Merry Christmas

Hi folks

Just wanted to wish you all a very very Merry Christmas. Hope you're all enjoying the time of year and are looking forward to tucking into some turkey, pulling some crackers or whatever it is you might be doing this Christmas.

This will certainly be a very different Christmas for us, being the first year we're away from the UK and away from our families but we've tried to enter into the Christmas spirit here in Dhaka. Even as we write this posting we're listening to "Santa Baby" on our Christmas albumn and we've put up loads of decorations in our flat.

We've managed to have one Christmas dinner and 2 mince pies, so we've not missed out entirely but they've not quite cottoned on to the concept of bread sauce yet!

We've also been to 3 carol concerts; one of which was at the British High Commissioner's House last night, so we felt very privileged to be part of that.

We're actually off to Sylhet, which is the tea garden region on the East of the country for Christmas, with our local church. There's about 70 of us going, of which most will be Bangladeshis but there'll be about 10 of us Bideshis (foreigners) tagging along. I'm not sure we'll get the traditional roast turkey and Christmas pud with brandy sauce but there might be a few carols to sing along to. We've found out that there's a Bangla version of Hark the Herald Angels Sing and Silent Night, so it might not be so different from home after all.

As we're packing ready for our Christmas trip we thought we'd share what Christmas means to us. This year, more than ever Christmas means family. Over 2000 years ago it meant the start of a new family for a young couple Bethlehem. About 30 years later it meant the start of a world-wide family centrered around Jesus, which we're blessed to be a part of and which means so much to us. In 2008 it means sharing a bond of love with the ones closest to you, even when they're thousands of miles away.

We sincerely hope that Christmas means as much to you as it does to us.

Lots and lots of Christmas love

Andy and Nic xxxx

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A Bangladeshi Barn Dance

You might think that being in a Muslim country where it's warm and they've never even heard of cranberry sauce, we'd miss all the excitement leading up to Christmas. Well you'd be wrong. I'm very pleased to say that the temperature has now dropped, the sky is grey and misty, there's fairy lights all over the place and we've got our Christmas decorations up - yay! So now feeling fully festive.

When I say the temperatures dropped, what I mean is it's gone down to a very pleasant 17 C but of course for the locals that means scarves, hats, jumpers - the full works! It actually does feel pretty chilly cause we're not getting that much sun and there's a lot of mist around but I suppose compared to the cold spell you've been experiencing it's nothing drastic.

Anyway, irrespective I think this weather's great - much easier to get into the festive spirit when it's grey and misty outside.

We went to the British club last night and managed to have a roast turkey dinner with home made mince pies to finish, accompanied by festive Christmas tunes playing in the background and lovely tacky Christmas decorations.

Tonight I've been making paper chains to add to our Christmas decorations, so our apartment is all dressed and ready for the occasion. I'm also told you can buy Christmas trees from the other side of town and even tacky flashing light things and tinsel and stuff - home away from home. I'm not sure we'll go that far but it's nice to know we can find a little corner of Christmas even here in Dhaka.

Anyway, enough of my Christmas ramblings... on to the subject of the Blog.

On Tuesday it was Victory Day here, which is where the locals were celebrating the anniversary of their victory over Pakistani rule following a 9 mth war, which ended on 16th December 1971. So for us that meant a day off work and for the locals it meant a day of flag waving, song singing and general merriment.

In the evening one of the international schools had their staff end of year party and so Andy was asked to lead a barn dance - clearly his Barn Dance calling reputation has preceeded him! So, being accompanied by a colleague on the violin and a Barn dance CD we all engaged in a bit of dosie-doeing and the occasional right-hand star. Needless to say it was lots of fun - definately not something we expected to be doing in Bangladesh.

Since then it's been a gradual wind down at the office as more and more people leave for their Christmas vacations.

We're off ourselves on the 23rd up to Sylhet, which is on the East side of the country and is said to be the coldest part of the country - yay! I never thought I'd say this but I was actually starting to miss the cold (...well slightly). The region we're going to is also the tea garden region, so is supposed to be very picturesque. We're going with the local church that we have been attending, so we're expecting a very Bangladeshi experience - we're not holding out much hope for turkey and stuffing but there might be the chance of the odd carol here and there.

There's also quite a lot of activity in relation to the forthcoming election, which is due to take place on 29th December. This election is quite a big deal over here because there's been a caretaker government in place for the past 2 years and for the majority of that time the country has been under emergency rule, so this will be the first time in 2yrs that there's an elected government in place. As a result there's a lot of demonstrations, loudspeakers chanting some election manifesto and tonnes of flyers and posters everywhere with the faces of the political leaders in place. There's nothing dangerous about the activities (in case you were wondering) but it's certainly something you can't avoid witnessing.

Anyway, hope all the Christmas plans are going well and you're all in good festive spirits.

We'll try and put up another posting before we go away.

Love Nic (and Andy) x

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T-I-G-G-E-R (Grrrrr)

So, as mentioned on our previous blog we have just returned from a lovely 5 day cruise in the Sundarbans, which is an area in the South of the country where lots of rivers connect and feed into to the Bay of Bengal.

Our trip started on Monday 8th December with a short internal flight to Jessore (only 35 mins) in the evening and then a minibus transfer to Kulna town, where we boarded our boat.

The boat slept 12 people but there were only 7 of us on board, which worked out well for us. The boat was a lovely steel ship with an engine room and crew area downstairs, the passenger sleeping area on the next level of the boat and then a dining area, outdoor bit and steering cabin on the next level.

Once we had found our cabin we had an evening meal on board and got to know our fellow passengers a bit whilst cruising a short distance to a quiter spot where we anchored for the night.

The following day we started cruising at about 8. At about 11 we stopped at a village where we had to pick up some passes from the Forestry Commission in order to enter the forest areas of the Sundarbans. This gave us the opportunity to have a wander around the village and see the final part of the Eid sacrificing, which was interesting.

The rest of the day was spent cruising, reading and sunbathing - it's a hard life!

The following day we got up early (5.30am!) for a cruise into one of the creeks adjoinging the main river on a wooden river boat - very similar to the gondolas you see in Venice. We were hoping to see the Royal Bengal Tiger but I think he must have been very shy because even after the 3rd morning of these early morning cruises the closest we got was a roar on the first morning! However, we were privileged to see all sorts of amazing wildlife - crocodiles, dolphins, snakes, lizards, beautiful kingfishers, eagles, egrets, herons, monkeys, kites, woodpeckers.

After our morning cruise we had breakfast and then we went over to an island for a stroll around the beach, a mud bath and a swim in the water (see the video for some footage of Andy really embracing the whole mud bath thing in style)!

In the afternoon after some lunch and a bit more cruising we went for a walk around the Mangrove forests. Mangroves are trees that are able to grow in salty conditions and the roots stick up out of the ground, pointing towards the sky, to allow oxygen intake. This was also really fascinating because we were able to see the devastating affects of the cyclone that struck at the start of the year, which swept everything from trees to houses up in it's path.

During our walk we were also on Tiger watch and managed to see some footprints and poo but no sightings of the actual tiger (some of the more sceptical amongst us were convinced that the tour guide were going ahead of us imprinting the paw marks into the ground to keep us tourists happy!)

We also saw the areas where the Brits manufactured salt by extracting it from the sea water and then sold it to the Indians, so not only did we have wildlife but we had history as well!

The following day after another early morning cruise we went for a walk through the lush green areas of the Sundarbans to a beautiful unspoilt beach. The walk was lovely, very pictoresque and we saw some beautiful butterflies dancing in the air, a gorgeous baby otter and some not-so-beautiful wild boar (although beautiful in their own special way I suppose).

On the beach we went for a swim, played footie and strolled around on the lovely cool sand - ummm, total bliss!

In the afternoon we headed back for Kulna, via a few pretty creeks and such things.

On our final morning we went for another tiger spotting creek trip and this time we saw a lot of local fisherman out catching shrimp and crabs. This was really interesting as well because they live on the tiny river boats for about a month at a time, sometimes with their young apprentice sons, during the good fishing season and then return back to their village. A very different way of life!

So, in the afternoon we arrived back at Kulna where we took a car ride to the airport and then had a short flight back to Dhaka.

