The end of a chapter

As I write this long-overdue posting I find myself reflecting on the last few weeks we spent in our beloved Bangladesh.

The memories that spring to mind are the noise of the cricket ground as Tamim scored a century as he went into bat against England in their 1 day international in Mirpur, the smell of the puri and shingaras gentling sizzling away as we rode past the road-side eateries on a rickshaw from our house to Road 27, the hooting of the horns as we sit in a traffic jam in the back of a CNG, the huge, warm, loving smiles that greet us as we walk through the door of a brother and sister's house or the noisy chit chatter of a group of eager women sitting on our lounge floor doing some craft activity at one of our sister's mornings. All these wonderful memories of a country that has occupied such a large place in our heart over the past 18 months.

The last few weeks in Bangladesh were, as you can imagine, rather chaotic to say the least. At the end of Feb / beginning of March, 2 friends from our church in the UK came to stay. One of the people in question had lived in Bangladesh before, so was fully prepared for the craziness of life in Dhaka and his wife very quickly got to grips with it, having endured the somewhat harrowing ride back from the airport and arriving to a house full of lovely ladies from our church in Dhaka, all sitting on the floor chatting away at one of sister's mornings.

As always, it was a privilege to be able to share our enthusiasm for this amazing country with friends and to explore some of the little gems of Dhaka.

We shared meals with colleagues from work, brothers and sisters from church and indulged in some of the Dhaka delicacies (yes; there are a few out there, believe it or not!). The hospitality which we were shown in that week was really an insight into what makes Bangladesh such an inviting country. I know we've said it on numerous occasions but we never cease to be humbled by the open-hearted generosity shown towards us by people in Bangladesh.

We also went on a staff outing to the cricket ground to see England's first 1-day International against Bangladesh. We paid £2 for 7 hours of sheer entertainment. You can't help but get swept up in the carnival atmosphere of the occasion, whether due to these little plastic hooters that everyone seemed to have a blow at any opportunity, or the ridiculous celebratory dances that one group indulged in every time Bangladesh did something worth celebrating, or the chanting for "Tamim Bhay" (Bhay = brother) when he went into bat, or even the men scurrying around the score board tower moving the numbers around as more runs were added. All of this, along with a very excitable group of Bangladeshis colleague went to make this a very enjoyable and memorable introduction to this strange cricketing world and also one of those very lasting memories of Bangladesh.

As if this wasn't exciting enough, we also found great amusement from a visit to the opticians (boring though it may sound, everything seems to turn into an adventure when you're doing the seemingly mundane things of life in a completely different culture). All 4 of us went en masse to the opticians to get some new specs for our friend (infinitely cheaper over here than back home). We entered the small glass-fronted shop, all sat down at the insistence of the manager and then the fun began. As our friend showed even the slightest interest in glasses, the man behind the counter felt it his duty as service-provider to get out a vast range of other pairs of glasses for our friend to try and when we had exhausted the range in the cabinet, out came the suitcases also full of various types of specs - everything from Calvin Klein to Armani; all the best genuine fakes, of course!

So, once the laborious task of choosing a set of specs was done, next came the obligatory bartering process, which was equally as fun. I can't remember how much we knocked him down by but I'm sure our white skin and obvious inexperience made us easy targets for some profit-making.

In fact we had so much fun engaging in this process that our friend's wife brought a pair of specs, which started the whole process off again and then Andy and I also decided to join in but just to get the most out of this unique experience, we thought we'd also capitalise on the £2 eye test that was on offer.

Perhaps had it not been teeming down with rain, hail, thunder and lightning we might have left with a few less pairs of glasses than we did but thanks to the totally unseasonal weather, and the cricket being shown on the TV in the shop we ended up leaving the shop almost 2 hours later complete with 4 sets of glasses, 1 pair of sunglasses and 2 eye test results - not bad really!

At the beginning of March a couple arrived, who were volunteering with Oasis for 1 month and who were also due to stay with us, so once again, we had the opportunity of introducing Dhaka to some fresh faces and spill more of our enthusiasm for it into some seemingly willing recipients.

This couple were mainly working with me on a project launched by STOP THE TRAFFIK, called Start Freedom, which is an initiative for secondary schools around the world to raise awareness of human trafficking and to mobilise young people to tell others about it.

We went into various schools teaching the lessons prescribed by STOP THE TRAFFIK and forging contacts in schools in order to pursue the project. We only targeted English Medium schools at the outset, as all the materials were in English. The uptake was amazing; I was so encouraged to see the children really engaging with this subject and being motivated to do something about it. At one school the children took it upon themselves to go into local slums and the villages to raise awareness to their peers about the dangers of human trafficking.

During our last couple of weeks in Bangladesh we took a trip up to Nilphamari to see the factory one last time and to say goodbye to the workers. As became a common theme with all of our 'goodbyes', this was a very emotional event. We went to our processing plant where the workers were busily stripping, cutting, soaking and slivering bamboo in an orderly row, seated on the floor. After a chat to the manager at the site and a look around, the workers stopped what they were doing, assembled in a circle and our dear friend and manager up there gave a very moving speech and presented us with flowers. There were a few tears and exchanges of fond farewells and then we left for the factory. At the factory, the same thing happened, although this time we were presented with a strip of bamboo signed by all the workers and a gift for each of us consisting of a brass plate, bowl a cup. We were so touched at this huge gesture - it really warmed our hearts.

We left the workers with a mixed feeling of satisfaction of having been a part of something so amazing that has really impacted these peoples' lives but also a sense of regret and heartache that we may not see these people again and that the role we had played in this story, up until now, has ended. It was really hard to believe that something that had played such a large part of our lives should so suddenly come to an end.

As we stood in that field looking at rows and rows of bamboo culms drying, with kids laughing and shouting in the background as they ran out of their bamboo school building and the hazy late afternoon Bangladesh sun beating down on us, it was hard to imagine life in the UK and what that would be like.

In the evening we went to a local fair with the Nilphamari manager, his wife, the pre-processing manager and his new wife and the factory manager. This was as strange as we had come to expect from Bangladesh. There were lots of stalls selling these sweet deep fried snacks that looked a lot like pretzels, tea stalls, other stalls selling items of jewellery and accessories, games, shows and the like - very much how I imagine fairs to be in Victorian Britain (although I may be way off the beaten track). One of the events we went to see was a large round wooden pit-type thing, where a motorbike went round and round it, with the audience at the top, getting ever closer to the top of the bit. I'm not sure whether I was more scared by the lack of any safety railing behind me, the rickety wooden ladder we climbed to get up, or the fact that the motorbike got so close he could snatch money out of the hands of people in the crowd. I think they have a lot to learn about health and safety!

Anyway, this very fun, slightly scary evening ended with a ride back to the village and a short stop to let off a sky lantern that we had brought. As we watched the bright sky lantern slowly drifting further and further into the night sky it seemed to be the perfect end to a perfect trip and chapter of our lives and I couldn't help but think that somewhere up there (and all around, in fact) God was smiling down on us, reminding us that whilst we have no clue where our lives may be headed and why on earth we would be drifting so far away from a country we love so dearly, He actually knows exactly what lies ahead and reassuringly has it all in hand.

We then returned to Dhaka on an overnight bus, arriving back home as dawn was just breaking and the newspaper boys were out on the streets sorting the papers and taking their stock to sell on the streets and at the traffic lights.

The following days proceeded in much the same way. Lots of farewell meals, farewell sweets that we came armed with to each house we went to and teary goodbyes. As we went from house to house saying goodbye to people it seemed to get harder and harder as we realised that this is another person, who has impacted our life greatly, that we may never see again.

