Woke early with the Bud👶🏼 so ended up just getting my shower and staying up for the day
Sat on the front porch with him and Annslie and WhatsApped with my little brother’s family. We’ve had some hot, muggy mornings but this one was just lovely temps, a gentle breeze, and the birds singing😌
Lonnie needed to be in Khulna for 10:00 doing house shopping with our Southern Baptist friends. One of Lonnie’s acquaintances at the bank had a house to show Lamars.
This day was packed to the brim! One of those days when the 4:00 service comes around and one wonders, can I actually do this? But, we push forward thru the rest of the evening.
Christina’s turn to make breakfast. Baked oatmeal and sausage patties. I fixed the table up a bit with table cloth, bamboo(paper)plates and bowls, fun paper juice cups, printed napkins, and made a bouquet with our hot pink bougainvilleas.
And off to the 1st S.S.
The 2nd S.S. At Chakrakhali. Was a planned Picnic. Something they’ve been wanting to do for awhile and got the details nailed last Fri. Told us we didn’t need to bring pictures to color since they were expecting 50 children. It was 100 Taka to attend. We don’t really know why the entry fee unless it was to keep the numbers down. But Dipti was asking me about the Picnic yesterday saying her younger son, Turjo, would like to attend, but it was 100 Taka! (we did give her Taka for the occasion which got a Very Happy reception!)
On the ride over, we found out about Christina’s ear ache she’s been having so we stopped at a pharmacy dokan only to find out it was for animals. Lonnie dropped us off at S.S. and he and Kobid took Christina to a couple more pharmacy dokans to get something for her ailment. Ear infection was confirmed and they gave her a bagful… antibiotic, ear drops, vitamin C tablets😅 etc,..
Meanwhile at the Picnic, the lady of the house, (Kobid calls her Body which is a general term for Brother’s sister. Btw, actual names here are incredibly hard to learn! Ladies for sure, seem to be rarely called by their given name. Didi, Sister, Khaki (aunt), Bodi, etc. !! so when I ask Kobid what their actual name is, he pretty much never knows.. I did ask her what her name was then but I cannot remember it🤦🏼♀️ so I’ll just call her Bodi for this entry. People don’t know or ask what my name is either. Oh yes, meanwhile at the Picnic, Bodi asks if I would like to put on one of her saris 🥻? I agreed, so we went in to her bedroom and she proceeded to outfit me in an ankle length black thin cotton skirt, skin tight cotton bodice that buttoned up the front with small shirt buttons. And then with the L o n g piece of cotton fabric with a black and yellow small print check design she began the meticulous wrapping process. At the waist were precise folds and a safety pin, then up over the left shoulder with a safety pin holding the final folded fabric in place on the shoulder. She told me to keep the sari. Back out to the front yard, the vet who was waiting for Lonnie to get there( Lonnie always holds their dog for them while medicines or vaccines are given as the man of the house is afraid to) this vet knows some English, and probably just like us trying to speak Bangla, it can be entertaining how the words are used! His comment when I came out wearing a sari, “Exactly! Exactly!” They love to see us white folks in their traditional dress. When Miss Christina got there she agreed to be outfitted in a sari also 🥻. The one pulled out for her was stiffer, shinier and hot pink🤩
The lunch was to be at 1:00 Some of the older S.S. boys had a fire going and were starting with food prep.. I stirred the pot of boiling eggs for Dudjoy (18 yrs old that was doing most of the cooking and overseeing) and then went into the kitchen and helped King Kor and one of his friends peel eggs and cut up potatoes and cucumbers. I’d told somebody that it was Jaira’s birthday so Bodi promptly starts mixing up a cake!🤦🏼♀️
Several games were played.. the 1st one was throwing a cricket ball into a bucket.. the preschoolers started, then middle school, then the teenagers. Dudjoy took a break from cooking and was the one standing by the bucket returning the ball to Taritro(13 yrs old) who was overseeing the line. The successful ones all got a prize 🏆
Then there was Breaking the clay pot with a stick, blind folded. Which, was quite entertaining as the one wielding the stick would sometimes march straight to the people on the sidelines, the people screaming and scrambling away, as someone would guide the batter back into the arena. They would also quietly move the pot after the blind fold was on! Bodi, all sudden passed the phone to me as she needed to go, so there I stood videoing the game..