All in all a great trip with wonderful food, good company and amazing scenery; so great to see the different ways in which God's hand is at work and how creative he was in forming His creation.

We now feel very well rested and have even got a bit of a sun tan - not bad for a 5 day trip.

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To moo or not to moo, that is the question...

Well, for the more observant amongst you, you will have noticed that it's been over a week since our last posting - apologies for this but we have been off on our hols, taking advantage of the Eid break.

Since our last posting the second Eid (Eid-ul-Fitr) has occurred and it took place on Tuesday 9th December.

This Eid is a much more sombre affair than the last Eid and basically involves the sacrifice of either a cow or goat (depending on your wealth) by each family. So, during the lead up to Eid, Dhaka became one big cattle market with massive temporary markets being set up around the city for people to buy and sell their choice sacrifice. Many trucks were entering the city stocked with cattle and it was a common site to see people walking their newly-purchased animal down the road to take back home.

The animals were all dressed very nicely with garlands of flowers round their necks blissfully ignorant of their fate.

Once purchased the animals were stored in the car port of apartment buildings, or attached to fences by the side of the road in front of buildings, or in peoples' apartments (if it's a goat that is - bit tricky to get a whole cow in the lift!)

Our building was no exception - we had a couple of cows and goats in the car port waiting to greet us one morning and some token pieces of hay for them to sleep in. During the lead up to Eid the guards would take the cattle for a little wander in the field opposite our building, so I'm pretty sure they enjoyed their last few days.

Along our road there were loads and loads of goats tied to railings and gates etc - our area is not as wealthy as other areas, hence the goats rather than cows - which was an interesting site to behold.

On Eid day the animals would be sacrificed either in the car ports, in peoples' apartments, or in one of the 12 designated sacrifice areas distributed across the city. There has been a recent ban on sacrificing on the road, due to the amount of mess is creates and hygiene implications and there are strict rules on cleaning up after the sacrifice. In the villages most people would sacrifice inside, or just outside their homes.

Once the sacrifice has occurred the meat is then divided into 3 - 1 portion is for the family, 1 portion is for the poor and 1 portion is for friends and other relatives. As you can imagine beef is on the menu for quite a while after that.

As we were on holiday at the time of Eid we missed the actual sacrificing but we understand it was quite eventful.

The Eid break was 3 days from the 8th - 10th Dec. The 8th is used to prepare for Eid. All the shopping should have been done the day before and then the 8th is simply used for preparation and then the day after Eid is for spending time with the family. Many people leave the city and return to their home village to spend time with their families, so Dhaka was pretty empty (well relatively).

On our last day in the office before Eid we had a pretty eventful day. One of our colleagues managed to drop the large fish bowl on his wrist (ouch). He severed an artery and a few tendons but thankfully he got to hospital in time to ensure that the damage wasn't too serious.

The whole hospital system is wierd here in that you kind of choose your hospital and go to that - it's not really a case of going to the nearest one and each hospital has it's own ambulance service.

We managed to get our colleague into a really nice private hospital and having been to visit him the following day I can confidently say that it puts our English hospitals to shame - the wards were very clean and quiet, plenty of staff on hand and the beds were nicely spread apart from adjacent beds. I suppose that's what you get when you pay privately.

Our colleague is now making a good recovery and should get full movement back in his fingers within the next few weeks.

Oh, in case you were wondering, Mr Bean and Mr Bond (the 2 fish) survived the initial breakage but sadly we arrived at the office this morning to find that Mr Bean had snuffed it - must have been a case of delayed shock!

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Office Christmas Party

Sorry this is the second post of the day but too much to write about in one posting. If you haven't had chance yet please check out the other post of today about our recent trip to Nilphamari.

So, we arrived back from Nilphamari early on Thursday after a good train journey. After another hour's kip it was back to the office for a bit of work and preparation for the Christmas party that evening.

After work we all got our glad rags on and headed to the party about 5 mins away. Most of the women, including me were in a Sari. My Sari came from the leprosy hospital that we saw in Nilphamari where they have a tailoring training centre for girls who have suffered with leprosy or disabilities. So I was privileged to meet the girls who made my Sari. Having never worn a Sari before there was no way I could put it on but thankfully our house helper came to the office to help dress me, which was very exciting. You will also see some pictures of the women at the Leprosy hospital, who had great fun dressing me up in the Sari at the shop.

In case you're wondering whether Andy missed out on the dressing up experience, he didn't! Our colleague brought a Punjab (three quarter length shirt thing) for Andy to wear.

At the party all our colleagues came with their families, together with our house helpers and their families. So, we got to meet our house helper's two daughters, who are 6 and 11, which was really special. They looked gorgeous and were so happy and smiley.

Andy was doing games with our colleague from Nilphamari. So, we played team pictionary, the kids played the chocolate game and then we all also played a team challenge game where the teams had to design some clothing out of scrap materials. It was so much fun, especially with the language issues - we had a great time!

We also had some great food and Mishti (sweets) of course - Mishti is compulsory at any form of celebration.

It was so special to spend an evening with all the house helpers and their families, with everyone being equal - an evening that we could all enjoy together without anyone having to serve anyone else (despite our house helpers desperate attempts to keep serving us). I think a great time was had by all, a real evening to remember.

On Friday, after the party we went to church in the afternoon, which was pretty sparse because it was the Sunday school picnic, so a lot of people were attending this but it was nice to spend some quality time with the few members that were there. The talk was really good, with lessons being taken from Jonah - a man who reluctantly followed God's calling to serve in a foreign land - very relevant lessons for us.

In the evening we attended a bring and share meal organised by the local International church, where we all went to different hosts' houses for a wonderful Christmas bring and share - YUMMM!!

We were spoilt with warm baguette, pizza and even apple crumble and custard (WOW!) Having not eaten any of these things for over 2 months, it was amazing but not sure our stomachs could coped - we were so full afterwards (well, you've got to take advantage whilst it's available!)

Oh, in case you're wondering we are still managing to enter into the Christmas spirit in Dhaka and have started to put up Christmas decorations and we have even got an advent calendar, which we are sharing with our househelper, who thinks it's wonderful.

Anyway, on that happy note we better be off - we're going to a Christmas carol service this afternoon, where we're due to hear a performance of The Messiah amongst other festive things. Should be good but feels very odd to be celebrating Christmas whilst it's 28 C outside!

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Village people

Hi folks,

Well we've just returned from an amazing few days up in the north of the country, in an area called Nilphamari, which is right up on the border with India. So, brace yourselves, this might be a long posting...

We travelled up to Nilphamari by night bus. That was an interesting experience, particularly since drivers round here are extremely "horn happy" and have no concept of driving in a straight line. The trip was made all the more exciting by the vomitting lady sitting behind us, who started puking out of the window as we approached the midway rest stop. Needless to say the night train back to Dhaka was far more preferable.

Anyway, the purpose of our trip was to see the site where our factory is going to be built and to meet some of the NGOs who are working up there. In order to get Fairtrade status we have to do community development work, so we were working to get an idea of the problems up there, what NGOs are currently doing and what work is required.

This particular area is the poorest area of Bangladesh and since Bangladesh is one of the poorest countries in the world you can imagine that the poverty was pretty severe. However, the poverty wasn't quite like in Dhaka - it wasn't quite so "in your face" (for want of a better phrase). Whilst people were extremely extremely poor they were very humble with it. They all worked so so hard tending to the fields, or pulling rickshaws, or basically anything that would enable them to eat. There were no beggars or people on the streets asking for money as there are in Dhaka.

We were staying in the residential area of the EPZ - our organisation has a flat there where our colleague lives for part of the week and the flat also serves as an office. It was a bit like living on an army compound because to enter the EPZ area you have to go through large gates guarded by security men and then once inside the people who live in the residential area are the officers or investors of the EPZ companies. It's a really nice little community actually. Every evening we we played Badminton with some of the officers (well I didn't because not really the done thing for ladies plus a bit tricky wearing a Salwa Kamiz), which was really good and great for meeting people.

During the daytime we had lots of meetings with various NGOs, which was really beneficial. We hired a driver and drove all over the Nilphamari area. The driving was a bit hairy at times but I'm pleased to say we only knocked down one cyclist and fortunately he only required some minor patching up.