We had a very lovely 'office goodbye', where we assembled for our extra special team lunch and were presented with some wonderful gifts from our colleagues and some very kind sentiments. We attempted, very feebly to return the sentiments, through blubs and streams of tears. Whilst it's lovely to hear that we will be missed, it also left us with a giant hole inside as the memories of the past 18 months came flooding into our minds and a knowledge that, as we sat with curry in hand amongst a circle of friends in our office in Dhaka, the people sat in those chairs were so different to the people who sat in the same chairs 18 months ago, awkwardly making conversation with this strange bunch of Bangladeshi folk. We realised the way God had shaped us through these wonderful people surrounding us (as well as all the brothers and sisters at church) and how much our lives had been transformed.

When we set off for Bangladesh, we set off with a desire to see transformation; we left looking in the mirror and seeing that the transformation we had witnessed was closer to home than we had expected.

Perhaps the saddest goodbye of all came from a brother at church and his wife, who after a long embrace, left on the words "well sister.....goobye". The words themselves are so few but behind them were feelings of a deep bond that had formed between the 4 of us, a reminder of the lessons of humility and servitude we had learned from this inspirational couple and a longing sense that this might be the last time we may see this couple again until Jesus returns. Suddenly, the world starts to feel very big.

The feeling of leaving Bangladesh was a strange one - whilst being excited to see friends and family again, there was a deep sorrow at leaving our beloved Bangladesh. The only way I can describe it is a feeling of numbness, like when you come home from the holiday of a lifetime and you know you have to go back to work the next day - you feel elated by the memories you've accumulated and the wonderful time you've had but then that sense of inevitable regret as you have to leave it all behind, knowing that actually the 'holiday' could never continue and those feelings of regret are only present because of the relatively short time you've broken away from the normal routines of life.

So, as that chapter of our life comes to an end, another exciting chapter begins, fuelled by the lessons, excitement and joy we experienced in "My Golden Bangladesh" (first line of the national anthem). We are looking forward to seeing what God has in store on this next part of our journey.

Thank you so much to all of you for being a part of our journey so far - we've loved every minute of the ride and all the more so for being able to share it with you.

May God richly bless you, as He has us.

Nic and Andy x x

Read more...

Three Reasons why I like...

Some things I like in Bangladesh and reasons why.

Buses in Bangladesh:
1) They're cheap - a 20-30minute trip will usually set you back about 15Tk (about 15p!)

2) There's normally lots of them - too many infact and it can be very confusing to know which is going where and when. Even though there's lots they're usually very very crowded... but this all adds the fun of the ride.
3) Mob Mentality (in a positive way!)- A man refuses to pay becuase he thinks he's too important so the rest of the bus shout at him until he gets off! Or, we (the smith family) get on and even though the conductor tells us how much to pay the rest of the bus wont let us because we're visitors! (Bus conductor was not happy!)

Still not ridden on top yet!! :(

The work I do:

1) Interesting and fulfilling from a professional point of view - I've developed a range of practical and business skills from slivering bamboo to production planning!

2) Its a social business - yes we're trying to make money but we're ultimately trying to give and keep people in employment who need it the most. We care for and value our workforce, hoping to see a positive impact in their lives - and its working!

3) The people I work with - they work hard, are dedicated, understand the values and concepts of what we're doing and are eager to make it work!

(there are more reasons but it wouldn't fit with the theme and I'd be here forever!)

Having a guard at your house:

1) He says hello in a friendly way every morning!

2) Looks after your shopping if you want to go on to some place else (saves you lugging it up the stairs)

3) Helps you park the car - I'm good with my mirrors but an extra pair of eyes is always useful!

Bangladesh Church:

1) We get to sit on the floor.

2) People are honest about what they are feeling and what they think. Which can be both annoying and likeable.

3) We always listen to and share others prayer requests at the end of the service (and we share lunch!)

Bamboo:

1) Properly managed it sooo sustainable (grows to maturity in 3/4 years - closest other is pine, which takes at least 7 or 8) - Bamboo grows up to 45feet in one year!

2) You can eat it, wear it, stand on it and make nearly everything from it (including coffins - www.oasisbamboocoffins.com)

3) It captures loads and loads of carbon dioxide (much better than the average tree!) So get planting!

Old Dhaka:

1) Its Chaos! - people, rickshaws, foods, sewage, vans, clothing, machine shops, banks, Christmas decorations, the river, the boats... its all happening in a hive of Chaos

2) Always something different to see - and people are always happy to show and talk about what they're doing

3) Boats - its been bread into me from a very early age!

Thanks for reading.... see you soon!

Andy

Read more...

The Tale of Two Survivors

Hi all,

I thought I would do a posting about a couple of trafficking survivors that I'm working with at the moment because I've been really touched by their lives and their stories. For confidentiality I won't use their real names.

In previous postings you may recall I referred to a girl called Reena. She was trafficked from Bangladesh in 2006 at age of 15-16 with the promise of a job in India. The offer turned out to be a false one and she was sold to a brothel in the red light district of Kolkata (biggest red light area in South Asia).

In February 2007 she was rescued by an organisation working in Kolkata. Reena gave her statement to the police, who subsequently arrested 4 people involved in Reena's trafficking (including the brothel madam).

After a few months staying in a shelter home in Kolkata Reena was repatriated back to Bangladesh. She then spent a few days in another shelter home before returning back to her father.

Since coming back to Bangladesh her father arranged for her to be married to a young man, who already has a wife and children. The father didn't tell of Reena's past until recently, which has caused problems in the marriage. Reena also found a job in a garment factory, which she has been working in since she returned. Sadly Reena's marriage has not been a particularly happy one - her husband is a drug addict and relies on Reena's income to feed his habit. He has a tendency to become violent, particularly when needing money for his habit.

We became involved in Reena's case last year when I went to visit her rescuing organisation in Kolkata. They had lost contact with her and the organisation who reintegrated her in Bangladesh couldn't locate her, so they asked if we would try and establish contact. They were understandably concerned about her welfare but also she needed to come back to Kolkata to give evidence in the trial against her traffickers.

We managed to make contact with her in around April 09 and since then we've had regular contact with her. Her trial was listed for May, then adjourned til June and then several adjournments later finally was listed for December 11th.

In order to get Ripa back to Kolkata we had to apply for a passport and visa, which was difficult in itself due to the many layers of red tape that exist here. Thankfully the Lord moved the hearts of the government officials to accept our various applications.

On 5th December Reena and her husband came to the office. She looked tired, malnourished, depressed and anxious. On 6th December my colleague took Reena to Kolkata on her first plane trip so she could give evidence.

On 5th January I went to Kolkata to collect Reena and was faced with a happy, much healthier, confident looking young lady. The transformation in her was amazing! I was greeted with a big hug, a huge grin and "Aunty, how are you? come and see where I've been staying...". I was then shown round the shelter home she was staying in and introduced to the other Bangladeshi girls staying there.

During her court case she had given very compelling evidence and managed to recall a lot of information with infinite accuracy and detail. The judge and police commended her for her evidence. She was extremely brave, particularly when coming up against cross examination and undoubtedly her evidence will form the pinnacle in the case against the traffickers. The verdict in the case has not yet been reached.

When Reena and I came to leave the shelter home she exchanged numbers with people in the home and said her goodbyes. It was so moving - all the other Bangladeshi girls wanted to know when they could come home, they were all anxious to tell me where they're from and if there's any news from their families. Of course we weren't really involved in their cases, so I couldn't say. I was particularly struck by one amazing young lady, who lives just down the road from us and was trafficked from that area. We have since met with her family and we're trying to get her 5-yr old daughter into a good school, so when her mum comes home she's got one less thing to worry about.

