Bangladesh Action Team

The Tour

2008-04-19T18:26:00.014+01:00

25th June 2008 - Well the action team year is now almost over...it's the last day of our UK Tour today and tomorrow we'll be travelling back to IMC in Birmingham for a FINAL debrief / evaluation and the final decommissioning service which will take place on Saturday 28th June (2.30-4.30pm).

This year for us has gone by surprisingly quickly...it's strange to think that after Saturday we will become ex-action teamers and in just a couple of months time new ones will be training up to go abroad.

We've loved the experiences we've had on the whole, and are grateful for your prayers and thoughts throughout the times we've been away. We've learnt so much about each other, our relationships with God have developed so much and we've made some great friendships too.

After the action team programme is over we will be heading to universities; 2 to study Medicine, 1 to study Adult Nursing and 1 to study Theology and Public Policy...please continue to pray for us as we adjust back into family life and also pray for us when we start university in September....it will be a BIG change for us all and the start of another big adventure.

Tour Dates and places: -
19th - 21st April: Stockwood Baptist Church, Bristol
29th April - 5th May: Morningside Baptist church, Scotland (Annas home church)
5th - 12th May: Galashiels Baptist Church (Kirstys home church)
12th - 19th May: Sharnbrook Evangelical Church (Vickis home church)
19th - 26th May: Mount Pleasant Baptist Church (Hannahs home church)
26th - 2nd June: Ferndale Baptist Church, Southend on Sea
2nd - 5th June: IMC /BMS training centre
5th - 12th June: Radnorshire, Montgomeryshire and Brecon Association, Wales
12th - 19th June: Pembrokeshire Association, Wales
19th - 26th June: Pantygwydr Baptist Church, Swansea, Wales
27th - 28th June: IMC /BMS training centre

4th June 2008 -

Week 1 of tour –Morningside Baptist Church, Edinburgh
27th April - 4th May 2008
Teams Bangladesh, Delhi, Thailand and Uganda

Day 1 – George Heriots senior school assembly-900+students, S2 RE class, BBQ at Anna’s house
Day 2 - George Heriots Junior school assembly – 600+ students, P4 RE class, Housegroup at Jude and Angus’s
Day 3 – Breakfast and worship at church, Boroughmeir SU, Team Presentation evening
Day 4 – Buckstone primary school SU, Old peoples afternoon tea, Ice-cream with Laura and Jude YBS – Youth Bible Study
Day 5 – Currie Primary school lesson, Adrenaline Youth club, Sleepover at Sarah Lyalls
Day 6 – Day off, Shopping in Edinburgh, Chinese
Day 7 – Holy Corner Sunday school, Braid church Sunday Club, Debrief, Open Mic service at Braid church

Week 2 of tour – Galashiels Baptist Church, Scottish Borders
5th – 11th May 2008

Day 1 – Met Kirsty’s Family, Dinner with hosts (Alistair and May), Meeting with Betty
Day 2 - Galashiels Academy S1 - Re Lesson, Earlston High school CU, Gala Academy S3 Geography class
Day 3 – Lunch at Betty's, Tweed Bank primary school P7 class, ice-creams in the park, St. Paul’s Youth Group
Day 4 – Gala Academy 2x S1 RE lessons, Gala Academy CU, Indian Meal for Vicki’s Birthday
Day 5 – Meeting with Betty, Balmoral Primary school assembly, Photographed for the Border Telegraph, Awanas Kids club
Day 6 – Day off, shopping in Gala, Walk to Melrose
Day 7 – Galashiels Baptist Church Morning service, Evening Service

Week 3 of tour – Sharnbrook Evangelical Church, Sharnbrook, (Knotting Green)
12th – 18th May 2008

