Singapore to Boise!

I have had a tremendously wonderful time in both Bangladesh and Singapore.  I think both parts of my trip exceeded my expectations in terms of what I’d bring home.  The last few days I’ve spent time with the Asia Pacific Regional Office.  They’ve been gracious with their time (even when I got stuck and showed up late).  I saw Wicked, visted the Botanical Gardens and Arab Street and shared a few meals with friends.  It is amazing how I can be in a place so far away from home yet find folks that are a part of the Nazarene family.  Pretty cool.

So the 30 hour journey home begins in less than an hour.  

February 2–Singapore

A beginning to rest.  We arrived into Singapore around 4am.  I said my goodbyes to the team and headed to the transit hotel.  I was leaving my checked bag to fend for itself and hoping I’d find it in 6 to 8 hours.  I did!

Heading into the city from the airport via subway was so easy.  The hotel even let me check in early.  Nice!  It is good to be here.  I made contact with the Wards and planned to meet them for dinner.  I went out jogging and was soaked in the rain.  That was fun!  It was worth it.  I needed the exercise badly!

I headed to the area of the city where I’d be meeting up with the Wards.  I came upon the Anglican Church and went in and just sat.  It was lovely.  I’ve experienced and seen so much over the last few weeks and to sit for a time in a sacred place was gift.  I could feel my fatigue and connect with all the emotions going on in me.  I’m not sure what to do with all that I’ve seen and experienced and that is OK.

I joined the Wards for dinner at a Spanish restaurant.  THe food was nothing like what I’ve been eating for 2 weeks and there was no rice.  Oh my~  Tapas is a new favorite dish of mine.  The best part of the evening was the conversation.  We ended the night with Ben and Jerry’s ice-cream.  Ok…I was in heaven.  : )

Bangladesh–February 1, Uttara

Ah….a down day before we head to the airport.  I took a nap before noon and then a second one before 4.  Not much to talk about today besides how nice it was to chill.  We’ve seen and experienced so much and it is good to catch up with myself some.  I look forward to doing the same thing in Singapore!  It may be silly to travel to Singapore to “rest” but hey…I will enjoy being in a new place and I imagine I’ll enjoy being in a more developed place.

Our team did venture out today to get a few last things.  Roger Schmidt, a team member, went through all of our photos and picked out some 200 to have printed for many of the organizations we visited. It will be our gift to them—some photos.  Today was a holiday in Uttara so many shops were closed.  However our driver looked all over to find a photo place that was open.  He really wanted us to be able to get the pictures printed for the kids.

We ended our time in Dhaka with one more gathering with the district leaders.  They presented us with a gift and prayed with us.  We had one more chance to share our thanks and experiences with them.  Debi and Mark even counted to 10 in Bengali and attempted to sing a song we learned. This was a hit. We ate one last meal and then headed to the airport for a 10pm departure.

On the ride to the airport our driver expressed how much he enjoyed being with us this week and that he’d pray for us. I’m sure there were many people that were encouraged by the team coming to Bangladesh and I have a hunch that the one that was most impacted by our coming was Jihangi, our driver.  Pretty cool.

I’m so glad I’m not making the big trek tonight! Maytie is sick…This is not a time to be sick!!

Bangladesh–January 31, Uttura

We joined the Nazarene Office staff for their morning worship.  Tahmina shared a devotional and we had an opportunity to thank everyone.  We met with Nathan Biswas and Martin (Martin oversees the Jesus Film Project) for some debriefing.  This was a gift for us.  It was nice to be able to talk together as a team and with the leaders here about our experience—both the great experiences and the challenges.  We also got to ask some questions.  It was good to hear each of the team members reflect on how they were impacted by our experience.

