my own head to do the same thing. Somehow, even in the country I get distracted from the things I've planned to do. For instance, I wanted to have devotions every day, work-out every day, and journal every day. Ask me how many of those I have consistently done. Wait, maybe that's not a good idea after all...
So the rest of Sabbath was peaceful for the most part. I caught up on some emails and took a nice nap :) The people here at the orphanage have a strange fascination with badminton but I haven't played yet. Mostly because the bugs are disgusting as they crowd around the lights and after breathing Dhaka air, I don't think my lungs could survive "poka" inhalation. I may try after a winter frost kills all things that crawl but we'll see.
Sunday was frustrating for the most part. Again, someone was greatly overexaggerating when they explained how good the internet was here in Bangladesh. Even with my SIM card adapter messages through facebook, email, and skype take forever and [sometimes] a day to deliver. This is the worst when all I want to do is talk to someone back home just to say hi and I miss you. I think it's all a big conspiracy because it seems the times I get the best connections is when I have five minutes before I have to leave for class or at 3:45am when everyone back home is asleep. Sunday afternoon the internet just stopped working all together--that was a treat. Elle and I had to get Jason to drive us to Hazrapuh so we could pay our bills (about $15USD a month) at a little tin shack they call the cell phone place. I really think the whole village, or at least a good portion of it, came out to watch us do this monotonous task. I'm not kidding when I say there were about 70 men, women and children just watching us. Or maybe it was "White People Day" and we just missed the e-vite. Either way, next time I go into town I'm thinking about calling ahead and then charging people admission to stare. haha just kidding... But seriously it's going to be weird when I'm back in the States and all of College Place doesn't gather to watch me pay my Verizon bill!
Sunday was also laundry day--aka a basket of clothes, some soap, a 5-gallon bucket, and some serious muscles. Ugh. I will never take my washing machine for granted ever again. Simple pajama t-shirts weren't the problem but washing hoodies (yes, I've worn hoodies here but it was more of a comfort thing) and sweatpants were the problem after they soaked up the whole bucket of soapy water and I had to try to wring them out. AND, Mom you'll be proud, I even washed my blankee. Yes, I brought my blankee to Bangladesh--I need it more than ever here! lol
Today I wasn't feeling well so my normal breakfast of rice and dhal wasn't snarked down quite as fast as it usually is. I took it easy for the most part until my English class at 10:30. Ah, the short vowels. I'm actually starting to learn them. The only one that got me was bag because Mrs.Waid was teaching them b-aa-g and Canadians like yours truly say b-A-g. That's alright, the kids didn't mind the confusion. When Mrs.Waid is gone I'll bring them over to the dark side :)
The internet decided to work for a couple minutes, again after everyone was gone to bed, and I sent out a couple emails that I had neglected the last couple days. Then I flicked on a movie and layed in bed while I rested. I didn't sleep at all last night, mostly because I couldn't turn off my mind from running circles and marathons for that matter. AND I met a cockroach in the hallway on the way to the bathroom at 2am. Those things still freak me out.
What really made my day though was going to say goodnight to my little friends. My first stop is always the boys' room because well it's first in the row of rooms and I just love those kids. When I first walked by, they were all kneeling on a bamboo mat praying. It was so adorable--I wish I would have had my camera with me. When they were done, I went to say goodnight and give hugs. One little boy, David, kept pulling on my orna saying "Ah-puh, ah-puh." My response was "Boo-gi-nah" (which means I don't know). One of my students pointed to his cheek and said "kiss" when he saw my confusion. After that, my cheeks were literally wet from all the kisses. It was so so so sweet of them. Bartholomew even gave me a little flower after he gave me a kiss on the cheek. Then they all crawled into their little bunk beds draped in mosquito nets and "Jehanna, Teacher, ah-puh" rang out through the room as they each wanted to say goodnight. So I went one by one to say goodnight to my little boys. Danny, one of my grade one-ers, in English which is pretty impressive because we only taught them that today, said "Jehanna, please sing us a song." One of the other boys started to sing I like Bananas, but Danny asked for a new one. So as they were sitting with their little faces pressed against the netting, I sang them the first two verses of Oh Lord You're Beautiful. ahhh it was so cute. Afterwards, thank-you's came from each dark bed. On my way out and as I said goodnight, little Mark said "ami tomake bhalobashi." As soon as I reciprocated his sweet endearment, voices arose from the dark repeating the same phrase. I couldn't keep up! Caleb, another one of my students, even said "I love you Jehanna." It was so precious.. I love those kids..
Anyways, there is always a silver lining even to the crappiest of days right? Right now I'm laying with my orna stretched over me and my computer because the bugs were flocking to my screen. It's an interesting world here in Bangladesh. And that's to say the least--it's definitely one of those things you can't fully describe, you can only experience.
wish you all were here...
ami tomake bhalobashi :)
So the rest of Sabbath was peaceful for the most part. I caught up on some emails and took a nice nap :) The people here at the orphanage have a strange fascination with badminton but I haven't played yet. Mostly because the bugs are disgusting as they crowd around the lights and after breathing Dhaka air, I don't think my lungs could survive "poka" inhalation. I may try after a winter frost kills all things that crawl but we'll see.
Sunday was frustrating for the most part. Again, someone was greatly overexaggerating when they explained how good the internet was here in Bangladesh. Even with my SIM card adapter messages through facebook, email, and skype take forever and [sometimes] a day to deliver. This is the worst when all I want to do is talk to someone back home just to say hi and I miss you. I think it's all a big conspiracy because it seems the times I get the best connections is when I have five minutes before I have to leave for class or at 3:45am when everyone back home is asleep. Sunday afternoon the internet just stopped working all together--that was a treat. Elle and I had to get Jason to drive us to Hazrapuh so we could pay our bills (about $15USD a month) at a little tin shack they call the cell phone place. I really think the whole village, or at least a good portion of it, came out to watch us do this monotonous task. I'm not kidding when I say there were about 70 men, women and children just watching us. Or maybe it was "White People Day" and we just missed the e-vite. Either way, next time I go into town I'm thinking about calling ahead and then charging people admission to stare. haha just kidding... But seriously it's going to be weird when I'm back in the States and all of College Place doesn't gather to watch me pay my Verizon bill!