Day 1 – Dinner at John and Philly’s, 645er’s youth
Day 2 - Meeting at John and Philly’s, JC’s Club
Day 3 – Preparation time, Trip into Bedford Town
Day 4 – The Stables, Housegroup at Steve and Maggie's
Day 5 – Breakout, CU at Maggie B’s, Dinner at Simon and Lynda’s
Day 6 – Day off, Trip to London – City sights:- Science Museum, Shopping, China Town
Day 7 – Sharnbrook evangelical Church morning service, fellowship lunch

Week 4 of tour – Mount Pleasant Baptist Church, Northampton
19th – 25th May 2008
Teams Bangladesh, Kolkata

Day 1 – Monday Afternoon Fellowship
Day 2 - Meeting and presentation to the clergy
Day 3 – Chatterbox, Church Meeting (presentation)
Day 4 – Unity College, Year 10 and 6th form assembly, Year 7 RE class, Year 8 RE class, Luncheon Club
Day 5 – Lady’s Bible study, Identity youth groups
Day 6 – Day off, Shopping in town with Kolkata and Caera, Eurovision Song Contest, Chinese
Day 7 – Mount Pleasant Baptist Church, Morning service (10 mins), Junior church, Evening Service with Kolkata

Week 5 of tour – Ferndale Baptist Church, Southend – on- Sea
26th May – 1st June 2008

Day 1 – Met hosts Chris and Rod
Day 2 - Tour around South End, Shopping and preparation for Holiday Club
Day 3 – Day 1 of ‘’Hero or Zero’’ Holiday Club, Delivering Leaflets
Day 4 – Day 2 of ‘’Hero or Zero’’ Holiday Club, Legally Blonde at John’s house
Day 5 – Day 3 of ‘’Hero or Zero’’ Holiday Club, Café Gold, Rudi and Doreen’s Youth Group
Day 6 – Day Off, Shopping in Southend, Walk to the seafront, BBQ on the beach with Gareth, John, Rudi and Doreen
Day 7 – Ferndale Baptist church Morning service (Kids Club Theme), Evening Service

Week 6 of tour – Radnorshire, Montgomeryshire and Brecon Association, Wales
5th – 11th June 2008

Day 1 – Met hosts, Sue and David Wilson and settled into the house
Day 2 - Llandrindod High School Assembly, Trefonen Primary school assembly, Franksbridge Primary school Assembly, Welshpool Baptist Church Youth Groups
Day 3 – Day off, Walk across Offis Dyke
Day 4 – Franksbridge Baptist Church Sunday School, Beulah Baptist Church Afternoon Presentation
Day 5 – Lyswen Primary school assembly, Bronllys Primary school assembly, Llanelwedd primary school assembly, Rhayader primary school assembly
Day 6 – Builth Wells primary school assembly, Presteigne primary school assembly x2, Whitton church primary school assembly, Knighton primary school assembly
Day 7 – Welshpool High school - year 10 class, year 7 class, year 9 class, year 9 class x2

Week 7 of tour –Pembrokeshire Association, Wales
12th – 18th June 2008

Day 1 - Met hosts Leon, Marion and Tasha (fed the goats on the farm)
Day 2 – Milford Haven Secondary School Christian Union, Day 3 - Mount Pleasant Chapel, Pembroke Dock church BBQ (short presentation), Dinner and walk along the beach
Day 4 – South Dairy Chapel morning church service, Sutton Chapel church service, Bethany Pembroke Dock evening church service
Day 5 – Broad Haven church BBQ
Day 6 – Tasker Millward secondary school Christian Union, Bethesda Chapel Youth group and church fellowship lunch
Day 7 - Broad Haven Primary school Assembly, Mount Pleasant church youth group (Souled Out)

Week 8 of tour – Pantygwydr Baptist Church, Wales
19th – 25th June 2008

Day 1 – Met hosts, Chris and Alison Walley and Judith
Day 2 - Planning meeting at church, The Hub (drop in youth group)