At all the meetings we were given tea and snacks, so as you can imagine after our 4th meeting of the day we were pretty full of food but everybody was so hospitable that we couldn't refuse. Some of the places we visited were very primitive and we were a bit concerned for our tender Bideshi stomachs but God really strengthened our stomachs whilst we were there and we didn't get ill at all.

We had the privilege of seeing a farming project, a local village, a couple of community working groups, a drama/music performance that is used to raise awareness about domestic violence, a leprosy/disability hospital as well as lots of bamboo (it's where our raw material is sourced from), rice fields and vegetable fields amongst many other things.

One of the most surreal experiences was travelling to the train station at the end of our stay. We left the flat at about 8pm when it was pitch black, with our luggage, our colleague and the cook from the flat. Our form of transport was a rickshaw van, which is basically a bike with a flat trailer behind it (see the photos for an example), so we all sat on this with all our luggage and travelled for an hour in the pitch black to the next town. As we sat on the bike along the main road with buses and lorries tootling past and obviously no form of lighting we thought how far removed we were from England.

The best way I can describe what it was like up there is if you imagine stepping into a time machine and transporting yourself back a couple of centuries in England. For example the farm tools were yoke + oxen rather than tractors and trailors. The homes were all bamboo huts with little or no form of sanitation and all the shops were little road side tin huts with no shop front. The main form of transport was rickshaw van, bikes or rickety old bus. It was quite common to see men being shaved with the old style flat razor, or kids playing with a tyre and stick by the side of the road and groups of people huddled round the one small black and white TV in the town.

When I mentioned the poverty earlier the problems are so complex it would take ages to explain but basically the root cause is lack of jobs. All these people need is some permanent employment to give them some hope. The poverty and the need is absolutely desparate. To give you one example of the kind of choices these people have to make, some families have to choose whether to starve, or whether to sell one of their children to a trafficker in the vain hope that their child will earn a better living in Dhaka, or in India but deep down knowing that they will probably end up in prostitution or the like. These are the kinds of choices that we in the West can't even begin to comprehend.

I'm not sure I've given you a very good picture of what it was like up there, it's very hard to begin to describe it but it was a huge privilege for us to experience it. It was so quiet and peaceful and full of love and tranquility even amongst all this poverty. Despite having to face some very hard decisions the people we met were so full of servitude and love; the light of God was truly shining in this pocket of tranquility even in the darkness of such poverty.

As we were visiting this place the following verse came to mind, which I wanted to share with you:

"The Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor...the bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes...they will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendour" (Isaiah 61)

May you all be blessed xx

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Wonderland and the Dancing bear....

Last Saturday Nicola and I did some child minding for so me of our colleagues and took them to a 'Theme Park' tyype place called wonderland. It was a very bizzare experience. A small park with no-one there filled with lots of fairground rides. All in different states of disrepair. We were stopped from going on some of them as more people were needed to balance them out?! Others weren't running becuase the operator was having his lunch on the back of them.

Nicola went on one odd ride which consited of a train going round a large circular peice of track that was half enclosed by a building. The first trip round everything was dark and came past the station waving at me and one of the children in a 'waws that it' kind of expression.

However the train continued back into the building, this time with the lights on, to show a prehistoric scene with badly made dinosaurs and cavemen models. The train then stopped inside this room and Nicola and the child were ushered off the train into another cave like room. The door was shut behind the two of them, leaving them in the dark. Then all of a sudden they were engulfed in disco music and flashing lights and the strange appearance of a Bengali man dressed in a cuddly bear costume. He then proceeded to spend the next 3 minutes dancing with the bear in the middle of the cave with flashing lights and disco music blaring out.

Finally they waved goodbye and were seated back on the train for the trip back to the station. A truly odd experience but the child we were looking after enjoyed it so much we all had to have a go and take a dance with the disco bear.

It was a weird experience to dance with a Bengali man dressed as a bear in a cave... with my wife and two children.

The same day we also took a trip to Pizza Hut! (Yum Yum!!) and the international club which was really nice with a good size swimming pool and basketball court! So nice to have some normality!

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Fondue and Bangla

Well this is the next instalment of my blogposting just to let you know about my week.

So it's been a pretty busy week with having my Bangla exam on Thursday, putting the finishing touches on the Fondue parties, attending 2 fondue parties and going to an anti-trafficking workshop.

I'm not sure whether I've properly explained the significance of the chocolate fondue parties in my previous blogs but just in case I thought I would briefly summarise it now. Essentially during the last week of November Stop the Traffik are trying to raise awareness aboout trafficking in the chocolate industry. Nearly half the world's chocolate is made from cocoa grown in the Cote d'Ivoire in Africa. Over 12,000 children have been trafficked into these cocoa farms. The conditions they have they have to work in is appalling.

The Stop the Traffik website tells the story of a young boy who was trafficked from his home village in Mali to one of these cocoa farms. He was locked up in a shack at night with other boys where they would have to sleep amongst there own excrement with no light or ventilation in the shack. During the day he would work 12 - 14 hours lugging heavy sacks of cocoa. If he dropped one he would get beaten, if he asked for more food he would get beaten. This particular boy witnessed one boy die from overwork and too many beatings and this apparently is not an uncommon scenario. So, unless chocolate comes with the fairtrade mark, the likelihood is it will contain the blood of trafficked children.

The fondue parties are to raise awareness on a consumer level about trafficking in the chocolate industry in order to encourage everyone to eat fair trade (traffik free) chocolate. On a larger level the campaign is also to encourage the large chocolate companies to stop using trafficked cocoa in their chocolate and to demand traffik free cocoa from their suppliers.

Our first chocolate fondue in Dhaka happened on Wednesdnay night at a home mission group. We watched a really insightful DVD on the garment industry in Bangladesh, which we plan on brining back to the UK because it was so interesting and we discussed the trafficking issue whilst of course tucking into lovley chocolate fondue.

The next fondue was last night at the British ex pat club. The club had organised a bbq by the pool with loads of fairy lights round the place, a wonderful jazz band and chocolate fondues on all tables for the participants. It was a great night. I had loads of good conversations with people about trafficking, so hopefully there's a few more Fair Trade converts out there (although unfortunately not so freely available over here).

I would really encourage all of you to invite a few friends over and have a fondue. There's an organisers pack on the Stop the Traffik website and loads of resources to go with it. Even if you can't manage a fondue party you could make the decision not to eat chocolate unless it's fair trade.

Anyway, next week I'm doing a school assembly about trafficking, there's 3 more home groups having a fondue and I'm doing a youth group, so all in all a pretty busy week. I've also got a 2 day conference about tackling human trafficking in Dhaka, which should be really interesting because it basically involves everyone working on human trafficking at all levels, from government ministers to tiny little grass roots volunteers like me.

Also this week I had my Bangla exam on Thursday. I think it went ok and very glad it's over - just need to keep practicing what I've learned.

Andy's had a pretty good week in the workshop, designing, sanding and of course singing. I learned row, row row your boat at Bangla school the other day, so we were able to have a good sing along in the workshop.

Think that about covers it. Sorry for another long waffley blog. I'll try and write a bit more regularly now to reduce the length of these postings.

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Women's Conference

Hi all

As predicted my blogging has become a bit slack these past couple of weeks - many apologies. Anyway, due to my lack of blogs I now have lots to tell you, so thought I would put it in two separate posts.

As you will have read I went to a Women's Conference last weekend up in Shava, which is a lovely little village about 1.5 hours north of Dhaka. All the ladies from work went, so they were keen for me to join them, particularly because it was a good opportunity for me to build new contacts with other volunteers and especially those involved in anti-trafficking.

So, about 70 women left Dhaka on Thursday 13th November and travelled by coach to Shavar. I have to admit it was lovely to get out of thte city. Although we love being in Dhaka we have missed seeing some fields and greenery - concrete can become a bit monotonous after a while.

On route we passed the Bangladesh equivalent to Disney World, namely Fantasy Kingdom. It had a really good water park and quite a lot of rides but if you're trying to imagine what it's like, think more Skegness than Orlando.