Reena and I then went to the airport. She displayed a mixture of anxiety and excitement whilst at the airport. The excitement was shown whenever it came to move on to the next stage of the airport process. She was up out of her seat grabbing her bags and mine and saying "Come on Aunty, let's go". When we sat in the airport lounge her eyes were wide with excitement and she was looking everywhere. She also had fun trying to teach me some of the Hindi she had learned during her time in India (but sadly I was a pretty bad student).

Whilst we sat waiting, I went off to buy a coffee and looked back at her sitting on her own. As a man approached to speak to her, the sense of responsibility I had suddenly dawned on me and I immediately became very protective of her - getting a real sense of her vulnerability.

As we sat on the plane ready to take off her anxiety kicked in. She held my hand and as the engines began to whir she squeezed even tighter and closed her eyes. That was when I realised what different worlds we both come from and how these worlds have now collided.

The following day Reena came into the office and was reunited with her husband. She was very excited to share with her husband of her experience and her husband was obviously proud of his wife's achievements. We spent the morning chatting to Reena about her future and we're now working to get her a place on a beauty training course, which she is very excited about.

We hope and pray as they begin this next chapter of their lives Reena's motivation and enthusiasm would continue, that she would grow and develop into the amazing woman she has potential to be and that she would be supported by her husband and his family in all she does.

This week I went to a shelter home in Jessore,in the south of the country, with my colleague, to visit another survivor, who returned to Bangladesh in October and who we have been supporting since.

She was trafficked by a local policeman but managed to escape when she reached Mumbai before being exploited.

We were encouraged by how well Sathi was doing. When we spoke to her a few weeks ago she was feeling very down and was anxious but when we saw her she was much more upbeat and her confidence has grown significantly.

Sathi comes from a very poor family. Before she was trafficked her husband had left her and married another woman and they are still living in the same village as Sathi.
Ever since we met Sathi she has been concerned about getting a good job to support her family and bring honour to them. She was educated to a reasonable standard but she has totally lost confidence to continue learning, since she's been out of education for over 10 years.

She's another remarkable woman - very caring, assertive, commands the respect of others and has good leadership skills. She feels a real sense of loyalty and responsibility to her family.

Sadly, since returning to Bangladesh, the village that Sathi is from have jumped to conclusions about what happened to her in India and they're insisting that she's an immoral woman and have consequently cut off Sathi's family from the village. The tormenting has become so bad that Sathi's brother has left home. This factor is only driving Sathi all the more to get a good job and succeed in life.

Whilst we were visiting her we managed to get a place for her in a good local clinic to get work experience as a birth attendant. Currently this position is unpaid but the director of the clinic is hopeful that it will lead to a paid position.

Sathi will have her first day in the clinic next week. We're really hoping a praying that this will be a time of blessing out of the darkness for Sathi and her family as she starts on this journey. She's still very concerned about getting an income but hopefully God will see to it that a paid position crops up soon.

We also took Sathi to see her sister in another clinic. She's had a tumour removed from her groin area and looked in a pretty bad way. Sathi immediately assumed the care-giver role when we arrived and whilst obviously being distressed it was good that she had the opportunity to spend time with her sister and mum.

We're praying that God will bless these two wonderful women in their new journeys in life and shine a light in their life after the darkness they have experienced.

Besides these two women, we've been out looking for the families of a couple of 11 year old girls who were trafficked from Bangladesh and are now staying in a shelter home in Mumbai. We're also trying to find a girl who absconded (or was taken) from the shelter home she was staying in in Mumbai - she is extremely vulnerable and there is a high risk of her being retrafficked, particularly as we suspect her family were involved in her trafficking.

I was also very privileged to be on a trip where we found the family of one of the girls I met in Kolkata. We managed to connect the girl with her family via a mobile phone and it was a particularly special moment when her daughter held the phone up to her ear and heard her mum's voice for the first time in 3 years. This is the girl I mentioned earlier, who we're now trying to support through education.

So, lots happening. Every day brings a new challenge but I'm so grateful that God has allowed me to witness some of the amazing miracles that are going on. we're hoping and praying for the day when all will be free from the bonds of slavery and people won't have to make the decision of whether they should risk a life of exploitation or risk their family starving to death.

Please pray for these girls and their families.

Nic

Read more...

Christmas in Dhaka

Hi Everyone, and a belated Happy New Year. May God bless you all in 2010.

Sorry for the long gap between blogs. We've been entertaining visitors and they tend to need a lot of supervising!!

On 24th Dec we went to the airport to meet, Nigel, Margaret, Peter and Louise who had bravely decided to leave the snow and ice and travel a few thousand miles to share Christmas in Dhaka.

We had a great 6 days with Peter and Louise with lots of food, site seeing and meeting with people. On Christmas day we got up late to enjoy a lovely breakfast of pancakes and cereal before opening some 'light weight' presents shipped over by Smith Mail. We enjoyed a lovely Goose and Chicken lunch prepapred by Nicola and Halima (Including some lovely mash potato!) before taking everyone out for their first Dhaka experience: a trip to our local market. At the market you wouldn't know it was Christmas with the usual hussle and bustle, sights, sounds and of course, smells!

Peter and Louise took to the adventure easily and were soon interacting and having a laugh with the locals. In the evening we enjoyed a usual christmas lunch leftover feast and played a few games that had been opeoend earlier in the day. A coldish day but no snow in sight.

On boxing day we took a trip to Dhanmondi for lunch at the Bengali art cafe and had a look around some of the local shops. In the evening we spent some time socialising with the HOw family (Our Oasis Boss) and resited the urge to a let a sky lantern into the Dhaka sky less than 5 miles from a aiport and 1 mile from a military base!

Next day came New market, which was fantastic fun. Lots and lots of bright colours, over helpful staff and ages spent deciding on Margarets Saree. (Viewings by prior arrangement). We even enjoed an argument on a bus on the way down to Dhaka over whther or not we should pay the fare. In the end the passengers on the bus would not let us pay for our ticket as we were deemed guests.... the bus whaller (ticket guy) was not that impressed!!

On the 28th we went out of Dhaka to see a friend, Daniel and his family in Savar. I did a bible study and we took a tour around the local villages. Everyone was again really friendly and the peace and quiet of rural life was greatly recieved.

On the 29th (Andy's Birthday) we travlled down to Old Dhaka. Deep in the heart of Dhaka is this bee hive of activity with small sole traders doing every sort of business you could think of. We popped into the local branch of HSBS to get some money, only for Pete to make some new work friends, us use the toilet and enjoy a welcome sit down and cup of coffee! We were invited back to the office for lunch but instead we headed to the river in search of a boat (Noko) ride.

The boat took us past the busy piers and many boats of all different sizes, loads and cargos from Bamboo to fruit and veg to cement and rubbish. The water was dirty and the smell very un-inviting yet people were still swimming and washing their clothes at the river bank. In the afternoon we took a trip to some nice shops in Banani before heading back to the Flat for a murder mystery dinner evening (see Margaret or Louises facebook Profile for photographic evidence!)

On Pete and Louises last day we headed out shopping in the morning before visiting the Oasis office in the afternoon. In the evening we all got dressed up in Sarees and Punjabs for a lovely meal at a superb local resturant close to our flat (I had the chicken Tika!). It was a nice end to a busy six days trying to fit in all the sights and expertiences that Bangladesh can offer. All of us had a great (if not a little different) Christams week and it was sad to loose two of the family back to the UK the following morning.