Day 3 – Day off...drive to Mumbles and the Gower
Day 4 – Pantygwydr elderly morning service, Mumbles Baptist church (am) service, Aynon Bryncoch (am) church service, Pantygwydr evening service, Mount Calvery Evening service
Day 5 – Clyde Primary school assembly and lesson, Gendros Primary school assembly and lesson, Pantygwydr springers kids club
Day 6 - Brynmill lower Primary school assembly, Bryn y Moor Primary school year 5 and 6 class, Aenon church womens meeting, BMS Youth Group at Memorial Baptist Church
Day 7 – Brynmill upper primary school assembly, Mount Calvery womens meeting, Pantygwydr womens meeting, Final Joint Rally at Pantygwydr Baptist church

15th April 2008: -

Hi all,
We have arrived safely back in the Uk (5th April) and have now settled back into Birmingham at the IMC! Everyone from all the other teams are great and its really nice to see them all again and share stories with them about the many countries we've been too.

At the minute we are really excited with the aspect of going on tour and being able to talk about the many adventures we had in Bangladesh! Our time at IMC looks as if it will be very busy and we will have only a short time to prepare for all the things we will be doing in the different churches!

Please continue to pray for us as a team, as meeting up again after time spent at home and meeting with the other teams can be a little stressful and we're finding that a bit already!

Please remember us in your prayers as we embark on a UK Tour (starting on the 29th April 2008).

In this section there will be updated news about what we're getting up to on tour. There will be information here on all the activities we will be doing, in all of the different churches and places we visit, and we will include some comments about how we're feeling about the tasks.

24 Feb 2007 - Updated news

2008-02-24T14:09:00.007Z

A lot has happened in the last month!

VISAS!!

After teaching at the SFC (student friendship centre) for just 1 week, we found out that we had to leave Bangladesh...in 2 days!!...as we were not allowed to renew our visas in the country. This was a bit of a shock and a challenging time for our team as we had to pack up all our things & try to say goodbye to people before flying to New Delhi on 30th January. We arrived on Wednesday & on Thursday headed off to the Bangladesh Embassy. It was really cold as we waited to hand in our visa forms but eventually we were allowed in; normally the procedure is that you hand in the application form in the morning & return the next day to collect your passport, but the official saw that we had already been in Bangladesh for almost 4 months & asked us to go to the main office. We seemed to be questioned for ages about why we wanted another 2 months in Bangladesh - it's not really a country that tourists go to for a long time - and they asked our host to go into another room so that they could question her. It seemed like we were not going to be flying back to Dhaka but instead catching a train to Kolkata but God answered our prayers and we got a new visa that afternoon!!
Although we did have official stuff to do we also tried to make the most of our time in Delhi. We were all so grateful for the generosity of a BMS worker who met us and took the time to show us around Dhaka and even insisted that we went to visit the Taj Mahal!! We've met some amazing Christians since we left the UK 4 months ago and their hospitality and generosity has really challenged us about how we live our own lives.
Amazingly we got a 3 month visa instead of the 2 months we applied for, but we had a 60 day condition that meant we could only stay in the country for 60 days...so our visa ran out on the 3rd April, 2 days short of our flight home on the 5th April. Today we had some amazing news...we've got a new visa (our 5th Bangladeshi visa!) we allows us to stay in the country until the 10th April.

VISIT TO LAMB HOSPITAL: 2 weeks ago we had the opportunity to visit Lamb Hospital, a Christian hospital, in a village in the north of Bangladesh. We had an eventful journey there; we became the centre of attention when we had to stop to change a tyre after it got a puncture from the extremely bumpy road. We were able to look around the hospital, which is really well run, & talk to some of the staff who work there...it gets a lot of support from foreign doctors who are able to train doctors & perform specialist surgery. They recently had a medical team visit who performed cleft lip surgery which is really needed as most people with any kind of physical impairment seem to end up having to beg to survive. It was a good time to encourage the foreigners who work there and also see another side to Bangladesh.