The day was warming up, the loudspeakers were blaring music… Lonnie would go turn the volume down or switch songs every once awhile🫣 Gentry fell asleep sweating away in his stroller parked directly in front of the loudspeaker (I’m not sure why that’s where he got parked, hopefully his hearing isn’t damaged)
The humongous pot of curry is cooking. Lonnie helped stir with a l o n g handled paddle, Very Carefully, as it was full to the brim! One of the ladies was standing there ready to push the pcs of chicken back in whenever they got close to the edge, but Lonnie said she quit reaching when the pcs never went over the edge😉. It was also incredible to watch one of the ladies taking the flat, metal lid, no handle, that fit perfectly over the kettle, off of the boiling pot of curry, Barehanded!! And then there was not a good place to set it right away!
Bodi brought out the cake (no frosting) and it was time to celebrate Jaira’s birthday. Everybody gathered around, 🎶 happy birthday 🎶, and then it was time for the ceremonial cake cutting. Jaira was not impressed about being there center of attention, and expected to perform the not familiar Bangali tradition of cake cutting and feeding. She grudgingly obliged.. Bodi gifted her with a very glitzy hair clip..
Time for musical chairs for the ladies..
By this time, 1:00 has come and gone! We are still waiting for lunch! Lonnie finally told them, the latest we can stay is 3:30, to get to our church service in time. It was probably 3:30 tho when they finally seated everybody. Us white folks and Kobid at a table with chairs and the other 50 or so people on a huge tarp on the ground. Oh and by the way, the chicken curry had the whole chicken in it, Jaira was pretty sure everything but the feathers. Thankfully they didn’t put a chicken foot on our plates!
I went inside to the bedroom to take care of Gentry, There was a small group of girls on the bed playing something on a phone. Bodi came in with a tremendous headache to lay on the bed. One of the other ladies came in and fed her a plate of food. Just like they would feed their small children… mushed the curry or lentils into the rice, formed it into a nice sized ball and pushed it into Bodi’s mouth with her thumb.
Nee-tie hurried us home. No time for showers but Lonnie did change into his Punjabi (long traditional shirt for special occasions) per Kobid’s encouragement since I was wearing a sari. And off to church. We were a bit late. And they were singing the 1st song already when we walked in. Annslie slept thru the service!!!(since she’d missed her nap) Probably the 1st time since she was an infant! (She’s still a handful during church😏.)
After church, we invited everybody in for cake and icecream yet
And then, Finally, there was a chance to shower! Bliss.. and change out of the yards of fabric sari!
Some days there’s just too big of a pile up of things that aren’t “right”. Lonnie remembered what one of his friends back home said once…”1-2 household appliances out of order/needing attention, I can handle. But, when it’s 3! needing my attention… it’s too much.”
This morning, 2 of the Things glaring us in the face were the fuel shortage in the country and being able to get away from the house in our van, due to the new bridge project’s detour continually sloughing off into the deep ravine making the road too narrow to be passible by gari(car). Our current route away from the house with the van is thru the village which adds 20-30 min and is barely passable with the path being very narrow and one never knows what and when will be oncoming traffic. Plus, once the rains start, going thru the village will no longer be an option. In the past, we have parked our van on the other side of the new bridge project, but with the country wide fuel shortage that doesn’t seem wise.. considering fuel siphoning being a possible too great of temptation..
It was decided to go on a fuel hunt today.. we checked our normal gas station, “next fuel shipment, Sunday afternoon.”