But un derttered the foru remaing smiths continued to enjoy their time in Dhaka. NEw year was spent at the flat with Jo (Oasis colleague). BEcuase the Bangladeshy cgovernment had decided to use midnight on the 31st as the date to change their clocks back we actually managed to dance around and sing Auld Langs Aine twice (once in the flat and once on the roof!)

On the firday we went to church and enjoyed meeting up with all the brothers and sisters. Saturday was spent relaxing before getting back into the habit mixing work and caring for parents! Not too difficult - this time they were pros!

We had a great two weeks with Nicola visitng Inidia once on a trafficking case and Andy, Mum and Dad having a trip to Nilphamari to see the factory and meet the staff up there. It was cold up in Nilphamari and 2 or 3 jumpers were pretty much essential all day.

We also managed to get in lots of time with the church members and two more boat trips and a posh aromotherapy massage for Mum. It was even cold in Dhaka on the last week with Blankets and Duvets all round!

As I write this I'm standing in Dhaka aiport awaiting our plane to India for the final part of the Rents visit. We're heading to Kolkata and then on a train to Varanasi (religous city of India), Agra (Taj Mahal) and Udaipur (Lake Palace) before flying back to our respective homes from Delhi.

3 Trains, 3 planes and four hotels all in 10 days (and two oldies on tow) - should be a great adventure!!

Love to you all!

Andy and Nic

Read more...

Hi everyone

Firstly, apologies for the Twitter feeds that appeared on our blog, some of which contained offensive language. We're not sure how that happened but we've now blocked all twitter feeds.

So, since we last wrote we've had another women's get together, a youth group gathering, Andy's visited a group of young believers living just outside Dhaka, we've eaten our first Mince Pie and we've decorated our apartment (oh and we've done some work in between).

Women's Gathering

Another really good morning with the women from the church. There was a great turn out this month and we had a really fab time of fun, study and fellowship.

Two of the women brought their babies (1 yrs old and 9mths), who were toddling around all over the place, putting everything they could lay their hands on in their mouths and generally enjoying being fussed over by a group of very doting women. They were particularly intrigued by the bubbles I ended up having to blow all morning.

One of the sisters led a short talk about living as a woman in Christ, which seemed to go well, although not really understanding what she was saying, it was hard to tell but the rest of the women seemed to be engrossed.

We also had fun making gift boxes out of decorative card / paper. What was great about it was watching the passing on of skills. So, for some of the women, particularly those more eager I taught them how to make the boxes and then they took responsibility for teaching some of the others, who were a bit less forthcoming. It was really lovely to watch this process happen.

Victory Day Youth Gathering

On 16^th December it was a public holiday on account of it being Victory Day, so we had the young people from church round for a get together.

A missionary from Australia led a bible study on Acts, which was really interesting. He introduced us to a technique of bible marking and picking out themes through Acts, which was really helpful for getting an overview of Acts. It was particularly interesting to see how the early church grew – from 120, to 3000, to 5000, to 7000, all from that early group of believers meeting in the upstairs room in Jerusalem. Amazing what you can achieve through prayer and dedication.

After some food we had lots of fun playing the ‘Animal Game’. It was very amusing to have 27 Bangladeshi folk packed into our living room making animal noises and actions!

It was a real time of blessing to have so many young people in our house. What was particularly lovely was to have a group of young lads, who had travelled from Savar (just outside Dhaka) to join us. These lads are very inspirational – having gone through an orphan program run by one of the sisters in the church, they are now living together in a tiny house and studying at University. They are really keen bible scholars and just wonderfully amazing people. They are very gentle, very humble and so eager to learn and develop. They were so keen to come to the gathering that they set out early and arrived an hour before it started, so we were able to spend some quality time with them (and enlist their help in moving furniture!). They truly are examples of young men filled with the Spirit of Christ – we’re learning lots from them.

In the evening we attended the Christmas Do for one of the English Christian Schools in the area (Grace School) and Andy did the calling for their Barn Dance, which was lots of fun.

This weekend we dressed our apartment up in some Christmas finery, so it’s looking very festive and really getting us in the mood for Christmas. We even managed to find some appropriately tacky tinsel to put up (who would have thought – tinsel in Bangladesh).

Over the past couple of weeks we’ve also been reflecting on the message of Jesus’ birth, which, despite being set in Spring time seems appropriate to think about now, as lots of people around the world are doing so.

What has really stood out for us is the contrast between Jesus’ birth and the usual way we celebrate Christmas, which has become even more noticeable since being in Bangladesh. At Christmas time we tend to be at home with family, everything comes to a stop, we have wonderful food, lovely gifts, beautiful decorations and the like.

Jesus was born away from his home, in a feeding trough, in an animal shed, probably with chaos going on around – people shouting, talking, carrying on with their lives, blissfully ignorant that the Saviour of the world had just been born. He would only have his father and mother for company (other than a few excitable visitors); no Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles or other relatives.

Being in Bangladesh, with very few references to Christmas going on around, being away from our friends and family (albeit most of them) and certainly with no sense of the country coming to a stop we can really relate to that first ‘Christmas’.

In amongst the continuing chaos of Bangladesh, the strange smells, the different culture and religion, this lack of festivity has enabled us to recognize more clearly that, actually, over 2000 years ago a baby was born, who would live his life with the same humility as he began it and yet would become the man to free us from a life of captivity – King of the Jews, King of Men, Saviour of the World.

By the way, please don't think we're passing judgement on the way people celebrate Christmas, we're very much looking forward to a traditional English Christmas next year, we simply wanted to share with you the way in which the Nativity Story has impacted us, being in a different context to normal.

Wishing you a time of blessing this Christmas.

Love Andy and Nic x

Read more...

A short visit to Mumbai

Last week Nic had the opportunity of visiting the Oasis office in Mumbai for a series of work related meetings.

After returning from CYC camp on Sunday 29^th November, Nic left on Monday 30^th November for Mumbai via a very busy and run down Kolkata airport.

When you set foot in India, it’s almost instantly noticeable how different it is to Bangladesh. Even just sitting in Kolkata airport you notice the difference; there are more people speaking English as their first language, more Western clothing around and a lot more foreigners.

I landed in Mumbai at about midnight and then took a CNG (Auto rickshaw, or just ‘Rickshaw’ using Indian terminology) to Laura and Katherine’s apartment. This was a much easier process than in Dhaka because you simply walk up to the Rickshaw stand, hop in and tell them where you want to go – they put it straight on the meter, without even so much as an attempt at haggling. I’m told that in Mumbai it’s one of the only Indian cities where they are obliged by law to go on the meter.

The following day we went to an English Medium school while Laura and an Indian colleague gave an introduction to the STOP THE TRAFFIK campaign, Start Freedom (a global initiative to raise awareness amongst young people aged 11-18 and to engage them in helping to prevent human trafficking) – for more details see www.startfreedom.org.

In the afternoon we visited one of our partner organisations, the International Justice Mission, to discuss some cases we’re working on with them and to try to make the repatriation process even more efficient. At the moment what tends to happen is an organisation like Oasis, or IJM will rescue someone from their exploitative situation (usually a brothel) and then they get placed in a government home. From here we will work with the Indian organisation to collect the information we need in order to do a home study of the survivor, so that we can confirm she is Bangladeshi. We pass this information to the Bangladeshi government, who use it to put together the relevant documentation for repatriation.