We met up with our driver Johangi and headed into the city for some shopping.  As we drove out of the “Model Town” area we noticed huge piles of trash on the street.  They spread out garbage on the street to be picked through.  Cows, goats and dogs are there to eat the “food” matter.  Then there people separate the plastics and recycle-able material from other garbage. I didn’t catch if this is a day labor situation or if they are collecting to sell the plastic.  Each evening the huge pile of trash is picked up and it starts all over the next day.  Can you imagine a job of “trash separating”?  And this garbage was right there in the middle of the street in the “Model Town”.

Bangladesh — January 30, Travel Day

Today we made the long trek from Northern Bangladesh to Northern Dhaka where the main Nazarene office and guesthouse is.  It took us 8 hours to travel about 200 miles.   On the bright side it could have been much, much more because once we got to the city the traffic intensified.  (I didn’t realize it could…but it was different…we went from darting cars/trucks/trikes coming at us to joining a “parade” into the city.  Had we started our journey any later (than 6:30am) we could have faced hours more.

Driving here is a profession and after a time in this country I respect it as such.  We’ve come to really appreciate our driver–Johangi.  In fact he has come to be a part of our team. At least we think so.  There is quite a culture of deference here and his inclusion in our meals and activities has been a welcomed stretch for him. It is hard to explain how the driving works here but one may think of it as one big lane with traffic  going both ways including  cars, trucks, bikes, bike trailers, busses, tracters, three wheeled’d taxi’s, bike drawn carriages, and don’t forget people.  We’ve come way to close to busses and trucks moving at high speeds and travening in the opposite direction. I’m grateful to be at the guesthouse. I imagine if I lived here it wouldn’t feel as scary…maybe.   Most times I preferred not to even look out in front of me.  Our driver is truly professional!  New meaning came to the idea of trusting my life in another person’s hands.

We’ve been in the van a ton this past 10 days.  We’ve seen a great deal of the countryside of the North and Northwest. Rice fields are in abundance as are cauliflower fields and mustard fields.  Although this part of Bangladesh is drier overall it seems about anything can grow here.  And then the landscape is specalled with grunge–the brick producing plants.  We’ve see a ton of fields and then in the middle of them a brick making plant.

Today as we drove into the outskirts of Northern Dhaka we saw smoke stack after smoke stack.  For as far as we could see there were brick yards and more brick yards.  The smoke creates a haze in the hair. I felt like we were driving through a set of Batman with all the darkness of Gothom.  There was very little “life” in this area of the city!

We ended our day with a very special treat.  Tahmina has family in Northern Dhaka. In fact they live quite close to  the Nazarene office.  Nathan Biswas and another guy from the office joined our team for dinner at Tahmina’s aunts home.  It was nice to connect with them.

What a beautiful home Tahmina’s family has! And what a contrast to the places we’ve seen on this trip! We were treated to an incredible Bengali meal.  Tahmina’s aunts made us some desserts that we’d not be able to eat on the streets for fear of getting sick.  : ) Her aunt and uncle didn’t sit with us but provided us with dinner at their table.  I’m sure there was something cultural behind this. Her aunt doesn’t feel comfortable with English and we knew her uncle eats really late.  It was nice of them to open up their home for us to have dinner with Nathan!  : )

 