We met Kobid Bhay(Brother) at New Mkt. Stopped at the bank to check on progress of legal work for Christina’s visa and went to check another gas station for fuel. I don’t remember if it was this one or the next station, Kobid had a discussion with the station personnel and got back in with 2 more stations that were recommended. We pulled up to the next station, no line. Experience says, that’s not a promising sign. But when asked if he had octane he gives the common side head jerk meaning, Yes!!!👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 Can you give us a full tank? Another head jerk.“anytime you need, come”🤗🤗 Whew! What a sigh of relief! A stressor relieved🤍🤍Kobid says the station owner is a very wealthy man, etc,etc..
I forgot to write about our 1st native birthday party that we were privileged to attend!
The home where we have our 2nd Sunday School in Chakrakhali. Their one and only son, Taritro, turned 13 yrs old and we were invited for supper and the evening.
Culture here, begins with dessert. 2 round layer cakes today. One was white confetti made by his mom with a big T drawn in the frosting on the top and the other was a chocolate layer cake made and decorated professionally by a friend.
Oh, and to put you into the setting.. we walk in from the road on a brick footpath shaded by jungly growth on both sides, we sit on hard plastic chairs in a dirt yard swept clean, in front of their concrete home.
🎨 Also the young people have colorful paint all over their skin as today is also the Hindu celebration of the goddess of color
So, we gather around the small cake table for pictures and 🎶 Happy Birthday 🎶 and then the traditional cake cutting. The birthday boy with maybe his mom guiding his hand to cut a small pc of cake. They feed each other pcs. of cake and maybe a close friend or 2. Then everybody gets a small pc of cake.
Then supper is served on flimsy plastic plates… rice, dhal, and curry.
After supper a musical instrument combo.. small tabletop piano with accordion on the back (I s’pose there’s a specific name for the instrument, maybe I’ll learn it yet.. ) and tabletop drums were bought out. Taritro’s mom is a music teacher so one of the guests this evening was a 7 yr old student of hers. She played and sang a song for us and one of the little boys also played and sang one. They asked us if we had a song to contribute. We quickly pulled one up on our phones and commenced to sing but about the same time a gathering next door was really cranking up and what they had going on drowned ours out… so much so that we could hardly visit.. I kept hearing the word “America” so I asked Kobid what was going on!? He explained the neighboring gathering being one that all religions come together. There was a women expounding.. and that was the 1st we heard of Trump being associated with the overthrowing of Iran’s leader…
Taritro and his friends were busy preparing for a kebab BBQ. They were putting the 1st skewers of chicken over the fire at 10:00 so no we would not stay.. besides they’d already served us supper..
Sat eve Lonnie was not feeling well and spent the night with a flu bug
Jaira got a touch of it also
Our washing machine has been giving us fits! We babysit it All day to get one load washed!
After trying different things and many trips up the stairs to get it going after throwing a code again..
Thurs. Mar. 5 Lonnie went into Khulna City and bought a new washing machine. He found one, same make as what we’ve been using but 12 kg capacity instead of 10 kg.. that sounded great to me!
Fri. Mar. 6 stayed home from S.S.’s with Gentry. He has come down with a terrible junky cough again and just seemed pretty miserable… not sleeping well at night..
After 4:00 service Kobid and Shomid came in for snack and Carrom.
Sat. Mar. 7 Tulshi wondered if the car was full of fuel. Said people are not being able to find fuel..
So on our trip into Khulna we stopped at the gas station 1st, expecting to get in a long line if what Tulshi said was true.. no line, no Octane!😳 We had just under 1/2 a tank, so went grocery shopping, stocking up extra so we could go a little longer before coming into town for supplies again!
Talking with the missionaries from Dhaka and Gopalgonj…fuel shortage and rationing there also.
Wed. Mar. 11 Lonnie had eye camp in Koyra, 3 hrs south near the Shundorbans.
Stayed home from S.S.’s with Maddie, as she wasn’t feeling well..
Cajun Chicken Pasta lunch
After our 4:00 church service, Kobid Brother came in and started playing a game of Carrom until inspiration hit to go look up Louis’s who haven’t been showing up recently. Kobid gave them a call and yes, that would be fine.. and thus commenced another very Bangali experience..
