>> 17 Mar 2009

Hi everyone,

Things are continuing to progress well both at work and at church. We’re having a busy month so far with lots going on with finalising products for OTL and many meetings and planning for Stop the Traffik. Last week there were some visitors from an organisation in India, who are involved in anti human trafficking work in India, so wanted to meet organisations doing similar work in Bangladesh. Nic was busy sorting out their schedule for their trip and attending various meetings with these visitors. Whilst it was pretty chaotic (especially trying to communicate with local drivers over the phone using a very limited amount of Bangla) the meetings all went well and we managed to form some good relationships.


The other big news on the STOP THE TRAFFIK front is that Cadburys have announced that as of the summer their Dairy Milk range will be "Fairtrade" and therefore "traffik free". This is great news and a wonderful testimony to all the people around the world who have been involved (at whatever level) in getting the big chocolate companies to change their practices. It's so exciting to know that there will be a few less children been exploited in awful conditions on the cocoa farms and a few more people being employed, working in good conditions, being paid enough to feed their families.


Since the last blog posting Andy took a trip up to our factory site in Nilphamari with his design colleague and Ben, the latest addition to the team who is basically the business manager in Nilphamari. He had a great time briefing the new workers, planning production, testing out some new tools and safety equipment (and watching the odd Hindi movie).


On Tuesday 10th March it was a national holiday here, which meant the day off for us. So, in the morning Andy arrived back from Nilphamari having travelled on the overnight train.After a morning coffee with our neighbour we went to meet some young people from church for lunch, including a fieldworker from Australia, whose birthday it was and who was due to leave 2 days later. We then went to play basketball with some of these young people (not so easy in flip flops, 34 C and a Shalwa Kamiz!) After that we went to see a couple from the church, who have recently had a baby - good opportunity for a cuddle with the new arrival.


At the weekend we were privileged to be able to take a trip to Khulna in the south of the country with one of the church members. We went to visit some of his family, old friends and people who are keen to know more about the bible. We left late on Thursday evening, taking the overnight green line bus to the southern city.

Having had some poor bus experiences previously we decided to travel in ‘luxury’ using a slightly posher bus service than we're used to. The bus came complete with air conditioning, blankets, water and no-one being sick! (which Nicola was most relieved about).


We got to a town near Kulna at about 6.45am and were met off the bus by a very excited young lad who had come to receive us. We travelled back to his house on a rickshaw van and were looked after by his family and relatives.


We arrived at this lovely little village nestled away amongst some trees and gardens. This village was actually quite large and kind of divided into little clusters - with one cluster being Christian, one being Hindu and one being Muslim. We were taken to this lad's house, which was also next door to two other houses belonging to his relatives. The house we went to was a relatively large concrete house with a tin lid. The other two were smallr, one room bamboo huts.


The village shared a cow where they got their milk from (enough for 6 families) and there was a shared well where they got their water from. There was also a small vegetable plot where they shared some local produce.


After freshning up we were served a large breakfast of Ruti (Chapati), fried egg, some kind of shredded vegetable curry and fruit as well as a lovely cup of tea, containing very fresh milk.


We were then taken on a tour of the village where we were invited into numerous peoples' houses. By 9.30am we had been to 3 peoples' houses - all of which gave us snacks and tea! As you can imagine we were feeling very full and slightly apprehensive about how our guts would respond to all this different food. As you may have picked up from previous blog postings, food really is the language of love here. People are so hospitable and show their love for you in welcoming you into their homes and feeding you. It was such a privilege to be welcomed by so many peope and to see inside their humble houses.


After our stroll we then had a bit of a rest and went to spend some time with the chap from the church we had travelled down with and his family; in particular his niece, who is suffeirng a lot of personal difficulties with her husband (a very heart wrenching story!). Whilst not wanting to go into too much detail, it is suffice to say that her husband is treating her and her 2 children very badly and due to the nature of this culture it is very difficult for this young lady to see any way out. Hopefully God will show us some way of helping her; there are a couple of doors that have opened already, so we'll push them and see what happens.


We then had a huge lunch (yes, more food!). Following that we had a bit of a rest and then later in the afternoon Andy did a bible talk to a group of young Christians in the local baptist church. It was hugely encouraging to see their enthusiasm and just their desire to know God and understand the scriptures. Some had even travelled over 15km to get there by local transport at their own cost. I'm sure this enthusiasm is largely due to having far less distractions in their lives than we do in the West.


After the bible study we went back for afternoon tea, consisting of warm milk, biscuits, fruit and this kind of home made jelly thing (which was more like really thick jam than jelly). The fresh milk was a real treat, having never drank fresh milk before - we could definitely get used to it and will certainly be looking at the possibility of getting a cow back in the UK.


During the course of the afternoon and evening we met more people and spent time with our church member's family, which was lovely. We shared some dinner with them and then left at about 9.30pm for the night bus, which was due to leave at 10pm.


Before we left we heard on the news that there was a big fire at a large shopping mall in Dhaka. Fortunately there weren't too many casualties because the fire struck the upper floors, which were all offices and being a Friday most of the offices would have been shut. Nonetheless it was pretty frightning for those concerned and pretty much brought the city to a stand still, particularly since it took over 5 hours to put out the blaze.


After a very uneventful journey back we arrived in Dhaka at 6.00am on Saturday morning. We then spent the day doing a bit of shopping, relaixing at the Club and then attending the recently established church in the evvening, which Andy was speaking at. As usual it was bible study by candle light because of the power cuts but very lovely all the same - it made for a very nice atmosphere (even if we had to slightly strain to see our bibles).


The week so far has been fairly quiet at work. The most eventful thing that we've done is to sort out our visas. It was a very strange experience, as experiences go, which involved going to the visa office and speaking to the deputy director there to get clarification on the visa application process. We were most surprised when she informed us that our current visa, despite expiring on 21st March, allows us to stay up to a further 6 months.


Not content with this answer we then took a trip to the Immigration Office at the airport. After speaking to numerous police officers of varying ranks it seemed that the position is as set out by the Deputy Director. So, looks like we're all set for the next few months and have saved ourselves the hastle and expense of re-applying. The only downside is that we can't leave and re-enter the country without applying for a new visa but that's a small price to pay.


We're still somewhat sceptical and probably will be until we board the plane in June but then it's in God's hands, now so really nothing to worry about. Whatever happens it will all work out.


Hope all's well in the UK and the soft light of spring is beginning to dawn. We hear that the first lambs have started to appear in the fields, which are undoubtedly very cute.


We'll write soon.


Love Nic and Andy x


P.S. We'll soon be passwording our blog so please email us asap at the address at the top if you want the password.


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