SCHOOL PICNIC: Last Saturday we went with the students who attend the morning school on a "picnic" to the grounds of the old Mongal capital of East Bengal. We all piled on to an orange open-top double-decker bus which had Bangla music playing loudly from the loud speaker and we set of on the 1 1/2 hour journey. Thankfully only 1 person was sick but we had a few problems with trees and cables...at one point there was a Bangladeshi on the roof trying to lift up the cable! We had a good day looking around the musuem, eating lots of tasty Bangla food & playing games. It was lovely to see all of the children running around and having fun in the fresh air as they normally don't have the opportunity to play in open green spaces. We eventually got home after 13 hours, after having an amazing day with the children and teachers.

AG KIDS CAMP: We've just come back from an awesome camp where we saw God at work so many times. About 130 children and teenagers came, and we had 83 girls and leaders sleeping in the girls dorm! Camp was very intense with services, games, team times, activities & water fights but everyone seemed to have fun. The theme was "Mission 2 Mars: A Quest for New Life" so the 8 teams all had space themed names like Mighty Moonwalkers & Radical Rockets. Anna had a special, but sometimes stressful role, as the camp score keeper - she did a really good job. Kirsty, Hannah & I (Vicki) were all team leaders, and we were all in charge of leading the 'action song' and doing evening games. Trying to explain games to 130 children and leaders proved to be hard work but in the end everyone had fun playing ladders, the 'peg game' and some other crazy running around games! God was doing amazing things in the lives of the children, and us, at camp, and it was awesome to see God speaking to the children, many of them asked us to pray with them. As a team it was a great to spend time with the other leaders and build on our friendships with them...the team leaders were all young people in the church between 18 and 30 (?) and they were all really enthusiatic. We came home exhausted but really thankful for how God was at work.

The latest news from Bangladesh

2008-01-20T06:16:00.000Z

19th January 2008
School Update - Our work in Bangladesh: -

From 12.00 - 1.30 the first of the compassion schools starts. There are four classes; Play, reception, class 1 and class 2.
There are so many children in these classes it's sometimes hard to move. In each tiny classroom there can be anything from 30-50 children all of different ages and abilities, so as you can imagine it's very chaotic and can get rather noisy.
When these children leave at 1.30 we get a quick break before the second session starts at 2.
From 2-4.30 classses 3,4 and 5 then get taught English, Bangla, Maths and Social Science and then it's time for us to go home.

In the first few weeks of being here, we mainly observed lessons and introduced ourselves to the children. Occassionaly getting 5-10 minutes to teach a class at the end of class.
When we arrived, the school was having exams, so the teachers had to teach the subjects in order for the children to pass, and so because of this, we didn't really do any teaching...but we still had fun and enjoyed singing songs on request, even if they were songs like S-Club 7's 'Reach' and 'Doe a Deer.'

At the end of Novemeber we went down to Chandraghona and were therefore away from school for 3 weeks. At the same time however, the school closed for christmas break so we didn't actually miss any classes which was good.
Over the christmas holidays, we prepared materials and posters for the school to use whilst teaching and to brighten up the classrooms and then, in early January we returned to the school the week before the kids did and we spoke to the head teacher about what we wanted to do in the new term. In that week, we decorated the classrooms with our posters, and even did 3 murals. (we're very experienced mural painters now as we also did one in Chandraghona for the childrens' ward - so we've all discovered a new talent.)

Since the 8th January, we've been back at the school with all the kids and it's been really great to see them all again and welcome the new kids into a nice bright school.
Since being back we've had a greater involvement in teaching by leading full classes by ourselves (especially more so in the compassion schools) and we usually help in most English classes and some maths and drawing classes.
We all teach individually and take classes ranging from play through to class 5, and although we're not qualified teachers at all, we feel we are really bringing something good to the school.

From the 20th January we will be starting our second main teaching project, which seems very weird to be starting now since we've already been here for three months, but we're really looking forward to it. We will be helping to teach English and computer classes at the Student Friendship Centre which is also run by the AG church like the school.