Sunday was also laundry day--aka a basket of clothes, some soap, a 5-gallon bucket, and some serious muscles. Ugh. I will never take my washing machine for granted ever again. Simple pajama t-shirts weren't the problem but washing hoodies (yes, I've worn hoodies here but it was more of a comfort thing) and sweatpants were the problem after they soaked up the whole bucket of soapy water and I had to try to wring them out. AND, Mom you'll be proud, I even washed my blankee. Yes, I brought my blankee to Bangladesh--I need it more than ever here! lol
Today I wasn't feeling well so my normal breakfast of rice and dhal wasn't snarked down quite as fast as it usually is. I took it easy for the most part until my English class at 10:30. Ah, the short vowels. I'm actually starting to learn them. The only one that got me was bag because Mrs.Waid was teaching them b-aa-g and Canadians like yours truly say b-A-g. That's alright, the kids didn't mind the confusion. When Mrs.Waid is gone I'll bring them over to the dark side :)
The internet decided to work for a couple minutes, again after everyone was gone to bed, and I sent out a couple emails that I had neglected the last couple days. Then I flicked on a movie and layed in bed while I rested. I didn't sleep at all last night, mostly because I couldn't turn off my mind from running circles and marathons for that matter. AND I met a cockroach in the hallway on the way to the bathroom at 2am. Those things still freak me out.
What really made my day though was going to say goodnight to my little friends. My first stop is always the boys' room because well it's first in the row of rooms and I just love those kids. When I first walked by, they were all kneeling on a bamboo mat praying. It was so adorable--I wish I would have had my camera with me. When they were done, I went to say goodnight and give hugs. One little boy, David, kept pulling on my orna saying "Ah-puh, ah-puh." My response was "Boo-gi-nah" (which means I don't know). One of my students pointed to his cheek and said "kiss" when he saw my confusion. After that, my cheeks were literally wet from all the kisses. It was so so so sweet of them. Bartholomew even gave me a little flower after he gave me a kiss on the cheek. Then they all crawled into their little bunk beds draped in mosquito nets and "Jehanna, Teacher, ah-puh" rang out through the room as they each wanted to say goodnight. So I went one by one to say goodnight to my little boys. Danny, one of my grade one-ers, in English which is pretty impressive because we only taught them that today, said "Jehanna, please sing us a song." One of the other boys started to sing I like Bananas, but Danny asked for a new one. So as they were sitting with their little faces pressed against the netting, I sang them the first two verses of Oh Lord You're Beautiful. ahhh it was so cute. Afterwards, thank-you's came from each dark bed. On my way out and as I said goodnight, little Mark said "ami tomake bhalobashi." As soon as I reciprocated his sweet endearment, voices arose from the dark repeating the same phrase. I couldn't keep up! Caleb, another one of my students, even said "I love you Jehanna." It was so precious.. I love those kids..
Anyways, there is always a silver lining even to the crappiest of days right? Right now I'm laying with my orna stretched over me and my computer because the bugs were flocking to my screen. It's an interesting world here in Bangladesh. And that's to say the least--it's definitely one of those things you can't fully describe, you can only experience.
wish you all were here...
ami tomake bhalobashi :)
Friday, October 23, 2009
of clean air and paperbag puppets
It is so good to be back at the orphanage. From just a couple days in the city, I have a slight cough and sore throat. But the air here is so so so so nice :) Well anything is nicer than the thick sooty cloud that is Dhaka's air. Southern California air is even nicer lol.
One thing I don't think I've mentioned yet is the beggars I've seen thus far. I've been to Vancouver's lower east side many times before and the beggars there are usually drug addicts or maybe they have mental instability. But here in Bangladesh, most of the beggars are children, or old men, or women with babies. I've seen a little girl with no arms--none at all. I've seen men with no legs, even one man with no legs OR arms. I've seen a woman with a couple teeth literally growing out the side of her mouth--she had four or five teeth where her upper lip should have been. But it's so heartbreaking to see so many children running freely on the streets begging for small taka so they can eat. And when you don't have anything lower than 500taka it breaks your heart to say no :( The difference between these beggars and the ones in Vancouver is I feel like those people have other options. What are your other options if you are missing a leg or have no arms? You are a social outcast stuck begging for the rest of your life. The poverty here is something I can't even begin to wrap my head around.
Again I'm so thankful to be back at the orphanage. Don't get me wrong, people are just as poor in the country villages but not as many heart breaking cases. Speaking of heart breaking cases, I was thinking how I hadn't seen horses yet in Bangladesh. I finally got my wish when we were in Old Dhaka but now I wish I hadn't seen them. The pair pulling a cart were so small and skinny that they looked half starved and half dead. If you've seen pictures of the horses I usually ride in Alberta, seeing these poor animals would make you cry.
But on a happier note (switching gears!) we did art again today. We gave each kid a paper lunch bag, a couple markers, and two pieces of pipe cleaners. Paperbag puppets! Again each kid was pretty shy about even making a mark on their bag but once Elliot and I drew an eye or nose they were off! Such creativity was flowing onto the paper and again "Teacher, teacher" rang out across the class as kids wanted to show off their creations. It's amazing to me again how simple things like paper bags can bring such happiness. I hope I bring a piece of that home with me--I know some people who could definitely use some "paperbag puppet happiness" in their lives...
We're going back to the market in Hili to pick up the blouses and petticoats that go under our sharis. Should be fun.. We'll be stared at again but that really is just life here. Tonight I was asked to do vespers too... I think I'm going to talk about praying without ceasing and tell the kids the story about me and Elle being lost this week :)
ami tomake bhalobashi :)
One thing I don't think I've mentioned yet is the beggars I've seen thus far. I've been to Vancouver's lower east side many times before and the beggars there are usually drug addicts or maybe they have mental instability. But here in Bangladesh, most of the beggars are children, or old men, or women with babies. I've seen a little girl with no arms--none at all. I've seen men with no legs, even one man with no legs OR arms. I've seen a woman with a couple teeth literally growing out the side of her mouth--she had four or five teeth where her upper lip should have been. But it's so heartbreaking to see so many children running freely on the streets begging for small taka so they can eat. And when you don't have anything lower than 500taka it breaks your heart to say no :( The difference between these beggars and the ones in Vancouver is I feel like those people have other options. What are your other options if you are missing a leg or have no arms? You are a social outcast stuck begging for the rest of your life. The poverty here is something I can't even begin to wrap my head around.
Again I'm so thankful to be back at the orphanage. Don't get me wrong, people are just as poor in the country villages but not as many heart breaking cases. Speaking of heart breaking cases, I was thinking how I hadn't seen horses yet in Bangladesh. I finally got my wish when we were in Old Dhaka but now I wish I hadn't seen them. The pair pulling a cart were so small and skinny that they looked half starved and half dead. If you've seen pictures of the horses I usually ride in Alberta, seeing these poor animals would make you cry.
But on a happier note (switching gears!) we did art again today. We gave each kid a paper lunch bag, a couple markers, and two pieces of pipe cleaners. Paperbag puppets! Again each kid was pretty shy about even making a mark on their bag but once Elliot and I drew an eye or nose they were off! Such creativity was flowing onto the paper and again "Teacher, teacher" rang out across the class as kids wanted to show off their creations. It's amazing to me again how simple things like paper bags can bring such happiness. I hope I bring a piece of that home with me--I know some people who could definitely use some "paperbag puppet happiness" in their lives...
