Lucy, Rain and Fire

Hi Everyone!

Things have been busy again here over the past week and a half with big product deadlines and the arrival of a special visitor.

Lucy arrived in the wee small hours of 31st.. we both met her at the aiport and got stuck straight into Bangladesh life with a walk around the local Bazar and a trip to the Orphanage we sometimes visit. She's settled in really well and seems to be enjoying her time here so far. She's proven to be very adventurous and keen to explore some parts of Dhaka herself.

We took her to church on Fri and had some friends from work round in the evening to have an evening of Pit! On Saturday Nicola and Lucy went back to the Hair salon run by the Orphanage to get their hair cut! The Salon has been set up as away of making money for the orphanage and offering training to some of the girls - which we think is a great example of some sustainable and wholistic development work!

The week at work as been a little bit hectic. Lucys visited a few times to help set up a database for the anti-trafficking team. Nicola has been having lots of meetings with a lady who's working for Stop the Traffik in India.

Andy's been in the office all hours trying to finish the Bamboo product for a Design Freeze at the end of March. He was involved in a big meeting on Monday (yesterday) to look at all aspects of the design with the rest of the team... so its had a thorough going over and some changes will need to be made!

The weather has also take an exciting turn with the humidity arriving rapidly leading to lots of storms. On Sunday last week (29th) we had hailstones the size of Golf balls!! Andy and Nicole were stranded at work until 7 and then it took them 2 hours to get home! We ended up walking down the central reservation with the water knee deep either side of us!

Yesterday(Mon 6th)disaster struck when a fire broke out in one of the local slums. The slum houses our house-helper(Halima)Jo's house-helper, works cook (Shuli) and one of our workshops guys (Massum - the zoo song guy!). Halima, Massum and Jo's house-helpers 'houses' were all completely destroyed... The rooms were made of bamboo and tin and were burnt to the grounds with them all loosing everything. Amazingly no-one died in the incident but the devastation it has caused is hard to take in. Their basic homes were literally gone.

We visited the slum this morning to try and offer our love, assistance and some food/clothing. These families had lost everything. All of the few possessions they owned. It was truly heart breaking to meet with them and see the devastation. We spoke to them for a while and was amazed to see the level of hope and positive attiude they carried around with them - even asking how the product deadline at work had gone!

I've been thinking a lot at the moment about all the 'stuff' that we often have. The computers, the TV's, all our clothes, gadjets, cooking appliances, books, dvd's etc etc... what drives us to need all these things in our lives... is my life any better for it? Am I just addicted to owning stuff - thinking that its going to make things easier, better, make me feel more secure?

And then you visit a family who only had a few pairs of clothes, a TV and some food living in a room 8ft square - and in half an hour they lose all of that - they literally have no 'stuff' whatsoever! Yet, they can still manage a smile and still want to know how you are, they're still grateful..... Kinda humbles you beyond belief and makes you think long and very hard...

Sorry for the waffle... please pray for Halima and our work colleagues in this very difficult time.

Love and Gods blessings to you all.
Andy and Nic

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