Anna and Vicki will be teaching beginners and intermediate English to Uni students on a Tuesday and Thursday and me and Kirsty will be taking a computer class on a monday afternoon. For the time we're not at SFC we will still be going in pairs to Uttara School and continuing to teach our classes there. We're looking forward to it so much. It will be such a contrast teaching Uni students instead of small children but we're welcoming the differences and it's just another one of the many challenges that we will face whilst being here in Bangladesh.
Working at SFC also brings a great advantage by being in the afternoons, this is because we finally get a lie in....YAY!

People both at Uttara School and SFC have been so friendly and welcoming we're really enjoying all the work we're doing here even though it's very tiring.
We've made so many friends and can't wait to tell you all about them when we're back in the UK.

18th January 2008
Church Life in Bangladesh: -

Since arriving in Bangladesh we've been going regularly to two different churches with our hosts. They are both very different to each other and have contrasting styles of worship, but both have been of equal importance to us in our spiritual growth whilst being here in Bangladesh.

The first church we go to on a Friday morning is the AG church. As you walk into the church building you're welcomed by so many friendly faces, most of which are familiar to us now. In the congregation there are about 200 people.

Bengalis come and so do westerners who are working here and there's a real sense of everyone being in one family, despite the differences between the cultures.

It's an English speaking service and the worship is very lively.

Most of the songs are either well known chorus's or Hillsong songs, so all of us really enjoy it and feel right at home.
At AG, apart from attending the normal service, we are leading one of their kids' church classes for the 5-7 year olds, and we also go to their youth group called 4him on a Saturday night, which we find really encouraging and helpful as it's like a bible study and it gives us a chance to reflect on what gods trying to teach us.

The second church we go to in the afternoon is Dhaka International Christian Church (DICC). This church is there to support expatriates who have or are currently working in Bangladesh and the congregation is made up of a variety of internationals, from English, American, Australian, Indian and Swiss. As a congregation it's a lot smaller than the AG church, despite the fact that it has a bigger membership. This is because a lot of its members live all around Bangladesh and because they don't live in Dhaka they don't always attend the services. On a week to week basis though there are usually around 60 people, so over time we've got to know the familiar faces there. There aren't really any Bangladeshi's but its a nice family church and like at AG, being there we often meet some really interesting people who are truly passionate for God.

At DICC we are involved in their kids' church work too, and we teach a class of 12-14 year olds. Occasionally with our hosts, we also lead worship at the church. The worship there is more traditional and so when we lead we try and sing a few more modern songs. Because the church is so international, leading worship can be quite a struggle sometimes, because it's difficult to find songs that everyone knows, but we manage to do it and most of the time people seem to enjoy the services.

At both churches the sermons are always very scripturally based and helpful and all of the people are very welcoming and friendly.

In February, the churches kids' churches join together and go on a camp outside of Dhaka. This year we're helping to lead and are in charge of leading some wide games, action songs and helping with the craft workshops.
We love going to both churches and feel that it's an important part of our action team week which we couldn't do without.

16th January 2008 - School:-
Hello to everyone who is reading this! So, I have been charged with updating you about the new term at school. Typically, this was very Bangladeshi and crazy with lots of unplanned changes and students enrolling at the last minute. But ... it was lovely to see all the old (and new kids) arrive on Sunday, which is the first day of the week here.

Play is now Nursery, Class 1 is now Class 2, but the kids still have the same smiles and the same eagerness to learn. They seem to like the changes that have been made - the painted walls, murals and posters - although I was slightly disheartened when a boy said that he liked the "Manush" (man) which is actually a monkey.

Oh well.The teachers have been busy with admissions and orgainising books and jotters, so we have found ourselves teaching classes alot more. This means more business and alot of fun - I especially enjoying Vicki's creative methods of teaching ABC's. I really think the kids love having us there even if they just enjoy laughing at us!