We also work with these organisations to plan the survivor’s aftercare but often the survivor gets moved between 2 – 4 different shelter homes after being rescued, so each time a new set of aftercare is begun, in accordance with the home’s own internal systems but very rarely is this continued from their last shelter home, or even coordinated, so this can set the survivor back several weeks in her aftercare. We’re trying to work to make the approach to aftercare more cohesive, which was one of the main outcomes of this meeting.

On Wednesday Laura and I travelled by train to Pune, which is a city 3 hours south of Mumbai. The train ride was very beautiful as we meandered through the mountains and particularly so as the doors are always left open, so we get a good view of the landscape.

Travelling by train is always a unique experience, with ‘Chai Wallers’ going up and down the train throughout the journey selling hot cups of tea, the occasional beggar coming through asking for money, the Western toilets with holes leading right down to the tracks, people sitting on the roof, people hanging out the door. Thankfully on the Indian trains there’s far less staring than on the Bangladesh trains, so we were able to enjoy a bit of privacy.

When we arrived in Pune I was pleasantly surprised by the wide leafy roads, the British architecture and the lovely atmosphere of the place – it was a really nice place to visit. After taking lunch Laura and I went to meet another of our partner organisations, Freedom Firm.

After a meeting with them we went to one of the government homes where some of the Bangladeshi girls we are working with are staying.

The home is divided into 2 – a major home and a minor home. We have girls / women in both.

The homes are run by a government-appointed superintendants, who are notorious for being dragons and this particular superintendant was no exception. When we arrived she was sat in her office bellowing at some poor soul. We sat waiting patiently until she had calmed down before going to speak to her for permission to go into the home. Whilst we were waiting the girls came up to the open window and peered through the bars at us. We were able to go and whisper to them, without causing too much of a raucous so as not to attract attention.

After much sweet-talking and pleading the superintendant eventually gave us permission to speak to the 3 Bangladeshi girls that we are working with. Sadly she had taken up a lot of our time before she gave permission, so we only had 30 mins left before we had to go. This was just enough time to speak with the girls and get the details needed to be able to conduct a home study.

When previous attempts have been made to get the girls’ addresses it has been done with a non-Bangla speaker, so the addresses we received were not accurate, or not even identifiable.

By God’s grace, the details the girls gave me were all places I recognised and the girls were able to speak with sufficient clarity and accuracy that they could more or less direct me to the door. Even this simple task is difficult for some survivors, who either can’t remember where they lived, or never knew in the first place or are too traumatised to say.

It was so amazing to finally meet these girls and they seemed happy to be able to jabber away in Bangla, even if I was only able to catch a small portion of what they said. But it was very distressing, especially knowing their stories. One girl hobbled in on broken crutches having tried to escape following her rescue from a brothel. She was rescued from a brothel just before she was exploited but was so distressed by the government home that she was placed in that she tried to escape by jumping out a first story window. Sadly she fractured a hip in the process, so is in a lot of pain and needs a further operation. She was quite teary towards the end of our conversation and was desperate to know when she can go home.

Another girl I met unfortunately had been exploited, despite her many efforts to escape her captors, which resulted in severe beatings. She was about 17 years and was lovely. She told me shyly about her boyfriend in Bangladesh and about her school and her parents. She also became quite teary as we were winding up our conversation and clearly just wanted some form of communication with home.

After my visit with these girls we caught a reasonably crowded train back to Mumbai, munching on lovely warm dosas contemplating all we had seen and heard.

At Mumbai we got around the city by local trains, which is kind of like a metro system. The trains are big and wide but absolutely rammed full. We got to stand in the women’s carriage but they tended to be so full that we could barely breathe at some points. When we wanted to get out we had to position ourselves near the door 2 stops ahead of time and then when the time came to get off we got swept in a tide of women also getting down.

The following day I spent in the Oasis office meeting some of the staff and visiting the half way home we have there, which is for women who are coming out of the brothels. One of the young ladies I met was quite remarkable, she had a real aptitude for learning and was studying to become an accountant.

On Friday I travelled home after a frantic but rewarded visit to India’s second largest city, with a population of 50 million and having the biggest red light area in the world!

The Mumbai experience is hard to capture in words, even after only a short visit. For many, like our trafficking survivors, it’s a place of shattered dreams, a place where all innocence and childhood is lost forever and is traded for a much darker reality. But for some it’s a place where hope in a broken world becomes restored, where God is touching lives and where beauty is found in brokenness.

I guess to understand what I really mean – you just have to experience it for yourselves!

Read more...

A crown of beauty instead of ashes

Following on from Andy's blog, I thought I would share what else has been happening for us.

Birthday Party

On 5th November one of the lads from church turned 16, so we went to his house for the weekly bible study and we were spoilt with lots of lovely birthday food that his wonderful mother had made, including a big yummy slab of birthday cake and ice cream! Sadly he had to get up early the next day for a Bangla exam, which put a bit of a dampener on the celebrations.

Vanity

Over the weekend one of the girls staying with us became ill, so we stayed to keep her company on Friday and then when she was feeling better on Saturday we took her out for a couple of hours. We discovered an American Diner which had a very authentic-looking juke box and which even sold Root Beer! Andy could hardly contain his excitement! In the afternoon the girls and I went to a beauty parlour for a leg wax and eye brow threading! An extremely painful experience and definitely not one to be repeated in a hurry!

The people here take their appearance very seriously, so beauty treatments are a big business. Even the men are ultra concerned about their appearance - only yesterday I was passing by a barber's shop and witnessed a man with a face mask on, having his ear's massaged, whilst waiting for the tangerine colour on his hair to set! It's a very bizarre sight. I'm not sure whether we've mentioned in the past about the whole 'orange hair' phenomenon but if not perhaps I should explain. Basically the men here go in for dying their hair (including facial hair) a tangerine colour. I'm not quite sure why but apparently they think it's attractive (I would tend to disagree). All I can think of when I see a particularly shocking array of orange is Tango adverts - "You know when you've been tangoed"

Trafficking on our doorstep

On 5th November a partner organisation contacted me about 9 women / girls who had been trafficked to India from Bangladesh; 3 of whom were from an area very near to where our office is, which brought it all home - this terrible crime really is on our doorstep! Most of the girls were deceived into travelling to India by being made offers of false jobs, or marriages and most were trafficked by people they knew and trusted.

However, one 17 year old girl was basically kidnapped. She was on a school trip, out walking with her classmates. She got a thorn in her leg, so stopped to pull it out, getting left behind the rest of the group. Whilst doing so someone approached behind her, put a poison-soaked cloth over her mouth and then took her at knife point on a bus to Kolkata. They sold her to someone in Kolkata, who in turn sold her to a brothel in Pune (an area 3 hours from Mumbai). She tried to escape on several occasions but was badly beaten. She was rescued on 15th September and her wounds were still visible.

We are now trying to bring her and the other 8 girls back to Bangladesh. As you can imagine they are very traumatised and shaken up and aren't really speaking much sense at the moment. we would very much appreciate your prayers for their protection and speedy repatriation. Please also pray for their families - that they will accept their girls back willingly and openly and will give the support that is needed upon their return.

I'll keep you updated of their progress but if you want to know more please email.

As I'm reading over what I've written I'm reminded (as I so often am) of Isaiah 61 and can't help feeling a sense of despair that over 2500 years after these words were written, there are still captives waiting to be freed and there are still 'prisoners' that need releasing from darkness. Perhaps my prayer for these women and girls is that they would be crowned with beauty instead of ashes and be anointed with the oil of gladness, instead of mourning.

Business as usual

The remainder of the week was business as usual. We had a nice bible study on Tuesday night looking at Paul's time in prison and reflecting on the way in which God's plans work themselves out - thinking particularly of how Paul made it to Rome (despite a series of events that suggested he would never make it there), which then enabled the gospel to be spread. Pretty amazing and comforting to know that God has it all in hand.