The retreat centre was in a typical Bangladesh village, where all the shops are sort of huts with tin roofs, rather than buildings, the road is a rather bumpy mud/concrete track and the men sit in these open air kind of cafes sipping tea and watching the world go by. As you can imagine, 3 bus loads of white women turning up was quite an event for that sleepy little village.

The retreat centre was beautiful, very peaceful with lovely grounds and overlooked another water park (unfortunately I ran out of time to go but if I had have gone I would have had to wear my full Shalwa Kamiz; the 3 piece you may have seen me wear in the pictures).

As the retreat was predominantly Western women we were allowed to wear conservative Western dress, which I thought would be wonderful but actually when it came to it, it felt a bit odd and most of us ending up reverting back to the 3 piece.

At the retreat there was a mixture of worship, study, prayers, relaxation and lots of eating. The studies and some of the reflection/prayer time was led by a lady called Jackie Pullenger, who some of you may have heard of. She wrote "Chasing the Dragon" and has spent the past 42 years working in the Walled City in Hong Kong, predominantly with drug addicts but also with other vullnerable members of society. She was very inspirational and very relevant to the context we're in over here. She talking a lot about working with very vulnerable people and reaching out to them.

There was lots she said; far too much for me to recount in one blog spot but perhaps the main thing I have taken from the weekend is this: to see people and help the ones you see.

When you're surrounded by so much poverty it's easy to let a lot of it pass you by. We were encouraged, when someone really suffering comes up to you, or you see them as you pass by, not to walk by but to do an act of kindness to that person, whether it is simply looking them in the eye and noticing that they are there (making them feel valued), holding their hand, praying for them or giving them some food. We were also encouraged by how wonderfully Jesus enacted this in his own life.

I was hugely inspired by this, having been a bit overwhelmed by how much poverty and need there is over here and what we can possibly do to help but when you realise that it can be so simple as doing an act of kindness to the one you see, it makes the task seem a bit more manageable.

Earlier I mentioned all the wonderful food we ate. Besides our 3 Bengali meals provided by the centre we also had 3 tea breaks each day. We were wonderfully blessed to have lots of baked goods supplied by some of the women on the retreat and also lots of other lovely things provided by some women in America, such as flavoured teas, hot chocolate sachets, spiced apple sachets, scented candles (ummmm.....).

On Friday I took a walk into the village with 4 other women on the retreat. That was very exciting and we caused quite a stir - I think it was eventful enough having 5 Bideshi women walking through the women, particularly when one was a camera-happy loud Australian. They all loved having their photos taken and as soon as the cameras came out the locals insisted on having more photos taken. I'll put some on the blog for you to look at.

Anyway, I think I've probably gone on long enough.

I would encourage you all today to try and find one random act of kindness to do - even if it's just noticing someone you would normally pass by and please post any comments of the effects of these acts of kindness, or email.

Lots of love as always Nic x

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'Houston, I think we have routine...'

Hi Everyone, hope you're all feeling well!?

It seems like we've really settled into a routine this week, which was kind of nice! Nicola's been continuing language each morning. Leaving Andy to actually practise some language with Halima (our home helper) each morning before he clears off to work.

We've both been working really hard this week. Andy's been finishing off products so they can be taken back to the UK for a bit of market and possible client feedback. Nicola has been organising Chocolate Fondue parties throughout Dhaka and getting to grips with what it takes to register a company for Fair Trade status.

On Wednesday night on the way home we saw a cow weeing across a lane of a dual carriageway in the middle of Dhaka city - no one seemed to care or own the animal, everyone was happy for it to do its business in the middle of the road.....some things are still a bit odd!!

Today (Friday) Andy gave his first Bible Study for the ecclesia which seemed to go ok. He's now preparing for his exhortation next week. It was a fun experience to speak with a translator and try to draw diagrams of how Jesus' mediation works on a whiteboard and act out scenes of confusion that he's had with Rickshaw drivers (all relevant stuff I promise!).

Nic's been away at a women's conference so I'll let her fill you in on that in a mid-week post..

Today I travelled home form the ecclesia with a brother who told me his story about how he became a Christadelphian which was recently interesting. He also showed me some of the cards he makes for sale. He's a a really good artist and helps train women basic craft skills to produce the cards. There may well be some winging their way back to the UK for you guys to buy! They really are amazing and really good designs with a variety of media.

There have been a few observations which I've picked up this week that I've wanted to tell you.

1) over 50% of the population of Bangladesh live below the poverty line, on less than a dollar a day - about 68p.
2) Russia has a slightly smaller population than Bangladesh but as a country is about 120 times bigger!!
3) there is a real shortage of jobs here - Farming is the main source of employment but Bangladesh is the third greatest garment exporter after China and Korea employing 3 million workers.
4) It is not unusual here to see people living in the central reservations of roads or on some pavements. Many, many people sleep out in the open each night with no protection.
5) In a typical slum 6 families can share one toilet - a typical family numbers about 8 people.

I don't tell you these things with any hidden agenda or to make you feel bad or guilty. They are just facts or things we have seen, and part of life in Bangladesh - things which i seemed to have pondered more this week than before.

Anywhoo, its been nice to write to you all! God bless, take care and send us an email sometime! Would be good to hear from you!

Love

Andy and Nic

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Visit to the Zoo

**Video Update - see left **

Well it's been a very exciting day here in Dhaka but before I get into that let me briefly update you about the past few days.

So, nothing much to say about Wednesday, apart from another yummy team lunch. However, yesterday was a sort of "interesting day", where we really developed a love-hate relationship with the city. When we left language at about 10.15 and hopped in a CNG to go to the office for our usual 30 min trip across the city, little did we know that this 30 min trip would turn into a 2 hour trip!!!! And why I hear you cry? All because a political leader, Sheikh Hasina (female), formerly arrested for corruption charges, had returned from the UK a free woman, having received much needed medical attention.

There were people all out on the street welcoming her back and whenever political leaders move round the city they tend to close the roads that they're going to be travelling on. So, as our main road to Mirpur is also the road with the parliament buildings on that was inevitably closed whilst Sheikh Hasina arrived and therefore caused us to be stuck in a massive jam for the majority of our journey - not ideal! Oh well, we made it in the end.

There's a quick route from language to the office, through the Cantonement (army and government officials' area) but we're not allowed to go that way cause we're Bodeshi's. Only Bangladeshis can travel through - very frustrating!

Anyway, after such an ordeal we decided to reward ourself with a drink and snacks at the womens' restaurant round the corner on the way back from work, which was really nice.

So, today we went to the Dhaka zoo (zoo = Chiriyakana) with one of the lads from the workshop, who was dying to take us. It wasn't quite like a British zoo, not least because we were more of an attraction than the animals. Unfortuately many of the animals weren't very well kept and the environment wasn't as good as in the UK but it was a great experience going with our colleague and I think he enjoyed taking the Bodeshi's round, particularly since so many people came up to him and asked about us. A really good opportunity for us to practice our Bangla as well.

After that we went to church and managed to catch the end of the Bible Study, which was useful given that Andy has to give one next Friday. Then we shared lunch with them and stayed for the memorial service, after which we escaped to the Bagha (ex pat) club to meet some friends.

At church there were 2 older Australian couples, who are returning home on Wednesday. One of the men was speaking, which was great cause we could actually follow the service for a change. There was also a couple of younger Australian girls, one of whom had just got engaged to an young Bengali chap from the church, which meant Mishti (Indian sweet) all round - yum!

We always feel encouraged going to the church just to see the passion they all have for the scriptures and how warm and loving they all are. Many of them have invited us round for meals and have been so so welcoming. In fact living over here has really given us a greater understanding of the scriptures cause the culture is a lot more akin to the culture of the bible. Obviously we have a lot more to understand but we feel that even though we've only been here a month we've learnt so much about the people and the culture - it's great!

I'm pleased to say that Bangla's going reasonably well and even better the teacher seems to have stopped giving us homework (although I probably shouldn't speak too soon!). Andy's dropping Bangla now cause he's pretty busy at work, so can't really spare the time to be at lessons but I'm going to continue for another 2 weeks.