Actually what we all enjoy is seeing a child understand something they didn't before, or draw a proper square, or learn their name in English. It's great to know that we are a part in that.The two compassion schools in the afternoon are still quite a challenge. The children that come to class are the ones in need of the most education and care, but classes are so big, and the rooms so small, that it's often hard to teach them well.

We have found teaching in pairs to be really helpful, as that way we have time for those who are struggling. We are praying that God will help us to really influence these children and to not get discouraged from perserving.When I look at myself I don't really see a 'teacher' - but then I am always reminded that we don't have to rely on our own strength and abilities. Such good news!Hope you are all well, and keep in touch!
Anna xxx

27th December 2007 - Updated Visa News: -

It’s a little frustrating and very costly for BMS so we’d appreciate your prayers on this subject!
We are not too stressed about it at the moment, and we are still going to enjoy our holiday, but we really don’t want to have to leave Bangladesh so we hope things will be sorted without any trouble.

Click here for details of our trip to the Sundarbans

16th December 2007 = Work plans for the New Year -
Well 2008 is fast approaching and the work we have to do is definately not about to slow down.
In the new year we will start teaching at the Uttarah school again, and we will also be getting involved in more projects including; working in a girls hostel - teaching english and playing games, working at a student friendship centre teaching engliish to University students and helping out more at AG church itself, teaching in its kids "sunday" school classes.

Christmas and the New Year -

Hi all, Happy Christmas from Bangladesh!
Hope you're all having a great time wherever you are and that you're enjoying the Christmas Break.
In Bangladesh, it's not very christmassy as its mainly a muslim area, so there aren't any shops with christmas stuff displayed like there would be in the UK. However, at home with our hosts, we have put up our christmas tree which was great fun and we have advent calendars and cards up that you guys have sent us. At church yesterday we also sang our first few christmas carols so we're beginning to feel the christmas spirit a little bit more now.

From now up until the new year we are on holiday really, as the school is closed for Christmas. We have a few Christmas parties to go to and some dinners so we're looking forward to some nice roast turkey and potatoes.

Although it's christmas for the christians here, next week it will be Eid-Ul-Azha so people will be leaving Dhaka to go back to their home villages to celebrate and spend time with their families.

Eid-Ul-Azha is second in the series of Eid festivals that Muslims celebrate across the world. It is also referred to as the "Big Feast." On this day Muslims sacrifice animals which have been deemed Halaal, or fit for sacrifice. They not only kill and eat the meat themselves but they distribute it amongst their neighbours, relatives and the poor and hungry. In Bangladesh, the animals used most often for sacrifices are; the goat for the poorer families, cow for the middle class and camels for the rich Bangladeshi's.

On the special day of Eid, we as a team and our hosts have been invited to witness the killing of our neighbours cow and to then go back for lunch and eat it! So, instead of christmas shopping this is how we will be spending our time. It's sounds a little bit disgusting but it's all part of learning about a new culture though, so I think we're all going to go.

After Eid and Christmas we are then going to take our team holiday. We are planning to go on a boat trip from the 28th December-1st January so we will be celebrating new year on a boat. The boat we're going on is for 20+ people so we are going with our hosts and some other people from the church. We're really looking forward to it. Originally, we were intending on going through the Sundarbans on our journey, however because it was badly hit by the Cyclone Sidr and parts of it destroyed the plan has slightly changed, and we will now be going slightly near there, but not to the directly affected area.

