Green and Red Tie Event.

Christmas Party and Victory Day in Dhaka! 

A sweet celebration of the season with some special people. 

Just days before I left for home, we enjoyed some time together:  a sharing of family, friends, laughs and the Good Word before dispersing for Christmas.  It was certainly a memorable way for me to conclude my time serving and learning in Dhaka.
  

Here are a few snapshots of the night.

        

     

For a child has been born—for us!
   The gift of a son—for us!
He'll take over the running of the world.

His names will be: 

Amazing Counselor, 

Strong God,

Eternal Father, 

Prince of Wholeness.

                               Isaiah 9:6

Home, and still looking back...

Here. 

Well, I made it, safe and sound back through the borders of the good ole USA!  And after visiting 7 airports within 40 hours, I am also thankful to declare that I made it still in one piece.  I was greeted by a most warming welcome-home team that included Mom, Dad, Cousin Ben, Amy, Ellen, Preben, Noah annnnd, our newest addition, baby Liam! What a way to enter back into a world that hours before seemed so far away...

 

But There..

Wrapping up my time in Dhaka included a smothering of love and goodbye events from dear friends that was at times overwhelming, but treasured. Here are some snapshots of the last month I spent soaking in my experience, and my memories.

Manna, Bitan and Lucky

Here we have a wonderful family that does good things for this world. This fun night, Manna and Bitan enjoyed some delicious Mövenpick icecream at Pizza Inn, the local pizza joint.

Jenny, Rock, Ruth and me

Hosted for dinner by the Mitra family, here you will find us gals and Rock enjoying the time immensely.  Not to mention how much we also enjoyed the food; Mrs. Mitra is one mighty fine Bangladeshi cook!  

Tury, Alpona, Ruth and me

Girls night!  After celebrating Alpona's wedding shower, we continued the fun with your traditional pajama party at my flat.  The evening included late night snacks and sharing, and some girl love and laughter too, of course. :)  (Don't worry, there were more places for them to sleep!)

Jenny and me

Jenny was also present for girls night, but opted out of the bed photo so we snagged one together amongst the girl chatter.  Love her.

Zoe and me

A most precious baby, this is Jenny's niece who I got to visit at her mother's village just outside of Dhaka.  Baby Zoe will be so loved and prayed over that she shall remain in safe hands her entire life.  She lost her daddy before she even came into the world, so please continue to pray for her and her family.  I am so blessed I was able to meet her before I left.

Pishi (Aunt) Jenny and shundori (beautiful) Zoe

Ruth and me
Time with my dearest Ruth, at BNT, a Turkish restaurant in Uttara.

Ruth, Jones and me

Here you will find the world's most dynamic party planning committee, and a dear support group for me while I stayed in Dhaka.  This photo finds us making memories even while simply riding a CNG in the cold weather.

Mary, Steve and me

Here are the best neighbors one could ask for!  They hosted a farewell gathering at their place for me.  I am so thankful for these two!

Smita and me

My beautiful Bangla teacher and beautiful friend, Smita, showed me to the airport to bid farewell, which made things simultaneously easier, and harder.

Thanksgiving in Asia

Although this year didn't include turkey with all the fixin's, it was still full of yummy fall food (consisting of an array of pumpkin desserts) and fellowship. I was glad actually to spend the holiday concentrating on being thankful rather than the food and busyness. Still, I am glad for pumpkin being in Bangladesh!

I tried my hand at a homemade pumpkin pie.

Mary also served an array of pumpkin desserts including pumpkin cheesecake bars and a pumpkin dump cake. Yum!

Seung is ready to do some taste testing.

Steve enlightened us on the historical background of America's turkey holiday. We learned that in one of their first winters, the pilgrims' crop yielded so little that each person had to survive on only five kernels of corn each day. Quite a contrast to the abundance we celebrate now during this time of year.

While we take this time to be thankful for all that we have, may we also be reminded of those who have not...

I thank my God every time I remember you.
Philippians 1:3

Home Front.

My remaining days here are becoming less and less...I am trying to soak in all the moments. Here are some photos of the time I've been passing lately in Dhaka.

Elo Melo. Still a foster mom to two growing kitties...that distract me from my reading!
Let me know if you want one!

The Amazing Race. This TV show hosted an episode in Bangladesh so we gathered to watch and share some good laughs over Americans trying to manage their way around Dhaka.

Shari time. There is just something about them...this dress-up opportunity was for Kuri's gayue halud, an occasion where the bride gets tumeric spread on her and receives blessings from loved ones.

Nasta. Kokhonda, SIL cook had me and Anna over for a morning tea and rice pudding. He has two shundori (beautiful) girls, one shundori boy, and an exceptionally shundori wife!

Wangala 2010. Mridul and his (also shundori) wife and children met Anna and me at this cultural celebration that celebrates the traditional Gairo harvesting festival.

Potluck. I hosted for the month of November where we had "breakfast for dinner" as the theme, played Liarliar (a very fun game), and all cooed over little Emmanuel.

Veranda. It's always quite nice out there.

Eid Khorbani. The Eid where Muslims make an animal sacrifice on behalf of their families and close ones to Allah. It was interesting to experience, and a bit bloody. The sacrifices here in Bangladesh are most commonly cows and goats.

Peaches and cream. That's right, somehow Miss Muriel managed this lovely southern dessert and also provided an excellent movie, "The Clay Bird," illustrating the build up of the war of Bangladeshi independence.

I am indeed being blessed richly with memories I plan to carry with me for a long time...

Kids are universal.