As you will have read, Andy was up in Nilphamari, so it was just me and the girls at home.

Murder at the TV Awards

On Friday we had a birthday party to celebrate one of the girls' 21st birthday. So, we organised a murder mystery with a few of her friends here. We had a great time trying to suss out who possibly could have murdered Sugar Doll whilst gorging ourselves on a 3 course dinner and lovely chocolate birthday cake.

On Saturday our house helper continued her cooking lessons and this week they mastered lasagne (with home made lasagne sheets) and the best cup cakes ever! We were very impressed and never expected to be eating such wonderful food in Bangladesh. The lady who's teaching Halima is a lady from church, who is an amazing cook and so keen to learn new things. It's a bit of a challenge for Halima to remember the recipes, particularly since she's illiterate, so can't check a recipe book but with practice she'll get there. Thankfully we're not particularly fussy eaters, so we're quite tolerant of dried, overcooked chicken, or mushy over-cooked veg (ha ha)!

Having spent some time with the cooking team I joined the girls for more birthday antics in the afternoon before coming home and getting on with some more planning for the church youth camp in a couple of weeks time.

Think that's about our lot for the time being.

Thanks, as always to you all for being interested in what we're doing - it's so encouraging to know we're supported and that people are sharing the experience with us.

Much love

Andy and Nic

Read more...

Early morniing in Nilphamari

Hi all,
On Tues last week I visited our factory in Nilphamari for two days. When we visit the factory we take an overnight bus trip from Dhaka to a place called Saidpur. The trip takes about 8 hours and is usually fairly comfortable.To get from the Bus station to the factory we take an hour long early morning Rickshaw and this is one of our favourite trips we take in Bangladesh. So I thought I’d devote a whole blog to our trip with some of piccies for you to look at…We left the bus station sitting on our van with the luggage behind. As we travel through Saidpur most of the shops are shut as they’ve probably been open till midnight the day before. Its nice and cool, a bit foggy and most of the people are wrapped up warm (even I’m in a jumper!)


We pass the train station where a train has just pulled in causing much excitement and the possibilities for earning money if you’re a beggar, seller or rickshaw waller.We sail right on through the town, only stopping to pick up a tooth brush and toothpaste as I forgot to pack them!

Next we pass an old Muslim mosque. The mosque is about 100 years old and is in the process of being extended.

Then its out into the country side with the odd child heading off to school and a few sellers heading off to the local villages or market with their classy plastic products, or fish, or vegetables or live chickens – all balanced on their heads.

We see other rickshaw vans piled high with products and the odd single cyclist heading off to work in a field or factory somewhere.

This is one of the poorest regions in Bangladesh and industry is few and far between. Most of the land is used for farming rice (which they manage to get three harvests from each year – some of the most fertile country in the world!). Other uses include potatoes and Tobacco. We pass a large tobacco factory on the way. And see miles and miles of open rice fields. Workers are dotted around the fields harvesting or planting or organising the watering of these important plants. Bangladesh is the most populated country in the world (excluding the city states) and most people eat a big bowl of rice three times a day. It needs this crop to survive. Very little is used for export.

Occasionally you see a pair of oxen pulling a plough or people threshing the rice plant to discover the small grains of rice. Nicola always comments how it reminds her of the Story of Ruth and Boaz.

If the land is green, healthy and peaceful then the roads are completely the opposite! Even up here there are many buses and Lorries who think they own the road. Travelling down the narrow stretches at high speeds thundering their horns at any thing that even remotely looks like getting in its way. If you should happen to be in the way when two of these giants pass each other its normally best to dive off the road onto the verge for safety!

Banana trees and bamboo clumps litter the side of the road and the bamboo clumps can be seen in the fields stretching high into the sky above the very flat and low lying land. All of the roads are built up on embankment so that they are still useable when the floods and rains come for 4 months each year.

We pass more cyclists and people walking and also breeze through small villages and towns. The road side shops offer anything from DVD’s, rice and DIY equipment through to bicycle repairs and pharmacies. All single room shops with roller shutter doors; often coming to life in the cool of the evening.

As I said before the whole journey takes about and hour and is a truly relaxing and stress free start to the day (if you can cope with the buses!). Being up here is how you imagine England to be before the turn of the industrial revolution. And is a million miles away from the business of Dhaka.

Love to all, Andy (and Nic) x

Read more...

Still here...honest...

We're so sorry there's been such a long delay between postings; we really will try to get on top of this over the upcoming few weeks.

So, our activities over the last couple of weeks:

Church

Ladies Get-together
We had the first of our ladies get together at our house a few weeks ago for the women at church. It was a really good morning as we spent time talking, sharing, studying and eating lovely fruit and cake.

For a lot of the women in this culture, they spend so much of their time working to earn money, looking after the house, cooking and raising their children that their own needs come pretty low on the list of priorities. Some are currently feeling a bit lost and a bit trapped in their lives; particularly those younger women who are of 'marrying age' and whose father's are currently looking for a suitable husband. For them it's an extremely anxious time, not knowing what type of husband they will get, whether he will be respectful of their beliefs and whether he will give them the space and freedom to be the beautiful, creative, ambitious women that God created them to be.

With that in mind we spent some time being encouraged by one of God's beautiful, creative, ambitious, trapped daughters in the bible, namely Esther. The time of prayer and study was wonderful. There's something special about the way women come together to worship God.

We were also entertained by the 3 babies of 3 mothers that came, 1 one of whom found a deep fascination with bird watching over our balcony (a budding David Belamy maybe?!)

Sunday School Picnic
On Friday we went on the annual Sunday School picnic to a place called Savar, about 1.5 hours outside of Dhaka, which is home to the national war memorial commemorating the 1971 Liberation War. The 3 main Sunday Schools all got together for a time of games, singing and bible study in the grounds of the war memorial park, followed by some lunch on a shady bit of grass, which consisted of a cardboard box filled with rice, some chicken and a hard boiled egg.

All the kids had a fantastic time, particularly playing the games and they were still full of enthusiasm during Sunday School on Saturday evening - in fact it was the first thing they all talked to me about. There were about 30 kids in total together with a few of their Sunday School teachers.

The actual was quite interesting in itself. There were a lot of people working there, including young children, who probably lived in the park or the local streets. They worked picking up litter, climbing the trees to get peanuts, which they then cracked open and sold, or sweeping leaves from the ground. Word seemed to get round pretty quickly that we were there, so before we knew it a large group of these kids were surrounding our game of Duck Duck Goose as they took eager delight in watching what we were doing.

Work
For the anti-trafficking work, the majority of Nic's time has been spent in putting together materials for Start Freedom, which is an initiative being run by STOP THE TRAFFIK to engage school children on the issue of trafficking. We are running this project in as many English Medium Schools as possible in Bangladesh.

Nic has also been spending time working on the aftercare for the survivor we mentioned in the last blog. It's so encouraging to see how keen she is to develop and progress her life. She's really focusing on the future and doesn't seem to be too help back by the experiences she's encountered through being trafficked. Actually, she was one of the more fortunate trafficking victims, as she was rescued before being sold to a brothel but that's not to detract from the severity of the trafficking process; it simply means that she hasn't got the added trauma of being sexually exploited. Anyway, she is due to be attending work experience in a local clinic to see whether she would be interested in doing a training course to become a medical assistant and we are also trying to arrange some work experience for her at a beauty parlour, where she can be trained to be a beautician.

