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

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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

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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!

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