Louis’s live in Khulna City in a Catholic community… Louis, his daughter Lisa, and 1 of Lisa’s friends, met us out by the street where we parked and led us down the alley to their home.. a low income, 3rd world situation, and quite hard to explain. A concrete housing community and when we walked thru Louis’s gate
the 1st thing was his easy bike(his occupation as a driver) parked
and then right there was a hand pump for their well water,
And then their shared kitchen. There was even a table there with one end against the wall and a bench along another wall from the corner. Right in the middle there somewhere you could look up and see the stars in the night sky but roof covering most of the area… the “kitchen”… very small, very scarce supplies, dirt floor, a double mud oven(so she can cook her rice and curry at the same time👍🏼) btw, she says she made the mud ovens herself☺️. There was a counter top gas 2 burner but fuel is expensive… Purnima sat on a low stool and was busy cooking.. Bangla noodles, chips ..she had dried potato slices in the sun and now she was deep frying them for homemade chips which she served with her homemade salsa.. This lady loves to preserve food and she pulled many different delicacies out for us…dried mango bars that she’d mashed mango spread it out in the the sun to dry…We could still see the print of the basket on one side😉.. and then she cut it into strips.. another was her “specialty” pickled crab apple with chili for a strong sour/spicy experience with a tough stringy/mushy texture that’s just too much for these Americans🤦🏼♀️ one of those instances where we really compliment on the more palette pleasing dishes!.. and then she asks point blank if we like the pickle and here have some pickle and we try to politely tell her that we really enjoy her strawberry infused prune dish and point out how Annslie is Really enjoying those mango bars, and your chips and salsa are Quite fine!🙃
“Coffee” was served, single serve packages of instant coffee/creamer/sugar that you add to hot water. “Coffee” is considered uptown, but Lonnie always chooses hot tea if it’s an option😉
So, I mentioned, there was a table but that is not where you serve guests..?.. and to continue the tour of their abode…
There were several rooms off of this kitchen and down a little hall where there was a wash room at the end. Each of these rooms is a home.. Louis’s married daughter Rosy and husband + 1yr old claim one room(They were away this evening).. We congregated in Louis’s room which is unlike most, in that it has a couple pcs of furniture as he is also a carpenter and built the living room set at the mission house also. Which makes me wonder, where he does that? And is that a thing of the past? Anyway, the girls all sat on their bed. Their fridge was in there also, which is a common place for such here. The other rooms are a bit shared also, as in, Rosy’s room is where Purnima’s treadle sewing machine is (she sews her and Lisa’s clothes/kameeze sets) and another room that a “brother” claims, is where Lisa would pull toys out of. Purnima(Louis’s wife) is also very talented in making quite designed rugs and quilts. She showed us several. One had an elephant design😊
The chickens were put in for the night already and what a surprise! They were right inside in a lower cabinet that made up one wall of the kitchen!😅 5 hens and a rooster weren’t making a sound 🐓
After visiting them, we realized what a trek they have to come to church. It was a good 30 min drive and they come by easybike which would take longer..
Fellow missionary Doyle’s birthday so Lonnie helped me put a little extra effort into breakfast… frying the crepes….Whipped cream, fresh strawberries, and fried crumbled sausage.
Worked on getting our bedding and bath towels all thru the wash and hung out, the ice chest loaded and van packed. We had airport UniMart to hit yet to pick up a stockpile of those amazing tortilla chips and big bags of American flavored Lay’s potato chips😋
We ended up at that UniMart during the same time as Doyle’s and had a sandwich lunch with them down at the 2nd Cup/Cinnabon.
Loaded to. the. hilt. we had an uneventful trip back down to Khulna.
Upon arriving back at Feda Palace🏡, Tulshi informed us we had a package waiting to be picked up!!! So, Lonnie went with Tulshi to the P.O. man’s house to receive the package. The P.O. got broke into awhile back, is the way I have it, so he takes the mail to his house here in the village..
Talk about a most amazing feeling!!! We truly felt like it was a miracle box! A birthday box from my mom🤍 and 6 other family and friends💛 Our 1st mail since arriving over a year ago! Very special!!