We've started sharing lifts to Bangla with another couple and the other day since we couldn't get a taxi we ended up getting a CNG, which normally only holds 3 people max but as there were 4 of us Andy got to ride up front with the driver - quite an experience; the driver thought it was hilarious! Unfortunately no video evidence but next time it happens we'll have the camera at the ready. Travelling in this form is not unusual for Bangladeshis. We've seen 4 adults on 1 motorbike, hoards of people packed into 1 CNG and similar with the taxis. As you can imagine health and safety means a lot less over here than in the UK.

I know I've waffled on for long enough but I must just share this before I go. At the start of Bangla every morning they have a short devotional, during which we sing a hymn in Bangla - normally a pretty cringeworthy experience give that the Bangladeshi's are not particularly known for their singing, particularly unaccompanied. Anyway, the other morning we sang "As the Deer Pants by the Water"! - who'd have thought (for those of you who aren't familiar with this song, it's a bit of a classic back home).

So, I think that about ends the entry for today. Just to let you know that we're both fighting fit and Andy's currently strumming away on his guitar next door, so he's a happy bunny at the moment.

Hope all's well over there and the Bonfire Night events went well.

Lots of love

x

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A Week Later (sorry...)

Hello again to all you avid blog-watchers. We’re really sorry it’s taken so long to write another entry but we’ve had a pretty busy week this week, especially with having to get up early for our language classes and then having to do homework when we get home after work. Anyway, we have been let off homework tonight, so I thought I’d use the opportunity to update the blog.

I guess the first thing to tell you is that we went for dinner on Thursday night with a work colleague, who is a local designer that Andy has been working with and his wife joined us. Andy and our colleague picked up our colleague’s wife after work. Andy had a browse round the after school club that our colleague’s wife runs and then they took him to a couple of nice cafes. After which they came and picked me up after a meeting I had on the other side of town. Then me and our colleague’s wife went for a coffee whilst the boys went handbag shopping (birthday present for our colleague’s wife), then we went for a really nice meal.

On Friday we had a morning in catching up and doing a bit of homework and then went to church in the afternoon. After church we went to an International Night at the ex-patriot church a bit further away. The English team performed a skit involving bus stops and barn dancing – most amusing but not nearly as amusing as the Finland effort.

On Saturday we went to our local shopping area on Road 27 where Andy bought a guitar and we found a great supermarket with nice met and quite a lot of Bodeshi food – they even stock peanut butter (shame neither of us like it)! After our exhausting shopping trip in the heat we went for a drink in a really nice, cool art café that Andy had been introduced to the night before by our work colleague.

One of the amusing things about this country is the ATM experience. When you want to get cash out you have to find an ATM, which aren’t as common as in the UK. There’s normally a queue of people waiting outside, the ATM is inside a lovely air-conditioned booth and there’s a guard on the door. So the ATM experience is one of our lovely air-conditioning hot spots (you tend to jump between these AC hotspots when you find out where they are)

In the evening we then went to babysit for the children of a couple who go to our home group and who live round the corner. We were very privileged to have Moussaka and banana cake for our efforts – yummmm!

On Sunday back to another early start at language and unfortunately Andy got ill again, so didn’t make it in to language (although he wasn’t too sorry). I had to brave the CNGs all by myself and despite getting horribly lost I survived with my pigeon Bangla.

Monday was the usual work and home group in the evening and then today was much the same.

We’re both making good progress on our projects. I’m busy co-ordinating chocolate fondue parties across the city to raise awareness of human trafficking on the back of the Stop the Traffik campaign. For those who might be interested in hosting a chocolate fondue party, or want more information about the trafficking issue, I recommend you look at the website: http://www.stopthetraffik.org/getinvolved/act/chocolate Once you start to look more deeply at the problem I'm sure you'll be as moved as I have been. It brings a tear to my eye every time I think of children being bought and sold, never sure whether they will ever see their families again and kept in conditions of sheer slavery - this issue certainly needs a lot of prayers.

Anyway, before I start rambling too much about such injustices as human traffiking I better sign off for now and hopefully we'll do another update a bit sooner.

Thanks as always for all your lovely comments - we do love to read them, so keep posting away, or emailing us.

Lots of love (as always)

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All better again

Well, I think I can pretty safely say that both of us are now in good health, so we're relishing life in Bangladesh.

For those of you interested in the tummy diaries, my tummy has just about made a full recovery as of today but I was back up and running (with a small amount of discomfort) from Friday onwards.

Well who'd have thought that 3 weeks in and we still have more exciting news to report.

On Saturday began the side effects of Cyclone Remish, which hit the Bay of Bengal. The side effects weren't too devastating for us but there was a lot of rain, wind and the temperature dropped significantly. In fact we haven't run any of our fans since Saturday and have had to put a blanket over us in bed! It was pretty horrific at times, particularly travelling by rickshaw and CNG in the pouring rain - not particularly pleasant! One of the main problems with coping with the heavy rain over here is the poor drainage - water seems to just collect, which is pretty bad for the poor rickshaw wallers, especially since they can't see all the pot holes in the road.

On Saturday evening we went to a discussion group at one of our colleague's flats, where the Oasis visitor was speaking on being an integrated church, in particular how the church can integrate with its community and other faiths, whilst remaining true to its identity - very interesting stuff and left us brimming with ideas.

On Sunday we spent the day in the office, listening to the roaring winds and pouring rain (and doing some work of course). We have started having lunch with the "locals" in the office, which has been great - they're such a fab bunch, it's been really good getting to know them better. Andy's even managed to get an invite to the zoo with one of the workshop lads and our design colleague has managed to get tickets for him, his wife and us to go to the cricket (not sure when though).

On Monday we started our Bangla lessons. Unfortunately the language school is over the other side of town, so it means getting up at 6am and leaving the house at 7am in order to get there for 8am (it doesn't take an hour to get there but catching a CNG can be unpredictible). The lessons start with everyone in the language school sitting down together at 8 for a hymn (in Bangla), short thought by one of the students and a prayer - it's amazing that God really is in every aspect of our life in Bangladesh!

There are 10 people in our class, which is a 1 mth beginner's Phonetics course - survival Bangla! It's actually a lot of people to have in a group and the class room is tiny but we'll cope. The style of learning is not ideal for me - they tend to teach by repitition, so it means a lot of study when we get home after work to digest it all. There course is pretty intense, there's a lot packed in but so far we're enjoying it. Just need to start putting it into practice.

After language we went to work - another good day in the office! In the evening we went to the home group at our colleague's round the corner. A really lovely evening where we were able to connect with God and continue to grow the relationship with some of the foreigners (Bodeshis) in our area. Plus, one of the girls, who actually lives in the building next to ours brought chocolate cake for the second week running - yum!

We've discovered that there's a "Bodeshi" cook book, which is a cook book especially for foreigners. It's written in English and Bangla, it contains a lot of Western recipes and the recipes only include ingredients that are easily available over here. Most foreigners seem to have a copy. When they get a craving for a chocolate cake, or a Western meal they will tend to give the recipe book to their cook to make the meal. Unfortunately, our domestic helper doesn't read Bangla, so we're stuck with Bangladeshi food, until we can teach her something Western.

Today we had language again in the morning then back to the office. There was a bit of excitement in the office cause there was a film crew around filming at the school in Duaripara and then doing interviews at the office with some of the teachers at the school. One of our donors is making a DVD of some of the work going on in Bangladesh to show in churches back in the UK. So, given that our office is already cramped when everyone's it, it was chaos for a couple of hours with so many extra bodies floating around. Anyway, anything to raise the profile of the school and highlight the much needed funding is always welcome.

The school is currently looking for alternative premises, cause it's far too cramped, dark and dingy in there, so please remember the project in your prayers and pray that we find a new suitable building and that we have sufficient funding in place to afford it.

After work it was back home for some more language studying and to do our homework.

The cyclone left yesterday, so it's been a perfect day today - still relatively cool after the cyclone (by which I mean still t-shirt weather but pleasant, rather than overwhelming) but beautiful blue sky. I'm so glad we can go pack to tolerating the cold shower in the morning, rather than dreading the thought of it...

Hope all's well in England.

We'll update you soon

lots of love (as always)

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Nicola's Turn.....

Hey everyone, hope your all ok? Thanks for your comments on our blog postings! Its nice to hear from you...