We're going back to the market in Hili to pick up the blouses and petticoats that go under our sharis. Should be fun.. We'll be stared at again but that really is just life here. Tonight I was asked to do vespers too... I think I'm going to talk about praying without ceasing and tell the kids the story about me and Elle being lost this week :)
ami tomake bhalobashi :)
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
of rickshaws and fender benders
Yesterday I got lost in Dhaka with Elliot. In downtown. At night. In a rickshaw. Don't tell my parents--they'll never let me out of the house again. We had just picked up our tailored seloar kameeses and were going to head back to the dental clinic for the night. Mrs. Waid and Brittni were in one rickshaw and Elle and I were in another. Mrs. Waid told our driver to follow and he did. But at one point in the trip, their rickshaw turned right and we got stuck behind traffic. A lot of traffic. We sat there for almost 5min, knowing that we wouldn't be able to find the other rickshaw in the sea of cars, buses, and rickshaws ahead of us. I grabbed Elliot's hand and said a quick prayer, hoping we'd find them. No such luck. Thankfully, I've written out the address of the dental clinic a bunch of times between this blog and emails so I had it memorized. Also earlier yesterday Mrs. Waid had our usual driver Jason teach her how to say road in Bangla: rusta. So as our driver was now aimlessly driving down the crowded road, I poked him saying Rusta thien, sector six (I forgot six in Bangla). Luckily all countries can count on fingers so I counted on my fingers the road and what sector the clinic was in.
We seemed to be doing fine until he turned down a side street, not very well lit. Elle and I were not happy about this and tried our best to tell him that. I told Elle that if he stops at a place we don't recognize, run like [heck]. lol But he was just avoiding all the crazy traffic that gets brought out at night when all the shops open. Eventually things started to get more and more familiar and we pulled into the right side street to take us back. Just as we pulled onto the side street, a frantic Mrs. Waid shouted "STOP!" as she went by in a rickshaw with Tuli from the orphanage. She got her rickshaw turned around and we all made it back to the clinic. She had been so worried about us and Simpson, the man we stay with that lives above the clinic, had gone to look for us. She said they had pulled over to wait for us, but we never went by them because of our detour on the side street.
Ahh... it was mildly nerve-wracking and we're going to be a lot more careful and descriptive before we get in a rickshaw that's for sure...
Today was not much better.. We went to old Dhaka which is the original city but the streets are too narrow to accommodate the amount of daily traffic so they moved it. [Side note: on the way there this morning, I saw the 3rd white person since my arrival in Dhaka! He was in a van and looked like he belonged to a sports team or something. We waved and smiled at each other knowing that there wasn't many like us!] Most of the day was spent shopping for fabric for uniforms for the village schools--which if you know me becomes kinda tedious after awhile. I definitely got some interesting pictures so that makes it worth it for me. Because there was 7people travelling today in a 5passenger truck, two had to ride in the back on a tarp. After loading the truck bed with bolts and bolts of fabric, packing two people on top proved tricky... I refused to go on the back--nuh uh.. that's not my cup of tea. But on the way back, our substitue driver Nikhil accidently rear ended someone. We're not talking flying shrap metal, it was just a tiny bump. The other driver got so mad though. For some reason our driver decided the best thing to do was drive away... Not sure why. But he's weaving in and out of traffic trying to get away from the angry bumpee. In doing so, he weaved onto the boarding side of a bus, almost hitting all the many boarders as they were about to get on. Not cool Kool-aid man..
Eventually the bumpee made us stop, involving the police. It was so humid that Elle and I climbed into the back with Tulie and Brittni and hoped to get some more of the night breeze while the two drivers came to some kind of agreement. Yeah, three white women perched on the back of a truck was like a neon sign attracting bugs. There must have been literally about 50men just staring at us. Nothing else, just standing and staring. Again, I hate being a celebrity. It's not fun after awhile. Luckily one of the police officers shooed people and beggers away from the truck so we weren't bothered too too much.
We made it back to the dental clinic after that but spirits were definitely low. Mrs. Waid was so upset about Nikhil going through all those people. She talked to Mr. Waid who got even more upset and basically said we couldn't go anywhere tomorrow unless Jason drives us. bah. I miss the quiet orphanage so much right now. If I hear one more car or bus horn tonight I may cry. Dhaka city is NOT fun.
And my throat is sore from the air. Dhaka air is so bad--it smells, it makes you cough, it makes your eyes itch. General rule of thumb: if you can see what you're breathing it's no good!
Anyways, I need to get to bed. I'm still kinda wound up from the day but need to sleep nonetheless because I know tomorrow will bring its own challenges and struggles. Good night, sleep tight, and don't let the darn mosquitoes bite!
ami tomake bhalobashi
We seemed to be doing fine until he turned down a side street, not very well lit. Elle and I were not happy about this and tried our best to tell him that. I told Elle that if he stops at a place we don't recognize, run like [heck]. lol But he was just avoiding all the crazy traffic that gets brought out at night when all the shops open. Eventually things started to get more and more familiar and we pulled into the right side street to take us back. Just as we pulled onto the side street, a frantic Mrs. Waid shouted "STOP!" as she went by in a rickshaw with Tuli from the orphanage. She got her rickshaw turned around and we all made it back to the clinic. She had been so worried about us and Simpson, the man we stay with that lives above the clinic, had gone to look for us. She said they had pulled over to wait for us, but we never went by them because of our detour on the side street.Ahh... it was mildly nerve-wracking and we're going to be a lot more careful and descriptive before we get in a rickshaw that's for sure...
Today was not much better.. We went to old Dhaka which is the original city but the streets are too narrow to accommodate the amount of daily traffic so they moved it. [Side note: on the way there this morning, I saw the 3rd white person since my arrival in Dhaka! He was in a van and looked like he belonged to a sports team or something. We waved and smiled at each other knowing that there wasn't many like us!] Most of the day was spent shopping for fabric for uniforms for the village schools--which if you know me becomes kinda tedious after awhile. I definitely got some interesting pictures so that makes it worth it for me. Because there was 7people travelling today in a 5passenger truck, two had to ride in the back on a tarp. After loading the truck bed with bolts and bolts of fabric, packing two people on top proved tricky... I refused to go on the back--nuh uh.. that's not my cup of tea. But on the way back, our substitue driver Nikhil accidently rear ended someone. We're not talking flying shrap metal, it was just a tiny bump. The other driver got so mad though. For some reason our driver decided the best thing to do was drive away... Not sure why. But he's weaving in and out of traffic trying to get away from the angry bumpee. In doing so, he weaved onto the boarding side of a bus, almost hitting all the many boarders as they were about to get on. Not cool Kool-aid man..Eventually the bumpee made us stop, involving the police. It was so humid that Elle and I climbed into the back with Tulie and Brittni and hoped to get some more of the night breeze while the two drivers came to some kind of agreement. Yeah, three white women perched on the back of a truck was like a neon sign attracting bugs. There must have been literally about 50men just staring at us. Nothing else, just standing and staring. Again, I hate being a celebrity. It's not fun after awhile. Luckily one of the police officers shooed people and beggers away from the truck so we weren't bothered too too much.