When mom told me she had sent a box, I had just groaned because I didn’t ever expect to see it and I wanted to So badly!! I had to fight feelings of it wanting to ruin my day because I had no hope about it. We know of one letter that we never saw and a wedding invite that was returned to sender.. But it looks like a box can reach us🫶🏼 AND our friends at Gopalgonj have told us, that we can use their address for anybody wanting to send envelopes!🥰 just put in care of:
Doyle Barkman
Po Box 10
8100 District Gopalgonj,
Gopalgonj, Bangladesh
Their P.O. man knows them well and has been Very Reliable!! They receive birthday and Christmas cards, birth and wedding announcements etc. in 10-14 days!!
Maybe we’ll get there with our P.O. man yet too..?..
Anyway, A Thankyou, from the bottom of our hearts for those that contributed to the box and to Mom. It means so much! As I write this, we have been enjoying Dove and Lindor chocolates for 2 weeks now and one bag got put away to pull out at a later date😉 The little boy has a fun, crackly book to play with, birthday cards and letters from family and friends on the other side of the world grace the top of our bookshelf, etc..
The other men left for the day to do an eye camp. Lonnie stayed home, since it was my birthday, Bless his heart❣️ That was definitely a sacrifice! And I told him he didn’t need to do that!… The big girls stayed at the guesthouse with Krystal and her children and we took the littles with us. Lonnie took me for a pedicure and manicure. 1hr, 3 ladies, less than $10 USD!?!
Stopped back by the house, then struck out for Sha-var, where Rhidoy and Pinky are living currently. Rhidoy is from Khulna, oldest son of our members Shanto and Shotti. Rhidoy needed work, so his mom’s relatives up here found him a job on the outskirts of Dhaka…. quality control at a garment factory. When you see, “made in Bangladesh” on clothing just know, it’s very possible that some poor villager was given hope, by moving to the City and getting a job at a garment factory 🫶🏼. A very nice visit😊 Rhidoy’s are living in a nice apt building, in the country.. definitely nicer than their village home, tile floors/walls, indoor bathroom,.. and it’s the 1st time, as a married couple, they are out from under his father’s roof, kind of hard for the American mind to grasp. And I think they are enjoying it! Rhidoy works nights so he let Pinky have a kitty 🐈⬛ to keep her company. And let me tell you, Pinky is quite the little lady! She got the kitten when it was just a few weeks old and in 2 weeks time she had that kitten potty trained to use the washroom!!?!😅 she had her kitty, his name is Leo, trained better than our 2 yr old🤦🏼♀️ Annslie was just loving playing with Leo till she she got a little much for him and then they put him out in the little enclosed veranda. He started yowling to be let back in so Rhidoy went out and gave him a little pop and he quieted right down! Pinky has added little touches to the 4 walls to make it homey. Even curtains on the windows that maybe Lisa had given Rhidoy before he was married when he’d been helping remodel the Pink City houses in Dhaka.. is how I’m remembering the story. Anyway, Pinky is a very neat and tidy housekeeper.. Rhidoy says when he gets something out she makes sure he puts it back in its proper place😉 She has just a t.i.n.y. little kitchen area with a small sink and a counter top burner, But she cooked us up a very nice afternoon snack! Battered and fried egg plant with a homemade dipping sauce, peyagi (deep fat fried onion patties), and homemade peanut brittle😌 Pinky has made friends of her neighbors there🤍
Something Rhidoy commented on, was how for years he always hoped a missionary would come with a boy his age!… Well now, that he’s married, his dream has finally come true! The Dhaka brother, Brian is about his same age🤩
We went on a little walk yet, meeting up with Rhidoy’s cousin. And then headed back to Pink City later than we were wanting to, getting caught in Iftar traffic (Muslims stopping on the highway to break their fast of the day)
Back at the guesthouse, the girls had supper with Doyle’s. The men were back from a big day at eye camp. Recuperating.. Lonnie said he’d take me and the family out for a “birthday coffee” at North End yet. Spur of the moment, we decided to stop by Brian’s and see if the teachers wanted to go with us. Which of course they did😉 Their crew had already mentioned North End at their supper table, so Brian’s and Chris’s met us there also🥰
Fun little gifts from my Bangladesh family.. a lucky bamboo plant, a jute throw pillow, and a basket💛
Doyle had told Chris’s they could come hang out with us for the day. We decided to go to a park.. https://maps.app.goo.gl/DeqmLWnnp2tcFqCz9?g_st=ic a Very nice, gated park in the City! The children played at the playground, us ladies did a couple laps on the nice walkway around the “lake” and then hit the book store where I found some treasures.📚
Chef’s Table was closed at this hour due to Ramadan so we ended up at Indulge in the UniMart for lunch. This UniMart is the one we buy our meat from. So we “hit 2 birds with one stone”.