You'll be pleased to know that Andy's health has returned but Nicola has been discovering some of the harsh realities of Bangladesh!

She came down with some belly problems of her own and managed to go one better than Andy by doing a bit of sick too. She was pretty ill on Wednesday so didn't go to work and had Andy home by lunchtime to look after her. The major concern was making sure she kept hydrated. Fortunately a book we had (kindly given to us by the medic in our family) mentioned the idea of drinking in sips rather than gulps. This method seemed to help her and she stopped being sick in the afternoon but continued to be unwell till lunchtime on Thursday!

So now we know to sip our drinks when we're ill and to use the Saline hydration packs that are easily available here or add some salt to a glass of flat coke or lemonade (Nicola's preferred treatment).

So Nicola has been out of action for the past few days. Andy has been working hard in the office trying to create some Bamboo products and learning some basic hand skills for shaping the wood - most involving using a big machete type knife (pictures to follow soon!!). We're working on some tray and towel rack designs at the moment. Its great fun working with and learning skills and language from the locals in the office.

Today (Friday) we helped to entertain a guy who's visiting Bangladesh for 36 hrs. He's here visiting Oasis and works for a Christian movement in the UK called 'Faithworks' (a movement designed to help churches interact and serve their communities). We had lunch with him at the Bagha club (western food available - yippee!!) before hearing him speak at the International Church.

Afterwards we all went out for a meal in a really nice Indian Restaurant which was very tasty and hopefully not too difficult for our tender English stomachs to cope with!

Tomorrow we're off to practice the British Skit for an international evening we're attending. We're waiting at Bus Stops and Barn Dancing to show a typical British lifestyle! (guess who's calling!!)

TTFN
Andy and Nic x

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Bangla, Bazaars and Bible Study

Well we thought we'd reduce our blog writing to every few days since we assumed that things would start to get more familiar but actually I think more exciting things have happened in the past 3 days than the whole time we're here.

So, on Sunday we had our first Bangla lesson at the office by the head of the language school. She also gave us a bit of the lo-down on the history of Bangladesh and some cultural pointers. We start our Bangla lessons properly next week.

We also learnt a bit more about this history and ethos of Oasis and their international work - very inspiring.

Oh yeah you'll be pleased to know that our AC is now mended (ah...bliss). Our lovely landlord sent someone round to install a hose, so it no longer leaks on to one of the flats below us. We went to apologise to the neighbour that had suffered our AC and turns out they were super nice, invited us in for a drink and spoke perfect English (having spent some years in the US) - what a blessing!

Just as another aside, thought I'd give you a running account of Andy's Delhi Belly. He came down with his 2nd spate on Saturday afternoon and just about recovered by Sunday morning. Trying to cut out dairy to see if that works (think I might need to start a separate blog to monitor the progress...there's more to come (see below)..)

Monday we finally managed to get some drawers, computer desk and wardrobe but it did take all day to do. It's not like the UK where you can just take a trip to your nearest Ikea; it's a case of visiting several shops, bartering, waiting for it all to be processed and delivered - mammoth job.

During our shopping trip we discovered a very large Western style shopping mall with 8 floors - not what we were expecting to find in Bangladesh. The only drawback to this mall was when we were in a music shop looking at guitars Andy looked at me with a smirk. When questioned he told me he'd fill me in later. Turns out a mouse had been running round my ankles - eek!!

In the afternoon we went to New Market, which is a massive market (oddly enough!) Really exciting place and dead cheap. We also took our first bus trip to get there - not so exciting! It was swealtering hot, crowded and we got stuck in a traffic jam on the hot sticky bus for about 45 mins. Think we'll stick to CNG's!

Today we visited the Oasis Duaripara project, which is a school (which also provides health + family care) for girls living in a slum near our office. It was an amazing experience. The classrooms are small, dark, hot and dingy with hardly any resources but the smiles on the girls' faces lit the place up. They were so pleased to see us and to practice their English on us. One of the classes even performed a drama for us - very amusing.

The sad part of it all is that the teachers are working so hard to convince the parents that the girls should be coming to school, rather than going to work in the garment factories (or other such undesirable jobs), where they can expect to earn 800 tk a month (approx £7) working 6 days a week, 12 - 14 hrs a day. When they reach the age of 14 (sometimes less) the parents don't want to keep their girls in education and need them to work. Unfortunately the severe poverty over heremeans that work comes befor education, so the teachers at Duaripara are working hard at educating the parents where possible and trying to show them that by giving the girls an education it provides choices, so they won't be forced to enter into exploitative labour. I can't even begin to go into the other problems facing these girls and their families which affects their decisions and situations and means they end up in exploitative labout (I should also mention that not all garment factories are bad - some provide decent wages and working conditions but the families these girls come from tend to be in the worst factories)

Seeing the enthusiasm and joy on the girls' faces was extremely humbling and if you thought about it too hard it would reduce you to tears. These girls and their families need lots of love and lots of prayers.

Anyway, just to continue with the Andy Delhi-Belly update, he came down with his 3rd spate this morning and after several glasses of saline and coke he is now sleeping it off....

So, here ends the report for the past few days.

Oh yeah, just before I sign off it has been suggested that these posts are a bit long and waffley (sorry about that), so if you would rather see shorter posts let me know and I'll try and be a bit more succinct (although not particularly my strong point as you may know...)!

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Our Fri, Sat weekend

Hi all, Just a quick posting to say we've had a great weekend!

Friday we had to stay in in the morning because the men were coming to fit our Air Conditioning (much needed as its been soo hot!). In the afternoon we went to meet with the Christadelphians. There were about 18 people in the service and it was led in Bangla.

Everyone was really friendly and most spoke good english.

Today (Saturday), Jo took us to a local shopping area called road 27. We found some good book shops with english books and even a place I could buy a guitar from (lucky Nicola ;) We stopped for lunch at a Pizza hut type place which was really yummy!

Getting a lot more used to the Rickshaws now and they;re great fun for moving around in (although a bit scary and warm at times!) Traffic is always bad but kind of works. Generally if theres a gap in the road some type of transportation will be filling it shortly. It's everyman for himself and everyone seems to have right of way! Look at our 2 new videos (on left) for more of an idea!

Anyway, the postings may get a bit less frequent as things start to become more 'normal' to us but hopefully we'll take it in turns to update every few days.

Its kin dof odd but we're both really looking forward to going to work tomorrow....

Over and Out!!

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End of the Week

After my previously waffley email I thought I'd briefly let you know what we've been doing this week since Tuesday.

On Tuesday we bought quite a lot of our home furnishings for our flat, which has made it look a lot more homely. Although still no wardrobe (ARRR!)

It was the intention that Andy would go on a boys road trip to the bamboo plantation / factory site in the north of the country. However, the inevitable Delhi Belly finally struck at completely the wrong time, so at the last minute Andy had to pull out (much to his disappointment).

On Wednesday Andy stayed at home waiting for the internet people to come and nursing himselft back to health. I went into the office for the day. We were a bit later into the office as we had to drop our furniture off and Andy.

At lunchtime we had a team lunch, which they do every week and which was really nice authentic Bangladeshi food. Apparently the way to eat Bangaldeshi food is to have loads of rice on your plate and then you put a bit of the first curry dish on your plate. You eat that with some of the rice then move on to the next dish, which you eat with a bit more of the rice. There was then a final dish, whcih was more like a sauce and you use that to eat the rest of your rice (all eaten with fingers of course). There was also a plate of chillis and limes. Apparently you're supposed to squeeze the lime over your food, eat half the chilli and dab the remaining half in the rice to flavour it. I decided to save that for another week, despite the best efforts of the boys in the office.

In the afternoon one of the lovely people in the office took me to try and buy AC. We went to 3 shops, which was an exciting experience. The process of deciding on a unit and buying it took ages and I was definately a tourist attraction in the shop (being white and female). The manager of the shop is also an English teacher, so speaks pretty good English, which was nice. He told me that he was a Freedom fighter in the 1971 war (the Bangladeshi people are very proud of their origin and success in the war) and gave me a cup of tea, which was lovely. All the staff were very attentive and were keen to make sure that I always had a seat.