We made it back to the dental clinic after that but spirits were definitely low. Mrs. Waid was so upset about Nikhil going through all those people. She talked to Mr. Waid who got even more upset and basically said we couldn't go anywhere tomorrow unless Jason drives us. bah. I miss the quiet orphanage so much right now. If I hear one more car or bus horn tonight I may cry. Dhaka city is NOT fun.
And my throat is sore from the air. Dhaka air is so bad--it smells, it makes you cough, it makes your eyes itch. General rule of thumb: if you can see what you're breathing it's no good!
Anyways, I need to get to bed. I'm still kinda wound up from the day but need to sleep nonetheless because I know tomorrow will bring its own challenges and struggles. Good night, sleep tight, and don't let the darn mosquitoes bite!ami tomake bhalobashi
Saturday, October 17, 2009
of play doh and saris
It's Sabbath afternoon here and everyone around the orphanage is taking it pretty easy. As I sit peacefully in my bed, I can't believe how much has happened in the last two days. I mean, you gotta end the week off on a high! Yesterday, I was not teaching short vowels (which I still despise..) or "greater than" and "less than." I was teaching imagination, which I am not always so good at. Every Friday is Art for K and Gr.1. This last Friday was Art with Play-Doh. In North America Play-Doh is a part of childhood, a necessity if you will. But here in Bangladesh, Play-Doh is a luxury. In J&Elle's classroom, each kid got their very own pot of Play-Doh that Elliot brought over from the States. How she knew to take over the exact number of pots, I don't know :) After laying down some ground rules (do not eat, put on the floor, or mix colours), the kids opened their very first Play-Doh pots. I don't think we could have gotten the same reaction if we would have given them a million dollars or taken them to a candy shop. At first all that was made was snakes and circles, but after some examples by Elle and me, ice cream cones and sunbursts, dinner plates with food and frogs, even snails and butterflies emerged onto the desks. Each kid shouted, "Teacher, teacher!" so we could come by and admire their little creations. What a cool experience...
Later in the day, Banni (a girl a little younger than us that helps out in the office here) knocked on our door to see if we wanted to make the trek out to Hili with her and Rosemary (the nurse here) to pick up some stuff. She said the five of us would take a van the 3km or so to the village. So I'm thinking minivan. Wrong. The van was nothing more than a glorified cart pulled by a bicycle. Kinda sketchy in other words... Nonetheless, we all loaded onto the back and started our adventure. We didn't get far before we had to split up into two vans--not saying I've put on weight, but there were 5 of us!
But after a day in Hili, I never ever ever want to be a celebrity. Ever. People stared, took pictures, pointed, yelled Bengali words Rosemary and Banni refused to translate for us... it was awful. I felt like I had 3 legs or a nose growing out of my forehead. Anyways, Banni's tailor wasn't open where she had to pick up her seloar kamees so we did a little bit of browsing in some of the shops. Ohmygoodness.... I found the MOST beautiful red sari with silver embroidery. At about $13USD, it was a steal of a deal. Elle got a beautiful fuchsia one and we wore them for church today. But again, there were at least 20men outside the shop... just staring at three white women. Awkward.
Elle and I each bought a pack of glass bangles: 45taka each ($1USD=70taka). We also bought two tubes of henna to decorate our hands and do henna tattoos with for only 25taka a tube. I love how cheap Bangladesh is. Also, for the poor guy to peddle us all the way from the orphanage to the market was 50taka. It's a tad bit ridiculous how cheap some things are here.
Today we wore our saris and took lots of pictures (some of which are up on Facebook so follow the link from the previous post...). It was a good day :)
Hope yours is good too! Happy Sabbath!
ami tomake bhalobashi :)
Later in the day, Banni (a girl a little younger than us that helps out in the office here) knocked on our door to see if we wanted to make the trek out to Hili with her and Rosemary (the nurse here) to pick up some stuff. She said the five of us would take a van the 3km or so to the village. So I'm thinking minivan. Wrong. The van was nothing more than a glorified cart pulled by a bicycle. Kinda sketchy in other words... Nonetheless, we all loaded onto the back and started our adventure. We didn't get far before we had to split up into two vans--not saying I've put on weight, but there were 5 of us!
But after a day in Hili, I never ever ever want to be a celebrity. Ever. People stared, took pictures, pointed, yelled Bengali words Rosemary and Banni refused to translate for us... it was awful. I felt like I had 3 legs or a nose growing out of my forehead. Anyways, Banni's tailor wasn't open where she had to pick up her seloar kamees so we did a little bit of browsing in some of the shops. Ohmygoodness.... I found the MOST beautiful red sari with silver embroidery. At about $13USD, it was a steal of a deal. Elle got a beautiful fuchsia one and we wore them for church today. But again, there were at least 20men outside the shop... just staring at three white women. Awkward.Elle and I each bought a pack of glass bangles: 45taka each ($1USD=70taka). We also bought two tubes of henna to decorate our hands and do henna tattoos with for only 25taka a tube. I love how cheap Bangladesh is. Also, for the poor guy to peddle us all the way from the orphanage to the market was 50taka. It's a tad bit ridiculous how cheap some things are here.
Today we wore our saris and took lots of pictures (some of which are up on Facebook so follow the link from the previous post...). It was a good day :)
Hope yours is good too! Happy Sabbath!ami tomake bhalobashi :)
Friday, October 16, 2009
of pictures and packages
So after many inquiries, I've put up pictures of my adventures through HongKong, Dhaka, and the orphanage on Facebook. I know you may be thinking, but I don't have a Facebook account! Well you are in luck. You can still view the pictures by clicking this:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=153953&id=549112159&l=a7e5d28285
Also, if you feel so inclined, you can send packages or letters to:
Jehanna Erho
c/o Bangla Hope Orphanage
Bangla Hope Dental Clinic
House #6, Road #3, Sector #6
Uttara, Dhaka-1230
Bangladesh
or if you are like my dad and just want to see where I am on Google Earth, try:
Bangla Hope
Village Hazrapur
P.O. Mazina
Thana Panchbibi (which means five wives if you were curious...)