This fact makes me joyful.
Here are five kiddos I met along my way..

This going on now.

Warning:
This is a not-so-easy-to-read post.
But you should read it.

Of course, the longer I stay here in Bangladesh, the more my heart grows for its people, even for the crazy, overcrowded city in which I have been living. Despite its hardships, I am consistently but unexpectedly reminded of hope and beauty amidst poverty and injustice - and for that I am thankful.

Still, it often remains difficult to look beyond the issues that need addressing...

The sexual exploitation of young women and girls in Bangladesh is one of the issues that needs immediate attention.

I recently visited an organization called Children's Uplift Programme (CUP), an NGO that reaches out to pregnant women and young mothers on the streets of Dhaka and gives them a safe place to rest with their children away from the dangers of the streets and the threat of sexual exploitation. Often begging for money and sex are the only options of survival for these uneducated and illiterate girls. Having come from their villages in hopes of a better life, they find a new, and even more tragic nightmare when they arrive in Dhaka. Or even more common, women lassoed into the sex trade have been legally sold into bondage by their own families, many of whom are also in desperate situations. (Prostitution is legal in this conservative country.) I know it is a hard topic to swallow, but I encourage you to give the article below a read, as it is a compelling eye opener to some of the issues specific to the sex trade in Bangladesh. And the video makes it tragically real.

You know how they give cows hormones to plump them up before slaughter?
These girls take those pills..

READ this article.
WATCH this video clip.

Holding onto impossible dreams of a husband that will stay and children that are legitimate, I have wondered what these young women would sing if they had the chance to have a voice... (In this boiling city) there is a song called "Icicles" that keeps popping into my head when trying to put some lyrics to the repeating story of these women and the love they desperately hope to discover in this lifetime.

Icicles
By Patty Griffin

Tonight
I sing soft and low
Just like the moon
Over the snow
I hear icicles falling in the dark

We're just like anyone else
We just want a little bit
Of sun for ourselves
And a little bit of rain
To make it all grow
Maybe a minute or two
To get lost in the glow of love

There's always someone throwing matches around
Waving the shiny new knife
The first to run when the house burns down
I've seen it everyday of my life
I must confess there appears to be
Way more darkness than light
I want to fall like a pearl
To the bottom of the sea
There no one will find us tonight

Tonight
It might look pretty bad
We might lose everything
We thought that we had
But shadows will pass
Smoke, it will clear
If something survives of us around here
I'll be glad 'cause I know
I was lost in the glow
Of love

I pray that one day each woman, child, and man ensnared in the twisted economy of sex might be able to sing that last verse as one dedicated to that of an Eternal Hope. Because when redemption seems too far, Christ is near. The fog of sin that hovers over this earth is at times so disorienting it is hard to know how to find a way out. But, thankfully, there is a God that promises a 'glow of love,' and it will indeed allow each of us to navigate through this thick cloud.
I pray these girls know this.
I will pray until the fog clears.

The Colors of Sylhet.

Last week I had the opportunity to venture up to Sylhet, a northeast region of the country that is surrounded on all sides by India, and its influence. Known for its tea gardens and jungles, the excursion was a much needed breath of air and break from the noise of life in the big city. In addition, the area is filled with a multitude of varying ethnolinguistic groups, and abound with interesting stories and faces to match. My job on this trip was a dream one: photographer. As Anna, a friend of mine, is working on a culture documentation project, I found myself fortunate enough to tag along and peek into the lives of some of the people that are maintaining an extremely difficult but beautiful existence in their villages. I decided to post a spectrum, if you will, of photos of what my eyes feasted on but my lens failed to fully capture during our stay.

Red. A Khasi woman prepares a chili curry paste on her grinding stone.

Orange. A Tripura woman is working on this traditional fabric piece to sell at the village handicraft store. One of the solutions to garner more income for villages has become the production of their garments for tourists.

Yellow. I think this is a plumeria flower. They are in glorious bloom in Sylhet.

Green: The view from a Tripura family's dining room window.

Blue. Found this lovely door on the way from A. to B. Gotta love the year-round Christmas spirit.

Indigo. This sweet boy poses beside a bowl of betel leaf, a major income source for almost all Khasi villages in the area. Betel leaf, or paan, is the main ingredient in a well known recipe throughout Bangladesh that most commonly consists of the leaf, lime paste, and a small amount of betel nut. When combined, the concoction serves as a mouth freshener and addictive, mild narcotic that and tinges the mouth and lips a distinctive red color.

Violet. These people really know how to paint their homes.

For good measure, I also added the more standard colors that follow the rainbow...

Black: This is a giant wood spider, one of the many intimidating creatures that are native to the tropical forests of the region.

Gray: This big guy, not native to Sylhet, has likely made his way from India. FYI, he will take no less than 10 taka if you ask him to do tricks, or, as in our case, if you want him to move aside so you can catch your bus.

Brown. The featured tourist attraction of Srimangal, the main city of the region: Seven layer tea. The layering technique being a very well kept secret, it was definitely worth the 70 taka spent to think through the science of it and marvel at this drink.

White: This lovely Bishnupriya woman poses against her living room wall.

Teal. Just had to throw this one in here. To be sure though, the photo does not do the true color of this house justice.

If I go missing, it might be worth your time to search for me the among the monkeys, exotic vegetation, and humble people that inhabit the quiet villages of Sylhet. I'll most likely be drinking tea or chasing butterflies (seriously).

Please pray along with me that the people in this small, overlooked nook of the world are blessed in a way that points them towards the hope of Christ and a future of wholeness in eternity.