To Brian’s for supper and the eve with everybody. And more singing. Chris had put together a collection of fun songs🎶
School for the girls again.
We didn’t get to the immunization clinic at 9:00 so they told us to come back at 2:00. We took Annslie and Gentry to see the pediatrician. Gentry is 4 mo. A very happy baby, starting to grasp his toys and play. My colleagues(like our fellow missionaries are referred to the natives as)are saying he is looking like Annslie now, 14 3/4 lbs, 24.8” long. He also has almost no soft spot like it was with Annslie, but his head is still growing nicely so not to worry yet.. he has just a nice amount of medium brown hair that looks like he’s got a nice haircut although we have not touched his hair with a scissors yet.
We picked up sandwiches from the North End on ground floor to take home for lunch with the girls and Miss Christina. Got Annslie down for her nap and took Gentry for his 2:00 appt.
Doyle’s from Gopalgonj arrived in the City also and moved in with us at the guest house. Their teacher joined Miss Christina and field secretary Chris’s at Brian’s.
Pizza was ordered in, veggies and dip, and Kaylee made a burnt grape salad (YUM😋😋) for supper at the guest house with everybody. 9 children playing, adults visiting and singing
Christina walked over from Brian’s (where she’s staying while we’re in the City)and had school with the girls while Lonnie, the littles, and I went to the dentist where I got some cavities taken care of. This place is higher tech than home with their method of X ray! While sitting right in the dentist chair they use an X-ray system that is just a slim wand with a small screen on the end and buttons on the handle for the Dr. to make it do whatever he needs and then the pictures show up on a screen right in front of the patient! We could choose between Japanese or American compound for the filling and after the work was done he took more X-rays and could show me the finished product, Pretty Cool 😎
After Annslie’s afternoon nap we all went back to Jamuna Park for the eve. Primarily to pick up Jaira’s glasses at 8:00 that we’d ordered yesterday. We had a few hours to shop before the appointed time and started with finding some supper. Which turned into quite a bigger ordeal than we had expected! In the, is it South tower🤔, on 5th floor is a vast array of places to eat. We, just like criminals😅, followed our path of habit. But! Lo, and behold! Our favorite burger joint was under going remodel or was no more to be! Hopefully the former! 🤞🏼🤞🏼 So, we took off in search of something else.. Oh, and I have not mentioned that the Muslim month of Ramadan fasting began earlier this week. They break their daily fast at sundown, So this food floor was a very popular place at this hour😱 They had plates of food ready and waiting on the table for the moment when they could break their fast. After passing up Many places that were doing their best to entice us to their place of business we ended up at… Dominos where we knew what to expect🙃 The family behind our booth shared their dates with us. Dates are customary for breaking the fast of the day with. Our supper time got cut a little shorter when Gentry started fussing and I found out that the bottle and formula hadn’t got along with us! We were in a good place to get what we needed, but it would be a Lot of steps and I could foresee that being done with a hungry yelling baby🤦🏼♀️ I was able to quiet him by carrying him instead of pushing him in the stroller.. we did get a lot of extra steps in Fast, walking across the complex to a different tower and getting to the proper floor and then back across the complex to Wholesale Club where I’d been wanting to try some formula from a brand that I was familiar with versus the Biomil that our CSI program gives to the natives… We got our other favorite Jamuna Park shopping in.. Mr D.I.Y., Kid’s Paradise, and Wholesale Club. And then to pick up Jaira’s glasses… that was fun 🤓 she quickly started pointing out specific things on signs, giggling as she exclaims that she can see the white in daddy’s hair now! And when we walked out to the parking garage, “I have to be careful not to trip, everything’s so sharp now!”
