Dhaka

last night i had the privilege of working at freeset for a while and helped with packing bags. annie got me situated in an area, and it was my job to actually count out the bags and put them in tight plastic bags. i was working alongside a woman who is in her late 50′s but looked much older. she is a woman that has a “boss” type role amongst the others and has been there for many years. she is a great-grandmother. she was a bit cold to me at first, teaching me sternly and precisely how to pack the bags. but then she warmed up to me and we were smiling and laughing with each other. such a beautiful strong woman. it was such an honor to work with these women, that they would let me into their world. such strong, inspiring women.

today we said goodbye to our beautiful friends at freeset, then flew away from Calcutta, India to Dhaka, Bangladesh. it was immediately a different vibe and feeling from india from the moment we got off the plane. the lines to go through customs were very long, but because we are americans we went through a very short line with a red carpet. some of the bangladeshi people were not happy about this and it actually got a little hostile in one of the lines with people shouting when phillip went right in front of them after they had been waiting for so long. he was only doing as he was told, we were all ushered to different lines. men were shouting and yelling and pushing, it was a little bit tense, but the guard was very stern and got furious at them. what a welcome to the country. it was typical confusion at every turn the whole time at the airport, with customs, baggage claim, finding restrooms, changing currency, finding our ride, etc. but we got through it and found alfred, our host while we’re in this country.

we drove an hour to the host home we are in. its very similar to the place we stayed at in calcutta. kind of a mix between a hotel and bed and breakfast. its very nice, and unexpectedly we do have internet access. we just finished dinner with some incredible people from the sbc and were able to talk for quite a long time about southeast asia. in particular there was a man named tim who is very knowledgeable and inspiring, he and his wife have been in this region of the world for a long time. the people we have met on this trip have been unbelievable, truly incredible people!

i feel like just when were getting used to calcutta we left. it was a completely different experience driving from the airport in the beginning than it was driving back to the airport at the end. I guess the culture shock was just so severe at the beginning and i think we got into a bit of a rhythm after a few days – figured out how to use the metro system, knew our way around a bit, made some friends, etc. its strange though when you get used to seeing poverty all around you. there is just so much poverty everywhere, and its so compacted, that you actually start to walk by people sleeping on the literal streets while cars whiz by them, naked filthy kids running around, beggers at every corner, etc and it all seems normal. its hard to explain. you almost have to shake yourself for a second and realize the reality. its is a way of life in that city. we’ve learned so much more that we will share when we have time…

tomorrow we hang with alfred and see an orphanage that he has been running for a long time. honestly i don’t know much more than that. you kind of just roll with things as they come over here.

everyone is healthy, we’re getting along great, things couldn’t be going better. thank you all so much for your prayers. we’ll keep the updates coming…

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