Blogs from Bangladesh, Asia - page 24

Here are a couple of pictures to get a sense of my everyday life here in Chittagong, Bangladesh. Sanctuary I have set up a little sanctuary on the veranda outside my room. It’s a small place to read and think and pray about things. The clothesline also runs above my head in this place, but it doesn’t get too terribly crowded. "Until I went into the sanctuary of God; Then I understood their end" Psalm 73:17. Entertaining Natasha and I were left alone without a cook or bearer just before heading off to Nepal for Christmas and decided to have a couple of close friends over for dinner. The cook had left a couple of chickens in the freezer and one was de-boned. We cooked all day and managed to make chicken crepes, mashed potatoes, and ... read more

Christmas in Nepal was wonderful! A bit cold, but absolutely Gorgeous! My roommate, Natasha, and I traveled to Nepal over Christmas break to get some visa things figured out and stayed with some of our principle’s friends, Jenn and Leah. We were able to meet many of their friends and participate in many holiday activities. We were glad to help Jenn and Leah with all their holiday projects and enjoyed the festivities. We helped to make 600 sugar cookies for the Christmas play Jenn wrote for their church (I volunteered to bake the cookies - it was the warmer job ;)) We were also able to help them wrap presents that had been donated to the orphanage nearby. Twenty-one kids were glad to have three packages of toys and undergarments to open. My favorite part that ... read more

Blogger Becca A few thousand bricks, a local community keen for a new house, and about 12 munchkins desperate to show off their ENTIRE wardrobe - that's our Habitat for Humanity experience here in Dhaka! Mum, Dad and Owen are here and they wanted a real "Dhaka experience". So, instead of the normal Christmas, our family decided to do a service based Christmas instead. We chose a Habitat for Humanity build in a Christian community outside of Dhaka. A group of families within the community get together and helps build each other's new homes. I didn't know this but the local families actually have to pay back the cost of the materials used in the build: I always assumed that the new house was a donation. We left Dhaka city early-ish after a quick breakfast ... read more

Blogger Dougo Today we headed off on another adventurous trip into the Bangla unknown. With our trusty Lonely Planet guide book and map (don’t get me started again!), we all piled into the school van and headed off to Tongi River, north of the airport on the outskirts of Dhaka. Our driver, Bilash, proved to be a god send. The Lonely Planet said the launches for the boats that would take us up river were 100m west of the bridge. They were to the east. Bilash managed to bargain us a boat (we had to pay the price of a full boat coz no boats were running) and ensured the guy understood we wanted to be back by 3pm (2 hours later). Four hours later we returned, having wound our way through the pollution filled ... read more

As many of you heard, Bangladesh weathered a cyclone (Sidr) November 15, 2007. Chittagong is situated just to the east of the cyclone and received some light wind and rain that evening. Many of the villages were hit pretty badly and many people and livestock were killed. Many crops were scheduled to be harvested just a couple of days after Sidr hit were also destroyed. The cook in my household called home to his village the morning after the storm and although no one there was killed, all the buildings were destroyed. He left early this year for his village with his wife and two small children in an attempt to start repairing the damage to a small building on his plot of land there. WCA Student Philanthropist Students at William Carey Academy are already aware ... read more