I don’t remember the timeline of everything, but Lonnie ended up ordering a pair of auto-darkening glasses since he hasn’t been able to wear his contact lenses and therefore his sunglasses around home. And Christina ordered her a new pair of glasses also. So we should be set up now😅
Got to Dhaka in time for lunch at Second Cup in the Centrepoint high rise(by the airport). Hit the UniMart there and had a LOVELY surprise!! Tortilla chips available again!!👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 It’s been a year since we’ve had luxury in that form🙃 and Big American sized bags of Lay’s potato chips in Cheddar & Sour cream and Salt &Vinegar flavors🤩🤩🤩. And they also had a diffuser in stock again🤗🤗 I’ve been wishing for one to diffuse essential oils at night when the stuffy noses syndrome makes it rounds
We went ahead and hit one of things that was on the priority list for this trip into Dhaka… glasses for Jaira!🤓 Which we found at Jamuna Park in the shop just past Slash Coffee on the way to Wholesale Club.
On to the the guest house in Pink City 🏡 where we unloaded the van and made nachos😋😋😋
Brian and Lars showed up to say “Hi” and chat a bit.
We made beds, got the classroom set up, and settled in for the week.
Round 11:00 or so, Lonnie went with Brian to get the CSI field secretaries from the airport. dea. Chris and Sondra Koehn NewPlymouth,ID.
After the 2nd S.S. at Chakrakhali was our visiting appt. at the home of our S.S. boy that has spent time in the hosp. recently and has ongoing health issues. Kobid, (translator), older cousin? fellow S.S. boy, and Nee-tie(the rickshaw van driver) all found ourselves just our side of the Chakrakhali rickshaw van station. The mom met us at the road and guided us down the dirt path that sloped down from the road past huts stacked one after another there. We stopped at the doorway of one and stepped in and were instructed to sit on the bed, as is so common here. And quite frankly, there is usually really no other place to sit. Often a plastic chair or 2 can fit yet in the small area that is left, as was the case today. We were served hot tea and rice pudding. As we exited the house into the shared yard and we visited a bit with the neighbors.. one man was there in his wheelchair and we were told the story of how during missionary Travis’s time this man fell from a tree, paralyzing him from the waist? down and Travis had helped him acquire the wheelchair. As we were visiting there a bird landed on our sick S.S. boy’s shoulder. And we were told the story of how this bird has claimed this boy. He just showed up awhile back and has stuck around, he does not like anybody else and will let no one else care for him, hold him, etc. He is a Shalik or Mynah bird in the starling family with that incredible ability to “talk” making him seem like a very smart bird https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myna. And we got to hear him talk while we were there🤗 He clearly said(in Bangla) to the boy’s mom, “Auntie, who are these people?”😅 To us it seems like another touch from God who numbers every hair on our heads, sees the sparrow fall, and reaches down to this only child..that is full of sickness.. from a low income village home.. in the southern part of overpopulated Bangladesh🤍
After lunch Miss Christina and the big girls went with Lonnie to the bank. Miss Christina’s visitor’s visa is up and also the month of grace is just around the corner. In Dhaka, Brian has been working with the legal documents for these teachers but not getting very far… they told him now, “If these girls have a bank account,….” So, thus the trip into town this afternoon.