Bangladesh–January 29, Biroal

There was a very fun surprise for me today. We arrived to one of the Child Development Center’s for a service with the kids and another team mission team arrived to join us. I heard my name. Someone yelled out,”Is that Julene Tegerstrand?” I looked to the van and saw Patricia Clark. She was one of my neighbors in Korea. I had heard that a team from KNU International Church would be in the same area as us but I didn’t expect we’d see them nor did I expect that I’d know anyone on that team. This was a special treat to see Pat in Bangladesh. I never could have dreamed of that.
We’ve had more tea this week than I’ve had in years. Yet tea here isn’t just drinking tea. It is also a time to welcome guests and to socialize. Whenever we’ve gone someplace even if just for a short time we are offered both tea and something light to eat. The sense of hospitality is so different here. Sometimes we’ve just eaten a huge meal and then we sit down for tea and snacks and I want to say “No”. But I’ve been reminded that it isn’t about me. It is more about being open to being received–and received in a way that isn’t what I’m familiar with. And there really is something nice about arriving somewhere and then sitting down with refreshment. It has given us all time to catch our breath. It has also helped us connect with those that we are visiting.
After the Children’s program where both the KNU team and the NNU team offered music and then a message for the kids we sat down to tea with Bimol. Bimol overseas the program and his family donated land for the Child Development Center. We heard his story over tea. He is from a tribal area and his family was Hindu. He became a Christian sometime after seeing the Jesus Film. He watched the film and then someone followed up with him a month later. He said that it was at the Jesus Film showing that he met one of the Nazarene Mission who said he’d follow up with Bimol in a month. Bimol and his family came to know Jesus and they’ve been working alongside the Nazarene Mission in their village. He has started churches and is developing children’s programs in his community. It sure was great to hear his story.
We left the CDC and were making way to Pastor Moses’ home for lunch. THe KNU Team remained with the kids. On the way to Moses’ house we made several stops. I must admit I didn’t understand why we needed to make the stops…we had already seen several kinds of places just like the ones we were stopping at. Ok, so I was tired. In the van Tahmina began to explain the significance of our stopping and then it became very clear to me what we were actually doing. I’ve been grateful explanations along the way that have helped me put our action into context. Pastor Moses is the DS for the North District. He had us stop to encourage those that are serving under his ministry. To have foreign guests stop by to visit was a huge deal and showed just how much Moses values those he works with. Of course! So you can imagine I had a slight attitude adjustment. : )
Moses’ wife cooked an awesome meal for us. We even had ice cream. A funny thing occured during dinner. Roger had been served rice and all of the sudden we heard glass breaking. His plate cracked. Funny! (or was it?)
We ended our evening with a Jesus Film showing in a village. The KNU team joined us. The film projector and generator had some issues and I think the Jesus Film team will try showing the film again. It was good to see in person why new equipment is needed! The family that hosted the Jesus film on their land gave us tea. It was a surreal experience to be drinking tea in the “courtyard” of a village home. In fact when we walked in we saw two baby goat. Wow.

Bangladesh–January 28, Nilphamary

Today was especially great, I thought. It was my favorite day by far. We went to an area less than 10 miles from India. It is a part of the north that has the greatest need. We visited several different communities where women are banding together to create income generating projects. Even thought this place has the greatest needs of the places we’ve been I found there to be the greatest sense of hope too.

10 to 20 women in a group pool their money together to create loans and to purchase livestock, land or equipment that will not only support them but create an avenue for savings. The organizational structure and leadership development again is impressive. There are 3 levels of women’s goups. First there are village “coops” then there are area leadership groups. The third level of leadersihp has just been created.The women have pooled money together to build a small one room building. Bangladesh Nazarene Mission has been instrumental in facilitating the development. One of the groups we met with has been in existence for 4 years. They talked about how their lives have been changed because of what they have done together. They began with purchasing goats, then they purchased cows, then land and lately they have purchased a rototiller. They rent out the equipment to others and are making profit. It really is incredible how empowered these women feel. They said that “before” they never could have had the courage to speak to foreigners but they have gained so much confidence in the process.

Bangladesh–January 27, Chatoil

Well it is official. Bangladesh is not somewhere I hope to live. The people we’ve met, especially those who are leaders in our church, have been great. It is the noise, the dirt, and the lack of beauty that I’d have a hard time living with. So I hope God is listening. : )

I think I’m just in awe of the poverty and the lack of development here. It is overwhelming to say the least. We’ve not spent any time in the big city so I have no way of comparing. It just seems like the people here are surviving on so little with so little. The infrastructure here is worse than most places I’ve seen. Wow…this place is tough! It is hard to believe people sustain life here.
We drove to a place that is run by Compassion International and the Church of the Nazarene. It is called a “CDC” which stands for Child Development Center. I’m not entirely clear on what a CDC does but from what I gather the one we visited today provides schooling for kids age 5-18 and then a program for 19-22 year olds. The program in some way looks after the social, spiritual, and physical well being of each person. They provide one balanced meal during the day. Most kids who come arrive at 8am and depart around 5pm.