District Joypurhat
Bangladesh
and if that doesn't work, I'm near the village of Hili in northwestern Bangladesh :)
ami tomake bhalobashi
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=153953&id=549112159&l=a7e5d28285
Also, if you feel so inclined, you can send packages or letters to:
Jehanna Erho
c/o Bangla Hope Orphanage
Bangla Hope Dental Clinic
House #6, Road #3, Sector #6
Uttara, Dhaka-1230
Bangladesh
or if you are like my dad and just want to see where I am on Google Earth, try:
Bangla Hope
Village Hazrapur
P.O. Mazina
Thana Panchbibi (which means five wives if you were curious...)
District Joypurhat
Bangladesh
and if that doesn't work, I'm near the village of Hili in northwestern Bangladesh :)
ami tomake bhalobashi
Thursday, October 15, 2009
of french fries and torrential downpours
I find it amazing how God knows exactly what you need to pull you out of the bad day you've been having. For me, today was apparently in desperate need of french fries and lots of rain :) It's not that we're having a bad time here--I think Elliot and I are hitting that point all SM's get to where we are done visiting and want to come home. I know we can get through it, today was just a missing-home day. Elliot and I were sitting on our beds thinking about hamburgers and french fries this afternoon and surprisingly our cook *more on that later :)* made homemade Bengali style french fries. Oh my goodness... they were so incredibly good! Something makes me think I won't be losing too much weight on this trip after all...
Then after dinner, we came back to our room to get some stuff planned for tomorrow and realized it was time to go down and say good night to all our new little friends. As we left our room, we realized it had started raining. When the weather has been in the high 80's and extremely humid the rain was an amazing change. We ran through the pitter patter to orphanage where the kids' rooms are. Within ten minutes, the pitter patter turned into a full out Amazon downpour! All the kids in their cute jammies huddled back into their rooms while Elliot, Mrs. Waid, and I ran onto the grassy courtyard and proceeded to dance in the rain. I have NEVER seen rain like that--it was even worse than the rain WallaWalla got at the end of last school year. Within minutes we were all soaked! Mrs.Waid went back undercover but then Tulie (one of the caregivers that is about 20yrs old) ran out to play tag with Elliot and I. I haven't had that much fun in.. oh man. It was so amazing. Elliot and I, while running circles in the muddy grass, said a prayer of thanks for the uplifting change of weather :) Then we came back up to our room, dried off, and I put on sweatpants that no one ever thought I could wear in Bangladesh. ahhh... it was so great!
Anyways, since my last update, we have kinda settled into our room and new schedule at the orphanage. The three of us girls are sharing a room in a two bedroom guest apartment. We have our own bathroom with a shower that only gives cold water. There is some apparatus that should give us warm water but we haven't figured out how to work it yet. Plus, after a hot hot night, the cold water actually feels pretty good in the mornings. We don't go into the other rooms in the apartment much (our clothes are in the living room but that doesn't count lol) because only our bedroom has a/c. Hallelujah--I don't think I could survive here without a/c. We have a tiny ant problem but have been spraying them periodically so hopefully that will help.
My naive mind thought we would be eating nothing but rice and curry every day. That really could not be further from the truth. The Waid's employ a cook named Shati (sp? but pronounced Shaw-tee) who cooks for the Waid's twice a day and the children and caregivers three times a day. She makes Bengali-American food for the Waid's, de-spiced food for the kids, and the spiciest food I've ever ever ever had in my life for the caregivers. Needless to say, Elliot and I have been eating with the Waid's at 9am and 4pm. Breakfast consists of homemade cinnamon toast, rice, dhal (oh man I'm going to miss Shati's dhal when I come home...), fresh fruit salad (usually of peeled grapes, bananas grown about 20feet from the kitchen, and pomegranate seeds). Lately we've also been having fresh papaya and pomello. While the papaya is a hundred times better than anything you can find in the States, I still don't like it. The pomello, which is basically like grapefruit is amazing and Elliot and I will almost always polish off a big bowl of peeled and deseeded pomello pieces. Dinner has been everything from roti burritos, alfredo pasta, cabbage salad, french fries, pizza with homemade crust, and spaghetti. Seriously this woman makes everything from scratch and is a wonderful cook! Elliot and I joke that we will never lose weight in this place--we'll probably gain it! But in all actuality, this food is so healthy. Even the white rice we eat every day has grains of wheat cooked into it (which is surprisingly tasty!).
This trip has also reinforced the idea that you should never tell God that you don't want to do something. I chose to come to this orphanage because I didn't want to teach English on some island and I wanted to do medical work. Well, the medical clinic is in the final stages of being built and should be opened next week or so but Jehanna is teaching grade one English and English math and Elliot is teaching the same to kindergarten kids. Oh dear... Math I can handle--numbers transcend language as long as you can count somehow on your hands. English... geesh. How many different ways can you teach someone how to say "this" or "here?" Also, how many people reading this know what a short vowel is? Or better yet, can add a letter in front of the vowel like "na" and be able to explain what sound it makes to 13children? Mrs.Waid has been helping me the past couple days because she's taught grade one for the last 20years or so but today she was preoccupied with taking pictures of the children to send to the sponsors so Jehanna was on her own. Oh dear! The two Bengali teachers were crying they were laughing so hard at me trying to teach these darn short vowels. I had the smart girl in the class correcting me--she's 7yrs old for crying out loud! I'm in college! I was telling Mrs.Waid about it and she laughed when I said I would be more comfortable teaching the polarity and reactivity of 1,2-dipropylcyclohexane. Sad eh?
Besides teaching English daily and English math every other day, Elliot and I have to teach conversational English every day to K and Gr.1. That means we sit the kids on our living room floor and teach them how to say "Hello. How are you? I'm fine, thank-you." Today we taught them that instead of saying fine, they could say happy or sad or tired or sick or hungry or.. you get the picture. The catch was we had to ask them questions in Bengali and they had to answer in English. This means my Bengali vocabulary is growing ever so slowly. It's kinda nice.. It provides some sort of goal and hobby here. Elliot and I are also doing an art class for K and Gr.1 and doing a choir once a week. These kids sing so loudly, so uninhibited. It's amazing. And they know SO many songs--they may not know what they are singing about but they know those words! Elliot and I taught them "I like bananas", the old kiddie camp song and in just a couple days they have the words and actions down pat!
The one downside I'm seeing to Bangladesh is bugs. When the sun goes down and the lights come on, these tiny little bugs flock in through the vents towards any light they can find. As I'm writing this, they are crawling all over my screen. Ick. Not cool. Two nights ago I got up to pee in the middle of the night and there was a two inch cockroach on the bathroom floor. Oh my soul.! I got out of there as fast as I could and curled up in bed. But I was still freaked out so I thought the leaves on my flowery pillowcase were the cockroach's friends coming to get me. ..Yeah, totally didn't sleep the rest of the night..