On Thursday we caught a CNG into the office with Jo (who lives round the corner). The traffic was really bad, although I'm told that's normal. We spent the morning in the office. I was mainly doing reading and meeting with the boss to plan the next few weeks. Andy was very excited to be let loose on some bamboo and tools and get involved in making candle holders with the workshop lads and his design colleague.

In the afternoon we went back to our flat to have our bedroom measured to see which AC unit would be best. We then went to the AC shop to buy it, which again was quite a long process. Having bought the Unit we went back to the flat and one of the shop staff took the unit on the back of a bike back for us and then loaded it on to the lift. The strange thing here is that they seem to employ a lot of people to do a job that 1 or 2 people could do but it's great to be able to give jobs to people and I think it comes down to them all being so attentive and wanting to work and help.

After that we went to buy a microwave and toaster and then we were left to our own devices. So, we went to the nearby market, which was very exciting. Full of fruit, veg, sacks of rice, spices, haberdashery, fish. The smell in places was revolting but the atmosphere was amazing and once again we were the star tourist attraction. We tried our first bit of bartering with relatively little success. Each place we went into seemed unwilling to barter but we were happy that we got a pretty good deal (although probably not as good as a local would have got).

After our adventure and having taken all our stuff back to the flat on a rickshaw we rewarded ourselves with a drink at a local cafe place. This place is wonderful; it's on the 4th floor of a building and is a women's restaurant but men are allowed in if accompanied by a woman. You sit on the floor on cushions and eat / drink at a low table. So, we sampled some lassi which was really refreshing and very cheap. Definately somewhere we'll visit again.

After that we returned home and ate our lovely Bangla meal that had been cooked by our domestic helper (yummm!)

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Snapshot of 11.00am in our Flat

Well we've come to the end of our first week here and we're sitting in our flat reflecting on the week we've just had whilst waiting for the AC guy to come and install the AC (only 1 hour late, so that's pretty good going).

I thought I'd give you a detailed insight into what we're experiencing at this very moment. So, we're sat in our lounge, which is quite small and at the moment we've got in it 2 chairs, a sofa, coffee table and lamp - all made of cane. I'm looking out on to our balcony, which is also quite small but useful for hanging washing out on. There are a few items of washing on the line over our balcony, blowing gently in the breeze and which I haven't bothered to move into the ironing pile yet.

Beyond the balcony about 6 ft away there is the roof of another building with an enormous satellite dish on it. There's a few palm trees that we can see the tops of and then more apartment buildings in every direction. Although there are buildings everywhere we are actually quite lucky to have a bit of a view.

It's quite peaceful here, apart from the constant whirring of the fan. There is the occasional sound of a drill (someone's having some work done to an apartment near by) and I can hear a man shouting in the distance, which I assume is something to do with the nearby Mosque.

There is a lovely aroma of someone cooking nearby. It's not quite the same as the smell of Indian cooking you experience in the UK, which sometimes can be a bit overbearing, this is very pleasant; not too spciy but very definately authentic Bangla cooking. You can quite often smell food being cooked at all times of the day. Food preparation and cooking takes a lot longer than in the UK - no such thing as quick convenience food and savoury meals can be eaten at any meal time.

The sun is shining and the sky is a beautiful hazy blue. I'm not sure what the temperature is but it's definately warm - especially on the 5th floor of the building! The fans and gently breeze are keeping us relatively cool but it does require a lot of effort to do anything in this heat (hence a much slower pace of life and why it takes ages to get anything done).

We've got a massive pan of water boiling in the kitchen, which we've got to transfer to the filter once it has cooled, so it's a bit like a sauna in there.

Anyway, the plan for today is to hop into a CNG and head to church this afternoon (if the AC people every arrive), which is over the other side of town. The main service is in the afternoon at 2.30pm. There are quite a number of different churches in Dhaka to accommodate the missionaries and expats and the times of the services all tend to vary.

On refelction this seems like a bit of a waffley email and I don't seem to have told you very much. Oh well, I'll put it on another post.

Hope life in the UK's ticking along alright. Please feel free to email us and let us know your news.

x

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Some pictures

Nic on her birthday and our first Rickshaw Ride



One of the rivers (left) and the view from our lounge balcony (right)

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MONDAY: Another Dinner Invitation

At work Andy and I got introduced the projects a bit more - it's all very exciting and there seems like there's loads to do fairly quickly. At the moment we've both got a lot of reading to do to get ourselves up to speed with where the business is up to and the community projects. Lots of research has been done in Bangladesh for both things, which we very quickly need to digest.

Anyway, it has got us very excited about the forthcoming few months.

In the afternoon Nicola went back to the flat to sort out the internet. Unfortunately there was a power cut whilst they were trying to connect (a frequent occurance, as we are now learning), so the process seemed to take ages. Andy stayed at the office to finish off his briefing.

In the evening we were invited to Ken and Nipun's house for dinner, which was lovely and our first opportunity to spend time with some Christadelphians in Dhaka. Nipun cooked us some wonderful Bangladeshi food, despite suffering a bit with her pregnancy.

The only problem we encountered was getting a CNG (motorised rickshaw) from Mohammadpur to their house, which took us almost an hour to find as it was rushhour and then the journey itself took a long time in the busy polluted traffic. Thankfully Ken was there to help us along.

So, all in all a lovely evening but with so much information to process we were glad of our bed.

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SUNDAY: New Job

After our first night in our new flat we set off for the office at 7.30pm (the working week here is Sun - Thurs). The office is in Mirpur 10, which is about a 30 min journey in Bangladeshi traffic.

The office is just off the main road, opposite the Dhaka sports stadium (where they recently beat New Zealand at cricket, if anyone's a cricket fan). It's been converted from an old flat.

When we arrived we were introduced to the team, which currently number about 12, excluding us. We then had a short thought, reading and prayer, which they do every Sunday. 2 teachers from the school in Duaripara also joined us (Duaripara is the slum just outside Dhaka, where Oasis has one of its community projects to include a school). We were also joined by a colleague, who is based in Nilphamari in the North of the country, about 5 hours from Dhaka. Oasis has a factory, flat and bamboo plantation there.

The team are really friendly and made us feel so welcome.

We were allocated desks, both in the same room but not directly next to each other. The Oasis Transformation Team (that's the business) are in one room and the Oasis Community Projects team are in another room. Nicola is spending half the week with each team, so will be hotdesking.

In the OTL room there is 7 people, then there are another couple of lads working the workshop at the back of the office and Dave (the boss) in another office. The OCP team consists of Nicola and 2 others - all ex pats.

The OTL team employs mostly locals, which makes for a really vibrant working environment and is particularly useful for our Bangla learning.

We had a bit of an introductory session with Sandie, Jo and Dave, which was really useful.

In the afternoon we came back early from the office to meet a man who was fitting internet in our flat and we also got some passport photos for our sim cards, which a local colleague is very kindly sorting out for us.

In the evening we went to Dave's house for some dinner and entertainment from their 2 children - most amusing! We then stayed in their lovely flat and Dave took us to the office the following morning.

All in all great first day - can't wait to get stuck in.

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Saturday: New Flat

On Saturday we spent the morning with Dave and his 2 kids (aged 6 and 3), which was great fun, especially for Andy, who was privileged enough to play on his son's train set and meet all the Thomas the Tank Engine characters.

After that we had a trip to the Bagha Club (the English ex pat club) for a swim and a bite to eat and did a bit of food shopping for the flat. After that we moved into our new flat in Mohammadpur, which is about 25 mins from Sandie's flat in Banani.

We met our housekeeper at the flat, who had got it beautfully clean ready for us to move in and also got a bit of water ready for us.

It was all a bit scary moving to a new area having just got our bearings in Banani. The area is a lot more Bangladeshi - there are less Westerners / ex pats around and the Muslims in Mohammadpur are more conservative. So, we should get a trully enriched experience living in Mohammadpur.

Jo (another member of the team) lives round the corner, so she took us on a walk round the local area so we could get our bearings. We discovered a sort of wholefoods store and found our local supermarket (Family World).