Andy's been taking over the project management of our bamboo manufacturing and has been doing some project development work using our 'bamboo frame' concept. He is now also working on some graphics work and maintaining a link with two Oasis academies in the UK.

Personal
Well we still have our 2 lovely house guests staying with us, who are lots of fun to have round, especially when they emerge from their room first thing in the morning - we now remember what it's like being a teenager (ha ha). One of the girls' dad stayed with us for a few day to see what his daughter was up to and to spend time with her seeing the sights, which was really special.

We have arranged for our house helper to have some more cooking training from a lady at church. Last week she cooked roast chicken with Veg and Nan bread - yum! She is a very keen learner and the lady from church is a great teacher. The biggest challenge for our house helper is remembering the recipes when she is completely illiterate but nothing a bit of practice won't sort out.

Last Saturday we went to a craft fair at the local mission school, which was great because there were lots of amazing projects there displaying the items that the people they are supporting had made. Most of the stalls were fair trade and there were lots of Christmassy things on display (so two big thumbs up for me). We find it really worthwhile supporting these types of projects because it's a way of keeping people away from begging on the streets and they're actually doing meaningful, sustainable jobs, which give them ongoing training and support and mean they have an opportunity for a fulfilling life. A lot of the projects are working with destitute women, or people formerly on the streets, or the most marginalised in society...so much need but what a great way of addressing it. It's so comforting to know exactly where your money's going and who it's benefiting!

Anyway, think that's about all our news.

Hope you all have (have had) a great bonfire night. We'd love to hear of your bonfire antics if you fancy dropping us an email, as long as you promise not to gloat too much about how many hot dogs and toasted marshmallows you ate.

Lots of love as always

Nic and Andy x

P.S. PHOTOS HAVE BEEN UPDATED - even added comments because we were feeling so guilty!

Read more...

Welcome Home

Hi all

It's been an exciting couple of weeks on all fronts (and in no particular order):

1. It was Nic's birthday last weekend, so we had a fantastic party on the roof of our building;

2. We made a big breakthrough with our product - with our first one being sold and used and 2 big orders being made.

3. One of our trafficking survivors returned to Bangladesh.

Time for some elaboration

Birthday
On Saturday was Nic's birthday, so we had a party to celebrate that and also to celebrate the arrival of some new members of our team and as a belated housewarming.It was very exciting - all of the Oasis staff attended and Andy had arranged to use the roof on our apartment block and he had also arranged to have it decorated with lots of lovely fairy lights - very beautiful.

What came as a surprise (to both of us) was when one of our colleagues turned up with 4 of his mates, who then turned out to be a Hindi dance troop. Towards the end of the evening they started performing some Hindi dancing to us all, which obviously we had to join in with!

Product
So a big week for our product. Not only has our first one been sold and used in the UK but we also secured 2 big contracts in Europe and Australia - WAHOO! So, whilst being extremely happy to have these new orders coming through, we're currently wondering about how on earth we're going to meet them. However, looking at the way in which God enabled us to overcome the mountain of our first production run, we have absolute confidence that He will enable us to conquer this mountain. It's amazing to think that 12 months ago we had no idea what product we would be producing, no factory to produce it in, no workforce and no supplier. Now we have 3 suppliers, a factory, a product, customers and most importantly people employed who desperately need the jobs! Clearly, God's hand has been with us and continues to go with us in the work Oasis is doing.

Survivor
On Wednesday Nic took a trip to the south of the country to meet one of the survivors we have helped repatriate from India (for the purpose of this blog we will refer to her as Rahima).

This is quite an amazing story and another one where it couldn't have come about without God's divine intervention.

Rahima was trafficked from her village in June with her friend by a local policeman. she was sold to another trafficker in India, who took her to Mumbai. On his way to taking her to a brothel to be sold she escaped and managed to contact an organisation in Bangladesh that we work with. They contacted us and we alerted our team in Mumbai. They then worked with a partner organisation to rescue Rahima. Thankfully they managed to rescue her and take her to Oasis' half way home in Mumbai.

Rahima was then transferred to Kolkata whilst awaiting the official documentation from the government that allows her to return home. Normally it takes 6 - 12 months for the paperwork to be processed by the 2 governments but in this case it came through in a matter of weeks; totally amazing!

So, on Wednesday 7th October we received a phone call to say that Rahima's travel documentation had come through and she would be returning to Bangladesh the following day.

She travelled by bus from Kolkata to the Bangladesh border. She was met by our partner organisation and after filling in some official documentation at the police station she was taken to a shelter home in the area that she comes from.

On Wednesday Nic and a couple of colleagues met with her and the shelter home team to discuss her aftercare and options for the future.

She is quite a remarkable young lady - very well adjusted, with a good education, a wonderfully caring heart and a real ambition to get a good career that would bring honour to her family as well as to complete her education. She is very motivated to achieve and grow and to live a life of independence. Unfortunately she doesn't seem to have any idea about how talented she is and how much potential she has. In fact all she aspires to at the moment is to be a hospital domestic assistant but from meeting her it seems she is capable of so much more.

Before she was trafficked she was living in a village with her family, who could barely afford to feed the four children. She had been married but her husband left her and is living in the same village with his new wife and children. There is a lot of hurt surrounding the separation from her husband and it was very sad to hear her talking about it.

Our prayer for Rahima is that she would be encouraged to dream big dreams and that she would receive the support she needs to achieve some of those dreams. We also pray that God would heal the hurt she feels at the breakdown of her marriage and that this situation would create an opportunity for a new life filled with blessings and hope.

In terms of our other activities over the past couple of weeks, we've spent time with the young people at church helping them to arrange their youth "camp" (retreat) for the end of November. They're all extremely excited about the prospect of spending time away in the presence of God and loving friends and also for the opportunity to see a part of the country that many of them will not have seen before.

We have also been on a youth group trip to the park today, which was really fun. Andy led a short study and there was the obligatory games that had to be played (what youth group would be complete without a few games?!)

Tomorrow the women from church are coming round to spend the morning together with some worship, some bible study and hopefully a good deal of fellowship. Nic's very much looking forward to it and is hoping that positive relationships will be forged and that there will be enough cake to go round :-)

So, that pretty much sums up the highlights from the last couple of weeks. We still have the two girls from the UK staying with us, who are working with Oasis, which is lovely. They've started to get more settled now and are just about getting to grips with the transport and using their Bangla. In addition, we have started to perfect the art of cramming 5 passengers in a small taxi (parents if you're reading this look away now......................)

Which basically involves the two girls in the back with Andy. Nic then sits on Andy's knee with her head out the window, apparently there are certain similarities to a Labrador! The locals think it's hilarious and just when we thought we couldn't attract any more attention than we already do simply by being foreigners!

Anyhow, I'm pleased to say we don't have to travel in that manner too often.

Just to end the posting, we wanted to share one last thought with you. Today at church we were thinking about how big and amazing our God is and we reflected on Job 38 v 4 - 7 "Where were you when I laid the earth's foundations? Tell me if you understand. Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it? On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone - while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?"

As all the events described above have unfolded we've really had a sense of how awesome and amazing God is - so awesome that He would pick 35 people out of abject poverty and provide lasting jobs for them, so awesome that He would intervene to prevent a beautiful young woman from being sold to a brothel and that's only a drop in the ocean (so to speak).

May we all feel the presence of this awesome God as we go about our lives these coming days.

Andy and Nic x

Read more...

Finishing off.........

Hi everyone,

Its been another busy 2 weeks in Bangladesh and we can't believe we've been here for a month already!