The redeeming factor is definitely these kids. Little Joseph, Mikey, Brent, Caleb, Andrew, Joshua, and Bartholamew. I think Caleb is my favourite--when I get pictures I'll definitely put them up. The girls are equally cute: Marissa, Connie, Melanie, Tanisha, Chloe, Bristy.. all so cute. Saying goodnight to each room is always an ordeal because kids come pouring out of beds wanting kisses and hugs all clothed in cute jammies. The always want stories and if you know anything about me, I can write factual term papers but my imagination isn't too great. They usually find a story book for me to read and then we have fun. By the way, the coolest thing I've taught the kids so far is how to High Five. They LOVE it! :)
Anyways, it's late here so I must away to bed. Sorry for the long post, I finally got my blog set up. When I first tried, the whole website was in Bangla, which of course does me no good. I was going to have someone at home set the blog up for me but today I found the English button :) Future posts will hopefully be shorter...
ami tomake bhalobashi <3
Then after dinner, we came back to our room to get some stuff planned for tomorrow and realized it was time to go down and say good night to all our new little friends. As we left our room, we realized it had started raining. When the weather has been in the high 80's and extremely humid the rain was an amazing change. We ran through the pitter patter to orphanage where the kids' rooms are. Within ten minutes, the pitter patter turned into a full out Amazon downpour! All the kids in their cute jammies huddled back into their rooms while Elliot, Mrs. Waid, and I ran onto the grassy courtyard and proceeded to dance in the rain. I have NEVER seen rain like that--it was even worse than the rain WallaWalla got at the end of last school year. Within minutes we were all soaked! Mrs.Waid went back undercover but then Tulie (one of the caregivers that is about 20yrs old) ran out to play tag with Elliot and I. I haven't had that much fun in.. oh man. It was so amazing. Elliot and I, while running circles in the muddy grass, said a prayer of thanks for the uplifting change of weather :) Then we came back up to our room, dried off, and I put on sweatpants that no one ever thought I could wear in Bangladesh. ahhh... it was so great!
Anyways, since my last update, we have kinda settled into our room and new schedule at the orphanage. The three of us girls are sharing a room in a two bedroom guest apartment. We have our own bathroom with a shower that only gives cold water. There is some apparatus that should give us warm water but we haven't figured out how to work it yet. Plus, after a hot hot night, the cold water actually feels pretty good in the mornings. We don't go into the other rooms in the apartment much (our clothes are in the living room but that doesn't count lol) because only our bedroom has a/c. Hallelujah--I don't think I could survive here without a/c. We have a tiny ant problem but have been spraying them periodically so hopefully that will help.My naive mind thought we would be eating nothing but rice and curry every day. That really could not be further from the truth. The Waid's employ a cook named Shati (sp? but pronounced Shaw-tee) who cooks for the Waid's twice a day and the children and caregivers three times a day. She makes Bengali-American food for the Waid's, de-spiced food for the kids, and the spiciest food I've ever ever ever had in my life for the caregivers. Needless to say, Elliot and I have been eating with the Waid's at 9am and 4pm. Breakfast consists of homemade cinnamon toast, rice, dhal (oh man I'm going to miss Shati's dhal when I come home...), fresh fruit salad (usually of peeled grapes, bananas grown about 20feet from the kitchen, and pomegranate seeds). Lately we've also been having fresh papaya and pomello. While the papaya is a hundred times better than anything you can find in the States, I still don't like it. The pomello, which is basically like grapefruit is amazing and Elliot and I will almost always polish off a big bowl of peeled and deseeded pomello pieces. Dinner has been everything from roti burritos, alfredo pasta, cabbage salad, french fries, pizza with homemade crust, and spaghetti. Seriously this woman makes everything from scratch and is a wonderful cook! Elliot and I joke that we will never lose weight in this place--we'll probably gain it! But in all actuality, this food is so healthy. Even the white rice we eat every day has grains of wheat cooked into it (which is surprisingly tasty!).
This trip has also reinforced the idea that you should never tell God that you don't want to do something. I chose to come to this orphanage because I didn't want to teach English on some island and I wanted to do medical work. Well, the medical clinic is in the final stages of being built and should be opened next week or so but Jehanna is teaching grade one English and English math and Elliot is teaching the same to kindergarten kids. Oh dear... Math I can handle--numbers transcend language as long as you can count somehow on your hands. English... geesh. How many different ways can you teach someone how to say "this" or "here?" Also, how many people reading this know what a short vowel is? Or better yet, can add a letter in front of the vowel like "na" and be able to explain what sound it makes to 13children? Mrs.Waid has been helping me the past couple days because she's taught grade one for the last 20years or so but today she was preoccupied with taking pictures of the children to send to the sponsors so Jehanna was on her own. Oh dear! The two Bengali teachers were crying they were laughing so hard at me trying to teach these darn short vowels. I had the smart girl in the class correcting me--she's 7yrs old for crying out loud! I'm in college! I was telling Mrs.Waid about it and she laughed when I said I would be more comfortable teaching the polarity and reactivity of 1,2-dipropylcyclohexane. Sad eh?
Besides teaching English daily and English math every other day, Elliot and I have to teach conversational English every day to K and Gr.1. That means we sit the kids on our living room floor and teach them how to say "Hello. How are you? I'm fine, thank-you." Today we taught them that instead of saying fine, they could say happy or sad or tired or sick or hungry or.. you get the picture. The catch was we had to ask them questions in Bengali and they had to answer in English. This means my Bengali vocabulary is growing ever so slowly. It's kinda nice.. It provides some sort of goal and hobby here. Elliot and I are also doing an art class for K and Gr.1 and doing a choir once a week. These kids sing so loudly, so uninhibited. It's amazing. And they know SO many songs--they may not know what they are singing about but they know those words! Elliot and I taught them "I like bananas", the old kiddie camp song and in just a couple days they have the words and actions down pat!
The one downside I'm seeing to Bangladesh is bugs. When the sun goes down and the lights come on, these tiny little bugs flock in through the vents towards any light they can find. As I'm writing this, they are crawling all over my screen. Ick. Not cool. Two nights ago I got up to pee in the middle of the night and there was a two inch cockroach on the bathroom floor. Oh my soul.! I got out of there as fast as I could and curled up in bed. But I was still freaked out so I thought the leaves on my flowery pillowcase were the cockroach's friends coming to get me. ..Yeah, totally didn't sleep the rest of the night..