We arrived and were escorted into their “chapel”. It was a very long room. The students were singing us in. There were long lines of kids looking at us and singing. It was quite a moving experience. In fact I was moved to tears. The contrast of what I’ve been seeing and the beauty of their voices was powerful. We participated in their chapel. One of our members, Debi, gave a children’s sermon. Her husband Mark and then Roger played the role of Samual and Eli, respectively. We all laughed…the kids especially. I think the kids really enjoyed these two white boys making fun of themselves in the story.

After the service we were escorted into the “library” room for tea. It was mid-morning break. I could get used to this! There is a light snack and then tea with milk (and sugar). At tea we got to talk more with Moses who is the district superintendent of the northern district. What an assignment he has! Nine hundred churches…. I asked him when he rests and he said, “Now”. I think he was refering to tea time.

After tea time the children put on a cultural performance for us. At the end they asked us to sing but Tahmina asked if they would teach us one of their songs. We all went up front and the kids taugh us the movement to several of their songs. “Taught” is used liberally here. We basically just watched the kids in front of us do the moves to the various songs and copied them. The kids laughed at us and looked to be having a good time.

We were escorted back to the library room for lunch–rice, dal, califlower, mutton(goat) and chicken. I’m pretty sure the kids just get rice and dal. Having meat is really special here. At lunch we got to hear more from Moses and then some from our driver. Our driver isn’t a Nazarene but is Muslim. He is seeing and learning a lot alongside of us this week. He speaks some English. I am curious what he is thinking. He hasn’t typically joined us for a meal so it was nice to have him with us today.

After lunch we just hung out with the kids. They were much more aggresive than other kids we’ve visited with. They would crowd around one foreigner to stare, try to communicate and listen. There was no sense of “space” and the experience was exhausting! Whenever I tried to get some space they’d follow me and surround me again. I walked out of the CDC grounds to take some pictures of the surrounding mustard fields and the kids followed me like I was the pied piper. When I took out my camera they pushed each other to get in front of it. After 30 minutes of this I was very much ready to go. I think this went on for an hour. There was one boy whose English was better than any other kid. He kept talking to me and then tried to teach me some Bengali phrases. I’m afraid I wasn’t a very good student. This language is so so different.

When we were told to begin making our way to the van it wasn’t soon enough. A relief… We said our goodbyes and began our trek out of the village. Now we were off to see some 18th Century Hindu Temple. At the temple witnessed a “shot gun” wedding.  Ha.  ”No pictures please.”

What a day. The hotel we are staying at has hard beds and we bath with a water pitcher (because the warm water comes only from the sink). The sounds of honking buses and ringing bike bells is constant. There is a regular call to prayer in the evening. Even with all of this it feels really good to be here. I guess I’m more of a comfort creature than I’d like to admit.

Bangladesh–January 26, Birgonj

We went into the interior today…dirt roads…and lots of them. We ventured into several villages where Nazarene Compassionate Ministries is involved in community development. I’m impressed. I wish the church in the states was so holistic in its approach to meeting people’s needs. I guess we do have social services and government programs so the need for church run holistic development isn’t as high a priority…or is it? The work here is genuinely missional. I’ve read about missional church but actually seeing what it might look like (in this context) has been so great for me. The church isn’t just in the business of saving souls. They are genuinely working to save bodies. I think we in the west have so so much to learn from this context.