It's two weeks so let me update you all a week at a time:
Week 1)
This was mainly taking up by Bible Camp. We had a great time with lots of study and praise and worship. Most of the church here managed to attend the 5 day event. We were all bussed out of town on the Sunday evening and were taken to conference centre about an hour out of Dhaka.

It was a nice place close to the first city of Bangladesh and, as always, nice to be out of the hustle and bustle of Dhaka city. We had a full five days of study, worship, eating and good fellowship with everyone. The church was joined by a some field workers from Australia including Ron Hicks who originally set up the church when he came here with the world bank 10 years ago. Unfortunately we had to leave a day early because we needed to be back at work on the Thursday.

On Friday Andy led the class at Banani and we said goodbye to Ken, a long term field worker from Canada who has had to leave his wife and 8 month year old baby and return to Canada for work. He'll be coming back in the New year to pick up his family and take them to Canada.

Week 2)
Last week we had a slow start with one day at the office and then a day off for the Hindu Holiday of Durga Pooja. This gave Nicola and I some time to sort a few jobs at the house including getting a cheap dinning table. On Monday night we had some people over from church for a meal (on our new table) and had chance to give some feedback on the products they had given us to take back to the UK. It was good to spend time with them and organise how we can take their ideas for their business further.

After they had left Andy packed his bag and headed up to Nilphamari on the overnight bus with his boss. He was due to stay for one day and catch the train home but due to the end of both the Muslim and Hindu holiday all the tickets were booked. So Andy was stranded up at the factory for another day!

This gave plenty of time to oversee the packaging of products ready to ship in our container and also plan for production over the next few weeks and months. The following day Andy and boss got the last two tickets on a squashed non-ac bus back to Dhaka. The seats were right at the back with no leg room for two big guys and we were bounced around for 7 hours all the way back to Dhaka! We even had to stop at a rest stop for 40 mins whilst they jacked up the bus and hit the wheel with a metal pole whilst we were all sitting on board!!

Meanwhile, back in Dhaka, Nicola was runnign here and there busy organising things for two short term Oasis workers who are staying at our home for the next month. Getting beds, sheets, extra cups and bowls, setting up internet and welcome packs, and schedules.... all bus busy stuff.

So by the time Andy got back on Thursday morning we were both feeling exhausted!! But, no rest for the wicked, we got up early friday morning to meet our new guests at the airport at 4.15am! They're in Bangladesh for 2 months and will be mainly working on Stop the Traffik and in the community school.

So far so good, both girls are lovely and seem to be enjoying life in this crazy town!! Hopefully this we'll manage to get some time in the office to get organised with all the work that's piling up for us both.

So one month in, and we're both loving every minute! We're still happy to have visitors so if anyone wants to come and share some of the experience then please let us know!

God Bless,
Andy and Nic

Read more...

Its Quality mate!!

Hi everyone, Hope you are all well...

We've been having a usual busy time of it, but enjoying every moment!

It's been two weeks since our last posting and quite a bit has happened. Firstly, we managed to secure a brand new flat in the an ideal location, close to where we used to live. We've also managed to move into the flat as well which is even more remarkable considering that its been coming to the end of Ramadam and Eid (which is a big celebration in the Muslim calendar) starts tomorrow.

This means everyone is busy preparing, buying presents etc (Kind of like Christmas back home is!). Also means the cost of everything goes up too!

But we're in and feel a little settled but in the need of some furniture so we can eat a meal at a table!

Nicola has been slowly catching up with the Stop the Traffik work by having a few meetings and solidly replying to emails.

The last working week we spent up in Nilphamari at our new Coffin factory. Andy volunteered to go up there to help with some quality checking as production comes to a close. Nicola also went up and we both basically ended up working 9hr days in the factory checking quality and making suitable alterations. Rest assured (no pun intended) that no serious work was needed just some touching up on the details!

Nicola returned back to work in Dhaka on Thurs leaving Andy up at the Factory until Fri morning. This meant a 13 hour working day at the factory for Andy on the Thurs!!

But spending time up there was really amazing as we got to know some of the workers better, building up some good relations and starting to understand how a secure job can make a world of difference to the lives of some of these people. One truly amazing story came out when one of the workers told of how she was abused at home by her husband but was so happy to be earning her own income and described work as a place of refuge for her in an otherwise despairing life.

The past weekend has been spent working on some Delph talks and Sunday school lessons as we leave for Bible Camp today (20th). We're heading an hour out of Dhaka with all the Bro's and Sis's for a 4 day residential.

We also managed to get to the Mirpur church last night where Andy spoke on Luke 11. It was great to see everyone again and to discover that they're growing together in size love and fellowship... most of the usual crowd were there and everyone was really pleased to see us.

We'll fill you in on details of the bible camp when we get back. Love to all!
Andy and Nic x

Read more...

We're Back

Greetings, once again, from Dhaka.

As you can tell we’ve arrived safely back in Bangladesh. We landed on Monday 31st August on a very crowded Emirates flight from Dubai; crammed full of Bangladeshi men returning from the United Emirates. The volume of people wouldn’t have been so bad if those people hadn’t been accompanied by bags and bags of duty free; so much so that they had to start piling it in the hold and when that was full people had to put it under their seats, on their knees and in the aisles!

After we arrived in Dhaka we went to a colleague’s house to freshen up and then went off to the Oasis Bangladesh annual staff conference in Savar, about 1.5 hours north of Dhaka.

The staff conference lasted 3 days and was great for catching up on what we’d missed and for getting to know our colleagues a bit better. It was also very inspirational and motivating.

Over the course of the conference we did some leadership training, thought about our aspirations and hopes and learnt what was going on in all the different Oasis Bangladesh projects.

Highlight
Riding on some rickety old waltzers at the amusement park with our Bangladeshi colleagues, who were laughing uncontrollably the whole time.
Memorable Quote:
“It is great to have your life used for something bigger than yourself”
Memorable Verse:
(When God called Moses and Moses felt overwhelmed by the task to which he was being called) “[The Lord said to Moses] What is that in your hand?”

After getting back late on Wednesday night we then moved into our friends’ vacant flat for a temporary stay whilst we look for a new place to live. So, on Thursday morning we commenced our search around the area where we used to live. Despite searching for over 6 hours there was very little to choose from. Eventually we’ve got it down to 2, which we’re now choosing between, so watch this space.

On Friday we went to the Bagha club to catch up on some emails and then to church for lunch and memorial service (sermon + communion). It was great to catch up with everyone again and to meet some new faces and it was wonderful to be so warmly welcomed.

It seems that a common question is what the weather’s like here, so to summarise: it’s still monsoon season but we’re coming to the end of it. When we arrived the ground seemed pretty water logged but nowhere near as bad as we were expecting. It’s rained on and off since we arrived, which has been lovely for cooling the air down (although the humidity very quickly kicks in when the sun comes out).

It’s also Ramadan here, so the majority of the population are fasting during the day and then they break their fast at around 7.20. That means they aren’t allowed to consume anything – not even water – during daylight hours. It’s amazing to see the peoples’ devotion to this religious practice, particularly when they have to work so hard in such difficult conditions.

So, almost a week in and it feels like we’ve never been away; the Bangla we spoke (limited as it is) has pretty much all come back; the roads are still as decrepit as ever and the people are still as lovely as ever. We have been amazed by how excited we were about coming back and how warmly welcomed we were by everyone here – our work colleagues and church community alike. It truly feels like God has blessed us in bringing us back and we are praying that this blessing may continue.

Just before we sign off - a huge thanks to all have supported us and continue to support us in coming back; whether it be financially, prayerfully or emotionally - it has made the transition, once again, very manageable.

Love Nic and Andy

Read more...