The redeeming factor is definitely these kids. Little Joseph, Mikey, Brent, Caleb, Andrew, Joshua, and Bartholamew. I think Caleb is my favourite--when I get pictures I'll definitely put them up. The girls are equally cute: Marissa, Connie, Melanie, Tanisha, Chloe, Bristy.. all so cute. Saying goodnight to each room is always an ordeal because kids come pouring out of beds wanting kisses and hugs all clothed in cute jammies. The always want stories and if you know anything about me, I can write factual term papers but my imagination isn't too great. They usually find a story book for me to read and then we have fun. By the way, the coolest thing I've taught the kids so far is how to High Five. They LOVE it! :)
Anyways, it's late here so I must away to bed. Sorry for the long post, I finally got my blog set up. When I first tried, the whole website was in Bangla, which of course does me no good. I was going to have someone at home set the blog up for me but today I found the English button :) Future posts will hopefully be shorter...
ami tomake bhalobashi <3
Saturday, October 10, 2009
of cockroaches and squat pots
In Bengali they don't say hi--they say "How are you?" Most of the children have been taught to say "I'm fine." So I will say to you, "How are you?" :)
After quite the travel, I have safely arrived at an orphanage near the small village of Heli in northern Bangladesh. We flew out Monday morning and arrived in Hong Kong around 4am our time, 7pm their time. We did our best to sleep on the airport benches, but those became uncomfortable quite quickly.
Around 10am Hong Kong time, Elliot LaPlante (the other wallawalla SM travelling with me) and I started out adventure to downtown Hong Kong. First of all, we had trouble even getting out of the airport because HKG is about 8 storeys with multiple gates and we don't speak Chinese. We finally found our way out after 45min and bought a round trip pass to the Central terminal in Hong Kong. We jumped the train and stepped into another world filled with double decker buses and crowds of people.
Our first destination was Victoria Peak off of Garden Way. And again we got turned around and lost. We really only had 5hours to spare so time was of the essence. Eventually we found our way, walking double the distance in extremely humid air. Needless to say, we were drenched in our conservative clothes we were prepared to wear in Bangladesh later that evening. Victoria Peak was beautiful though. It has an outlook of all of Hong Kong (and it's outrageous smog). Elliot and I grabbed a quick lunch at Burger King at the top (original I know but we were hungry and not feeling adventurous in the food department).
We then made our way back down the mountain and headed over to the Star Ferry which takes you across the water to the Tsim Sha Tsui. The ferry was an old wooden foot passenger only tug boat that cost about 60 US cents to ride. We looked around for the Hong Kong Walk of the Stars on the other side but couldn't find it. We gave up after awhile because we were just so hot and thirsty from the day.
The hardest part of the day came when we had to get back to the airport express station. The road trip ticket also covered a hotel shuttle bus to take us back to Kowloon station, which would then take us to the airport. Apparently no one knows where Kowloon station is. So again, Elliot and I got lost looking for the darn station. One shuttle driver dropped us off in the middle of some street... randomly. Then we wandered around for about 30min trying to see if he had dropped us off at the right place.. Nope. haha
Eventually we found our way back to the train with about two and a half hours to spare. We were in one piece and had seen yet another great city :)
Jumping on the plane to Dhaka was fairly uneventful. I was afraid the immigration people wouldn't let me through because my visa is for only 4months and my return ticket is for March but they did thankfully. We spent the night in Dhaka at the Adventist Dental Clinic in the Uttara district. We met Litton who is the treasurer for the orphanage. He has a Masters degree in English from a university in India and is so great to talk to. Mr. Waid and him took Elliot and me to get a SIM card adapter for internet. I have never been stared at so much as that day... wow. I felt like I had 6 legs or something.
Things I learned in Dhaka:
1. If you don't have a car horn, you are nothing.
2. Big buses trump your little car when merging. Always.
3. Road lines mean absolutely nothing. Why fit two cars in two lanes if you can fit three?
4. A life for a life means something in this country. If you hit a pedestrian, you will be pulled from you car and killed. Seriously.
5. If I ever go missing, first look for me in the potholes because you could lose a minivan in some of those things.
We took a rickshaw to London Plaza to meet Mrs. Waid and exchange money into taka. One US dollar equals about 70taka. The rickshaws were crazy! I think our driver purposefully tried to hit all the potholes in hopes of bucking us out of the cart. What an experience... When we found the others, we all got into a pickup truck and drove to the other side of Dhaka, Gulshan, where a dress show was. However, the truck was very old and we broke down in the middle of the street in traffic. The four of us white women had to get out and push this truck while our driver steered us towards the side. Bengali men stood on the side laughing and taking pictures with their cell phones. One man did comment that there was very nice scenery but no one offered to help :P
Our driver, Jason who also speaks very good English, called us an auto rickshaw, which is basically the tiniest three-wheeled bus you've ever seen. The four of us (Mrs.Waid, her niece Brittni, Elliot, and me) all squished in the back and rode on to the dress shop. We found such nice clothes there. We all got at least one nice church outfit there. We went back to London Plaza and bought a couple more cheap cotton outfits. We then headed to the tailor who measured each of us and would make the outfits in about 10days.
Words I've learned so far in Bengali:
1. Donobad (pronounced dough-no-bad) meaning Thank-you.
2. Seluar (pronounced sel-o-ar) meaning the pants part of the traditional outfit.
3. Kameez (pronounced ka-meese, rhymes with geese lol) meaning the shirt/tunic part.
4. Orna meaning the scarf of the outfit (sounds how it's written).
5. [Not sure how to spell but...] mach (fish), dim (egg), dood (milk), a-may to-mar-kay ballo-bashi (I love you).
We stayed overnight at the Adventist college and headed to the orphanage early Friday morning. I can't believe it took so long to get here! The roads between the villages are crazy and on more than one occasion I really thought I would be lost in a car wreck. But Bengali's are very good drivers and we got to BanglaHope safely. After putting our luggage in our room (pictures to come...) we immediately went down to start meeting the 80+ children and see the facilities we would call home for the next couple months.
I would I could but into words how wonderful the kids are here. Each one is so beautiful and so wanting to be picked up and kissed, wanting to feel special. I picked up one little girl and she wrapped her arms and legs around me so tightly, not letting go for about an hour. She pushed her head into my neck and stayed there the whole time, not letting me put her down for games or anything. It really did bring tears to my eyes to know this little girl just wants to be loved so desperately... wow. This is going to be an interesting experience to say the least.
We had communion Sabbath today. I liked knowing that we are starting this trip off right, starting it with God close. We did the foot washing and I chose to wash the feet of one of the house mothers' feet. Her name is Juic-na and she doesn't speak any English but is really sweet in her mannerisms. I washed her feet first and when I was done I gave her a hug and she cried. It was an amazing experience!
Anyways, the power is going in and out right now and we're about to go to bed. We're still kinda jet lagged as it's about 6:45am at home. I'm sorry this turned out to be such a long email--there is just so much to tell. Every adventure is so real to me and I want to share it with you so much!