Shundorban translates to beautiful forest.. it is the largest mangrove forest, just an hour drive + hour boat ride away. https://maps.app.goo.gl/Jitrkvm8xZNwVU5QA?g_st=ic
In Mongla, we met Doyle’s from Gopalgonj, at Hotel Pashur. They were able to show us the learned way of going on this excursion, as it was our 1st time. We ate our packed lunch on the boat ride down. Just a hint of cool on the breezy boat ride.. pretty much perfect weather for the day ☀️
When we arrived, our boat captain took anything we’d brought along, to a secure place, as the monkeys are quite the thieves. We armed ourselves with sticks to keep monkeys at bay but we actually didn’t see so many. A very nice elevated walk, since this area floods, through the jungle. A couple of towers to climb for a bird’s eye view. After a couple hours of walking and getting quite warm, we were back at the dock. Just as we got settled onto our boat. A whole crowd of older school age children finished their Shundorban tour, and quickly gathered on the dock to get pictures of the boat load of white skinned people. It’s quite hard to keep a good attitude in those kind of situations but finally just try to pretend we are royalty instead of rare zoo animals🤦🏼♀️ We ended up taking an extra little excursion down a waterway into the depths of the forest after a guard in uniform with gun in hand plus another just good lookin Bangali😂took up residence on the front of the boat. The guard was on board because not just anybody is actually allowed down that waterway.. and the other Bangali? Ami jani na(I don’t know)
Anyways, this little extra excursion turned out to be about the most exciting part of the day! We saw several crocodiles in their natural habitat and came upon one especially Large one on the bank . The guess was that he was at least 12 feet long! A very ominous creature😳 And What do you know!???!!! They decide this huge croc needs to move and so the boat is headed to the bank! I am sitting on pins and needles feeling like this is a very unwise decision. The bank is bumped and I’m trying to figure out what my options are if the croc decides to come aboard or attacks🤯 The 🐊 slides into the water and swims away from the boat.. Huge sigh of relief!.. We have survived to tell the story! Come to find out the extra Bangali onboard is a nature reporter and has millions of followers! And he was now able to add more exciting video clips🙃
After dropping our extra passengers off at the Shundorban park dock we headed out for mainland. This Pashur River, that is just up from the Bay of Bengal, is quite large and we came past 1 especially massive ocean going vessel🚢 .
Back at Hotel Pashur, we parted ways with our fellow missionaries, after bathroom break and delving into the leftover bars, fruit,… from lunch.
A year ago, we just about missed this day. Traveling over the time zones we had an 8 hour Valentine’s Day spent in the Doha, Qatar airport with Lonnie sleeping as much of that as was possible🙃
Today, I had the breakfast table fixed up with my black orna(like a table runner) and candles 🕯️. Crepes with sausage, homemade marshmallow cream(since whipping cream powder is currently unavailable locally), strawberry pie filling, and syrups.
We went into Khulna and had a nice dinner at the Grand Placid Hotel
… we left American soil behind. We have been thinking much of those last days… they are etched in our memory.
Today, is Worship Day
At the 2nd S.S. in Chakrakhali. Our Sunday school boy that’s been in the hosp. with kidney failure, seizures, etc came with his Mom. He’s feeling better but not great. His mom is So grateful for the monetary help from CSI. she wants us to come to her house after S.S. next Fri.(This boy is an only child..9-10 yrs old? And his parents plan to take him to India for better medical treatment when the government situation settles down… they are a village family.. the dad runs a pan(Bangali form of “chew”/tobacco) dokan.
Tonight the girls and I sat down and cut out pink, white, red, and black heart shapes. We wrote things we love about each person in this household on them. Punched a hole and strung them with jute string from the shelf over the coffee and tea bar.
We stayed at home today to avoid any possible ruckus. The last few days the military has been enforcing a no crowd mandate. Even out in the village here Lonnie went to play Carrom in the evening. The owner of the dokan didn’t even want them to play, but consented. As they were playing tho, all sudden she pulled the cord to the lights and said, “Everybody out!” Coming down the road was a couple rigs full of military men. There is also a no motorcycle ban on but it doesn’t appear to be enforced.?.
Several parties were campaigning and each party has its own symbol for those that are illiterate. One party’s symbol is 🌾 another party’s a black horse, another ⚖️
BMP won the election 🌾