Our flat is on the top floor (5th), which is great for the views and it means that no one is looking directly into our windows. However, it does also mean that it is even hotter up there than normal. On the plus side we are reliably informed that we will get considerably less mosquitoes because they tend not to fly that high (I'm sincerely hoping the same applies to cockroaches!)

The only downside to a top floor flat is when the lift breaks down and you have to carry 2 32kg cases all the way upstairs in the Bangladeshi heat. Luckily a very friendly guard was happy to help us.

There is a park outside the flat where the local kids play football and cricket, which is pretty cool and a small store on the corner (by store I really mean a small shack type thing, which is teaming with emergency goods - bread, crisps etc). There is also a large mosque not far away, so you can very vividly hear the call to prayer. Although we have discovered that whereever you are, you're not far from a Call to Prayer.

In our flat you walk in the door (having taken your shoes off, as is the Bangladeshi way) and you walk immediately into the dining room. Opposite there is the small kitchen and Bangladeshi cloackroom next to that. To the left is our bedroom with small balcony and ensuite. to the right there is a spare room that will become our study and then in the right hand corner is the lounge, also with a small balcony.

We haven't got much furniture at the moment - only a bed, sofa set made out of cane (to include coffee table), ironing board, fridge and water purifer but we will get more in the next few days.

Most Bangladeshi flats only have cold water, so if you want hot water you have to buy a heater. At the moment we've resisted but I'm not sure how long we'll be able to do that. We're also testing the fans out to see whether we can get away without AC but again, we might treat ourselves to an AC unit.

The flat is small and basic but when we've got a few homely touches in it will definately start to feel like home.

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Nic's Bangladesh Birthday

Well this is the first time ever Nic has spent her birthday in a foreign country (I could get used to it...!)

The day started with some cards that Andy had brought from a few friends and family and one or two pressies, which was lovely.

We then went to church in the morning and met some lovely people. Nic had the privilege of having her first Bangladeshi toilet experience - not as bad as first expected but think I'll stick to Western loos where possible.

After church we went back to someone's house for lunch, which was really yummy. A full on curry, eaten with the right hand of course!

In the afternoon we popped to the shops and then had our first rickshaw ride back to the flat - quite exciting in and amongst all the traffic. Although they're not really designed for 6'3". Not much room for Andy on the 'ickle Rickshaw.

After another church session in the afternoon we went to the ex pat club for a bit of dinner. We were very pleasantly surprised to see an English menu with everything on it from Fish and Chips to Jacket spud - who'd have thought?!!

Then after a tour round the lovely facilities at the club we came back to the flat for a DVD and then off to bed ready to start a new exciting day where we move into our new flat.

Anyway check out the pics if you haven't already done so ....

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Greetings from Bangladesh

Well after a teary goodbye we've arrived safely in Bangladesh and have even had our first exploration.

The flights from Bham - Dubai - Dhaka worked really well, although a little tiring and the second leg of the journey was kind of stressful with loads of men coughing their guts up all over the plane but fortunately not in our immediate vacinity, so hopefully we should have avoided all nasty germs

Got out of Dhaka fine - bags were there straight away on the carousel and Sandie (lovely lady from Oasis) was waiting for us complete with local driver John - perfect. The journey back to Sandie's flat was a bit hair raising - the strategy seems to be find a space, hoot to signify your presence and move in. Not sure we'll get used to that very quickly.

After a bit of a snooze and a bite to eat we went out on an outing in the local area this afternoon and stumbled across this Hindu festival, which was going on. They have erected a massive temporary undercover area to house 3 large goddesses and there was bright colours, lots of seats, dancing, a band and artists painting all going on in this area. We went in and joined in - all very exciting. Nic even got asked to join in the dancing but wimped out (5 hours in and I'm not quite brave enough for that yet).

We then wandered the streets getting our bearings with Sandie and then went to a Salvation Army shop and cafe for an Iced Tea. It was lovely - it stocked loads of great art and crafty things, all Fair Trade and it event sold those cloth advent calendar things and loads of Christmas decorations, so maybe we will get a Christmas after all! Then we were very brave and went for a wander on our own. As Westerners we get stared at wherever we go but it's actually not as bad as you think.

After church tomorrow morning we have been invited to lunch with someone from Sandie's church (kind of an open house affair), so that should be good - first attempt at eating with our hands. After that we'll come back to the flat and then head over to the ex pats club for a bit of a swim, socialise and evening meal. Apparently there's a few ex pat clubs around the place and they're great for getting to know people, so that's what we intend to do - so should have a very nice birthday. Might even get a glass of vino at the club...!

Anyway, missing the UK but feeling very excited about what lies ahead. Not nearly as scary as we were imagining and with Sandie holding our hands for the first few days it should be fine. We've seen pictures of our flat and hope to move in on Saturday.

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Going, going.............

Hey everyone, sorry this update has taken so long...

We're still in the country but are flying out on the 8th October - tickets confirmed and everything. So we've spent the last few weeks packing, sorting out the house, ringing banks, insurance and all the other companies you can think of and packing!

We've completed the 'Smith Tour' and said goodbyes to family and friends and have recently been been staying at our parents house whilst we sort out those final few things.

Thanks to all of you for your love, support and prayers in getting us this far. We're both really excited (and a little nervous) about what lies ahead and we hope you'll remember us and the work we are doing over the next nine months.

Love

Andy and Nic

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Fundraising Update

Hi Everyone,

With the help of family and friends Nic, Tim, Pete, Jess and I managed to complete our 24hr Triathlon and start raising some money for Bangladesh.

The sponsored event went really well although we've since discovered that apparently we had the Cross-Trainer on the hardest level! (oh well!!). So this week we all feel a bit tired but quite fit!

We're looking forward to our Barn Dance now on Sept 6th (Tickets still available!) and Westleigh's Annual Fun Day in between! (3oth August - so come on down for Bouncy Castle, BBQ, stalls and games!)

Thanks to everyone for their sponsorship and a BIG thankyou to all thos who came down to church to cheer us on!

Love to you all,

Andy ( and the Triathlon Team!)

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six weeks to go

Hi all,

Not sure if anyones looking at this yet?
We've now sent the deposit off and we've got 6 weeks left till we get going (God willing). We're hearing more and more information about what is goign on there and ways in whcih we can help support the Christadelphian Community as it branches into three.

We're now in the process of fund Rasisng and are planning two events:

1) SPONSORED 24 HOUR MACHINE TRIATHALON CHALLENGE


The challenge will take place over 24 hours. We will be using 3 pieces of gym equipment: rowing machine; cross trainer and bike, spending 8 hours on each piece of equipment.

We are doing the challenge with Nicola’s brother Pete and his girlfriend, Jess.

The challenge will take place from 7.00pm on Friday 22nd August until 7pm on Saturday 23rd August.

If you want to sponsor us the let us know via email: andysmith.design@gmail.com


2) BANGLADESH BARN DANCE

We are holding a barn dance on Saturday 6th September at the Wycliffe rooms in Lutterworth. We’ve got a band booked and food will be provided. More details about the event is on the flyer attached.

If you or any of your friends and family want to come please let us know how many tickets you want and we’ll allocate you some tickets and then you can pay us next time you see us or on the night.


Let us know by email: andysmith.design@gmail.com


Love to all


Andy and Nic

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And they're off.....

Ok, after a long, long search and lots of prayers and conversations we've finally got a plan.

We're hoping to go to Bangladesh for 9 months starting from the end of September 2008. We're going with a Christian charity called Oasis who work with communities and churches to show Christs love to those in need.

Nicola will be working with the 'Stop the Traffik' Campaign to help women and children who are sold as slaves all around the world. She will be working alongside those who have been trafficked as well as trying to change government policies and intiatives.

Andy will be helping to set up a Fair Trade factory producing products made from Bamboo. The factory needs a designer to help create product ideas and arrange set up of the factory and shipment of goods. The factory will provide much needed jobs for some of the poorest people in the slums of Dhaka.

Alongside all that we will be joining up with the growing Christadelphian Community in Dhaka with the hope of learning from and supporting the family there.

But in the mean time.... theres lots to do, funds to be raised and things to be organised. We both hope you'll be able to support us in our fund rasing efforts by either sponsoring us or coming to our Barn Dance Extravaganza (Sept 6th).

More details to come soon!

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