I miss you all and I hope you're doing well :D Please pray for me still.. I'm going to need it in the coming days, weeks, months!
ami tomake bhalobashi
p.s. On the way here we stopped for fresh naan bread. The bathrooms only had squat pots which was definitely a new thing!
p.s.s. When we were unpacking our clothes, a giant cockroach crawled out of one of the drawers. It was gross!
p.s.s.s. There are so many bugs here! They are all over my screen and it's gross.. And we have geckos that crawl on our walls. They are kinda fun :)
After quite the travel, I have safely arrived at an orphanage near the small village of Heli in northern Bangladesh. We flew out Monday morning and arrived in Hong Kong around 4am our time, 7pm their time. We did our best to sleep on the airport benches, but those became uncomfortable quite quickly.
Around 10am Hong Kong time, Elliot LaPlante (the other wallawalla SM travelling with me) and I started out adventure to downtown Hong Kong. First of all, we had trouble even getting out of the airport because HKG is about 8 storeys with multiple gates and we don't speak Chinese. We finally found our way out after 45min and bought a round trip pass to the Central terminal in Hong Kong. We jumped the train and stepped into another world filled with double decker buses and crowds of people.Our first destination was Victoria Peak off of Garden Way. And again we got turned around and lost. We really only had 5hours to spare so time was of the essence. Eventually we found our way, walking double the distance in extremely humid air. Needless to say, we were drenched in our conservative clothes we were prepared to wear in Bangladesh later that evening. Victoria Peak was beautiful though. It has an outlook of all of Hong Kong (and it's outrageous smog). Elliot and I grabbed a quick lunch at Burger King at the top (original I know but we were hungry and not feeling adventurous in the food department).
We then made our way back down the mountain and headed over to the Star Ferry which takes you across the water to the Tsim Sha Tsui. The ferry was an old wooden foot passenger only tug boat that cost about 60 US cents to ride. We looked around for the Hong Kong Walk of the Stars on the other side but couldn't find it. We gave up after awhile because we were just so hot and thirsty from the day.
The hardest part of the day came when we had to get back to the airport express station. The road trip ticket also covered a hotel shuttle bus to take us back to Kowloon station, which would then take us to the airport. Apparently no one knows where Kowloon station is. So again, Elliot and I got lost looking for the darn station. One shuttle driver dropped us off in the middle of some street... randomly. Then we wandered around for about 30min trying to see if he had dropped us off at the right place.. Nope. hahaEventually we found our way back to the train with about two and a half hours to spare. We were in one piece and had seen yet another great city :)
Jumping on the plane to Dhaka was fairly uneventful. I was afraid the immigration people wouldn't let me through because my visa is for only 4months and my return ticket is for March but they did thankfully. We spent the night in Dhaka at the Adventist Dental Clinic in the Uttara district. We met Litton who is the treasurer for the orphanage. He has a Masters degree in English from a university in India and is so great to talk to. Mr. Waid and him took Elliot and me to get a SIM card adapter for internet. I have never been stared at so much as that day... wow. I felt like I had 6 legs or something.
Things I learned in Dhaka:1. If you don't have a car horn, you are nothing.
2. Big buses trump your little car when merging. Always.
3. Road lines mean absolutely nothing. Why fit two cars in two lanes if you can fit three?
4. A life for a life means something in this country. If you hit a pedestrian, you will be pulled from you car and killed. Seriously.
5. If I ever go missing, first look for me in the potholes because you could lose a minivan in some of those things.
We took a rickshaw to London Plaza to meet Mrs. Waid and exchange money into taka. One US dollar equals about 70taka. The rickshaws were crazy! I think our driver purposefully tried to hit all the potholes in hopes of bucking us out of the cart. What an experience... When we found the others, we all got into a pickup truck and drove to the other side of Dhaka, Gulshan, where a dress show was. However, the truck was very old and we broke down in the middle of the street in traffic. The four of us white women had to get out and push this truck while our driver steered us towards the side. Bengali men stood on the side laughing and taking pictures with their cell phones. One man did comment that there was very nice scenery but no one offered to help :P
Our driver, Jason who also speaks very good English, called us an auto rickshaw, which is basically the tiniest three-wheeled bus you've ever seen. The four of us (Mrs.Waid, her niece Brittni, Elliot, and me) all squished in the back and rode on to the dress shop. We found such nice clothes there. We all got at least one nice church outfit there. We went back to London Plaza and bought a couple more cheap cotton outfits. We then headed to the tailor who measured each of us and would make the outfits in about 10days.
Words I've learned so far in Bengali:
1. Donobad (pronounced dough-no-bad) meaning Thank-you.
2. Seluar (pronounced sel-o-ar) meaning the pants part of the traditional outfit.
3. Kameez (pronounced ka-meese, rhymes with geese lol) meaning the shirt/tunic part.
4. Orna meaning the scarf of the outfit (sounds how it's written).
5. [Not sure how to spell but...] mach (fish), dim (egg), dood (milk), a-may to-mar-kay ballo-bashi (I love you).
We stayed overnight at the Adventist college and headed to the orphanage early Friday morning. I can't believe it took so long to get here! The roads between the villages are crazy and on more than one occasion I really thought I would be lost in a car wreck. But Bengali's are very good drivers and we got to BanglaHope safely. After putting our luggage in our room (pictures to come...) we immediately went down to start meeting the 80+ children and see the facilities we would call home for the next couple months.
I would I could but into words how wonderful the kids are here. Each one is so beautiful and so wanting to be picked up and kissed, wanting to feel special. I picked up one little girl and she wrapped her arms and legs around me so tightly, not letting go for about an hour. She pushed her head into my neck and stayed there the whole time, not letting me put her down for games or anything. It really did bring tears to my eyes to know this little girl just wants to be loved so desperately... wow. This is going to be an interesting experience to say the least.
We had communion Sabbath today. I liked knowing that we are starting this trip off right, starting it with God close. We did the foot washing and I chose to wash the feet of one of the house mothers' feet. Her name is Juic-na and she doesn't speak any English but is really sweet in her mannerisms. I washed her feet first and when I was done I gave her a hug and she cried. It was an amazing experience!
Anyways, the power is going in and out right now and we're about to go to bed. We're still kinda jet lagged as it's about 6:45am at home. I'm sorry this turned out to be such a long email--there is just so much to tell. Every adventure is so real to me and I want to share it with you so much!
I miss you all and I hope you're doing well :D Please pray for me still.. I'm going to need it in the coming days, weeks, months!
ami tomake bhalobashi
p.s. On the way here we stopped for fresh naan bread. The bathrooms only had squat pots which was definitely a new thing!
p.s.s. When we were unpacking our clothes, a giant cockroach crawled out of one of the drawers. It was gross!
p.s.s.s. There are so many bugs here! They are all over my screen and it's gross.. And we have geckos that crawl on our walls. They are kinda fun :)
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