We visited a “head start” classroom for kids aged 2 to 5. It has only been in existence for 2 months. The metal and wood building was very small but will serve as a church building and community gathering point. There are women “self-help” groups that have formed. We visted 3 of them today. It became quite clear that by self-help they were not meaning what I usually associate the word with–psycho-social issues. They mean groups that gather to help them live and not struggle with malnourishment, chronic illness, etc. Again the whole team was impressed by the organization and integration. Pastor Moses and our Shuvru, who is our team leader, allowed the area coordinator to determine which sights we’d see. They were going crazy when they realized where we were going. I guess no other teams have gone where we went.
These self-help groups essentially co-ops created where women work together to grow their own food. They are pooling their resources together. Some have received micro loans and are creating their own businesses. One lady is working on growing mushrooms. We met a family that has started a store. A man purchased a bike cart and has a moving store. We were even offerend a “puffed rice cake” that a young man is selling. Do we dare try it? Some of us took a bite to be polite. It is hard to know what to do when offerend food in the village.

The highlight of the day came towards the end where a gruop of men performed a play for us. It was an educational play to teach about the importance of eating a well balanced meal, of washing your hands after you clean yourself (poop or pee), of not pooping in the fields, etc. It was quite clever. The play gathered a huge crowd of people–of course the 7 foreigners also helped create the spectacle. This play was another example of the creativity happening here to help address the needs of the people.
Tonight was Richard Gammil’s last evening with us. Tomorrow he will travel back to Dhaka to catch a plane.

Bangladesh–January 25, Birgonj–Jerry Project

As I write this I’m sitting on the balconly of our “hotel” and watching a group of boys playing cricket. There are sounds of honking buses, trucks, trackters and cars. I can hear the clanging of a hammer. I wonder what the people here think of silence. There isn’t much of it. I did notice a time of stillness in the heart of the night. I imagine the further you get from the road the quiteter it gets. We haven’t had that luxury.

We spent today visiting Jerry’s Project. It is a very incredible minstry where “orphans” and “widows” are living together as family. There are some 30 children of different ages living 6 to a household with a house parent. There are 17 acres of land and much of it is being farmed. The project is working towards sustainabilty. This is an extremely exciting ministry. The kids are all in school about 1 kilomenter away from the compound. Their is a Child Development Center in the process of being built. This will eventually serve as a church and as a place where kids from the community can come for school and meals. We spent the day playing with the kids. I taught them “rock, paper, scissors” and “cat and mouse tag”. We played some “copy cat games”. I had the kids cotorting their bodies in some fun positions. : ) The girls played with my hair which meant putting flowers in my hair. They gave me a headband to take home. I sang them songs and they sang me songs. They sat wiht our entire group and tried to teach us all one of their songs. It was a very fun day of just being with the kids.

I’m really enjoying the Bengali food. I am getting pretty tired of rice. I think I’ll be fasting rice upon returning home. That said, I love the spiciness of the food and the curry. And the best part….I can eat with my hands and no one get’s mad or thinks I have a terrible mother. Quite the opposite. When I heat with my hands–and my right hand to be specific–it is looked upon as “trying on the culture”. I’ve learned that there is a “right way”, however, to eating food with your hands. It has nothing to do with how covered your hands get with rice, and dal but more to do with the way in which you use your thumb to gingerly push your food into your mouth. This is better than putting your whole hand in your mouth. Eating rice and dal with one’s hand is a skill. Dal is a soupy lentil dish so it doesn’t “ball” up in your fingers. We tried a “mash” dish today. It was basically mashed potatoes with onions in it. It was shaped into a ball. We added some of this to our rice and it helps one pick up the rice with one’s hands. This was different. : )

After lunch I sat with some of the girls and they marveled at my skin and my hair. They were squeezing my arms. They were laughing. I have a hunch they were commenting about how much “meat” I have on me. : ) I’m glad there wasn’t a translotor to tell me I was the “young fat girl” that they’d like to keep.
We drove about an hour back to the hotel. I noticed that even though I’m seeing such 3rd world like conditions it hasn’t really sunk in. There is a disconnect. It feels very unreal to me. Maybe this a protective mechanism because if I was connected fully to what I was seeing I might be a mess. What an entirely different way of life we are seeing. I have no imaginination of what it might actually be like. Maybe this is why there is a disconnect.