week thirty eight - Bangladesh

okay so we’ve made it, all seven of us. we left Tanzania on sunday around five thirty in the evening and arrived in Bangladesh on monday at eight in the morning. We were met at the airport by an american women who lives here with her husband and we stayed with her for the first few nights. It was a nice smooth entry into a new country. things are similar to Tanzania but the culture is very different. the people are so welcoming and so smiley and instead of shouting out at us they rather flock and stare and giggle with us. we had a bit of an orientation and went shopping to purchase our salw kameez. (the outfits we have to wear here. a long shirt to the knee’s, baggy pants and a scarf) it was fun to go out and shop for “new clothes” but a little overwhelming at the same time!
we also had dinner at one of our girls uncle’s who lives here and it was really refreshing to chat with her family and the friends they invited over.

we left on wednesday for what was supposed to be a six hour ride was actually nine. with honking the ENTIRE way. seems they need to warn people and fellow cars that ‘they are coming so you better move’. our tire also blew but our driver was very quick to fix it and during this minor ‘pit stop’ we met some lovely ladies who were collecting cow poop and drying it in small balls on the concrete slab on the side of the road. very interesting. they seemed pleased to meet us and thought it funny when one of us got scared after talking to the cow and having it moo in our face. we were back on the road and after a long drive and it becoming dark on us we arrived.

where you might ask did we arrive? well we are in the middle of no where... its a small community with a hospital (very small) and a nurses school. there are many nursing students, all of which are VERY excited we are here. they keep stopping by our house i think to see if we’re still here! on friday we were preparing dinner and a small mob of them walked in and all of sudden they had taken over my rolling of chapatis and continuing to laugh at our ‘circle’ chapatis! (they weren’t as round as i suppose they thought they should be? and they kept trying to cut them into rectangles!) we then preceded to have a ‘dance party’ and they actually joined it! quite entertaining!

living in the middle of no where is also a little difficult in finding food. we’re in survival mode here! cooking over a small fire and trying to find veggies to cook has been more difficult then i think we imagined. with no paper or kindling to start the fire and limited matches it makes for a difficult time especially when your tummy’s are grumbling. (i know i made fires all my life but this is no ordinary fire place) so far we’ve eaten a lot of boiled eggs and bread. we found some cucumbers which was nice and the village has apples and oranges! we had quite the difficulty shopping and finding things so we embraced the help of the bangla women and gave them our shopping list and they were able to find some of the items we need!

there are not enough spoons, cups or beds for all of us, so we share spoons or eat with our hands, drink out of our bottles that we’ve filtered our water in and sleep three in one double bed and one on the couch! its an adventure for sure. there are even monkey’s that come to hang out on the wall just outside the house we live in. the other day we counted fourteen monkey’s, including three babies!

electricity is an on and off again game... more off than on but the nice thing is there is solar power so some of the rooms still have lights that work even when the power is out. its mainly the fans that don’t work, which is sad because then its really hot especially in the three person bed! we have running water! praise the Lord!!! which we filter to drink but its fine to wash dishes, clothes and ourselves in. its quite hot and apparently going to get even hotter. theres a well pump outside our house that we often dunk our heads under and them pump it to make the water come! its funny because people at home put these pumps up for decoration in their front yards, here its a reality. the bed is all but a wooden table with a small ‘mattress’. its difficult to lay on your side for a long period of time because your hips will be extremely sore. mosquito's are pretty bad at night but not too bad during the day and we have nets to sleep under so they don’t get to ya in your bed.

we’ve had a bit of a difficult time getting information from our contact here, a british women in her eighties that has been here for sixty years, but friday we were finally able to figure things out! (today is friday as i write this!) and so tomorrow me and naomi head off to another village hospital to stay for the week. the rest of our team will stay here and work in the hospital and two will leave on tuesday for a third village to work in that hospital. we’re not sure what to expect. this area has not had any foreigners since the last BAS that came nearly ten years ago! we’ve been invited and are expected at these other hospitals and hopefully they will give us the experience that we still crave to have in midwifery!

its an adventure for sure, and i find it interesting that after my dts outreach i thought i’d never want to be in this kind of place again, but somehow i’m finding a strength i didn’t know i had and a joy to be here that can only come from God. through sweat, mosquito bites and trying to find my way through a foreign language i will get through this, i know God has brought our team here, and he has some kind of plan for us!

till next time...