So... all thats left for me to say is Merry Christmas and a Happy new year

19 Jan 2008 - School Update

2008-01-19T15:10:00.009Z

Our work in Bangladesh: -

After two weeks of orientation in Bangladesh we started work at AG Uttara School. Uttara is an area inside Dhaka about half an hour from where we are living in Mohakhali. The School in Uttara is one of 7 schools run by the AG church here in Bangladesh. In the morning, the school is a fee paying school with classes from play - class 4 and because this is fee paying, this helps finance and support the compassion (slum) schools which are held in the afternoon. In the mornings, we get up at 6 to leave for the bus at 6.45 which gets us to school on time. When we arrive at school after our bumpy ride, we share devotions with the staff at the school and then from 8.30 the first lesson starts and then lessons for the fee paying school run up until 12.30, so in total they have 7 lessons and these range from English, Maths, Drawing and Social Science.
From 12.00 - 1.30 the first of the compassion schools starts. There are four classes; Play, reception, class 1 and class 2. There are so many children in these classes it's sometimes hard to move. In each tiny classroom there can be anything from 30-50 children all of different ages and abilities, so as you can imagine it's very chaotic and can get rather noisy. When these children leave at 1.30 we get a quick break before the second session starts at 2. From 2-4.30 classses 3,4 and 5 then get taught English, Bangla, Maths and Social Science and then it's time for us to go home.

In the first few weeks of being here, we mainly observed lessons and introduced ourselves to the children. Occassionaly getting 5-10 minutes to teach a class at the end of class. When we arrived, the school was having exams, so the teachers had to teach the subjects in order for the children to pass, and so because of this, we didn't really do any teaching...but we still had fun and enjoyed singing songs on request, even if they were songs like S-Club 7's 'Reach' and 'Doe a Deer.'
At the end of Novemeber we went down to Chandraghona and were therefore away from school for 3 weeks. At the same time however, the school closed for christmas break so we didn't actually miss any classes which was good. Over the christmas holidays, we prepared materials and posters for the school to use whilst teaching and to brighten up the classrooms and then, in early January we returned to the school the week before the kids did and we spoke to the head teacher about what we wanted to do in the new term. In that week, we decorated the classrooms with our posters, and even did 3 murals. (we're very experienced mural painters now as we also did one in Chandraghona for the childrens' ward - so we've all discovered a new talent.)
Since the 8th January, we've been back at the school with all the kids and it's been really great to see them all again and welcome the new kids into a nice bright school. Since being back we've had a greater involvement in teaching by leading full classes by ourselves (especially more so in the compassion schools) and we usually help in most English classes and some maths and drawing classes. We all teach individually and take classes ranging from play through to class 5, and although we're not qualified teachers at all, we feel we are really bringing something good to the school.

From the 20th January we will be starting our second main teaching project, which seems very weird to be starting now since we've already been here for three months, but we're really looking forward to it. We will be helping to teach English and computer classes at the Student Friendship Centre which is also run by the AG church like the school. Anna and Vicki will be teaching beginners and intermediate English to Uni students on a Tuesday and Thursday and me and Kirsty will be taking a computer class on a monday afternoon. For the time we're not at SFC we will still be going in pairs to Uttara School and continuing to teach our classes there. We're looking forward to it so much. It will be such a contrast teaching Uni students instead of small children but we're welcoming the differences and it's just another one of the many challenges that we will face whilst being here in Bangladesh. Working at SFC also brings a great advantage by being in the afternoons, this is because we finally get a lie in....YAY! People both at Uttara School and SFC have been so friendly and welcoming we're really enjoying all the work we're doing here even though it's very tiring. We've made so many friends and can't wait to tell you all about them when we're back in the UK.

18 Jan 2008 - Church Life

2008-01-18T15:27:00.007Z

The first church we go to on a Friday morning is the AG church. As you walk into the church building you're welcomed by so many friendly faces, most of which are familiar to us now. In the congregation there are about 200 people.
Bengalis come and so do westerners who are working here and there's a real sense of everyone being in one family, despite the differences between the cultures.
It's an English speaking service and the worship is very lively.
Most of the songs are either well known chorus's or Hillsong songs, so all of us really enjoy it and feel right at home. At AG, apart from attending the normal service, we are leading one of their kids' church classes for the 5-7 year olds, and we also go to their youth group called 4him on a Saturday night, which we find really encouraging and helpful as it's like a bible study and it gives us a chance to reflect on what gods trying to teach us.

The second church we go to in the afternoon is Dhaka International Christian Church (DICC). This church is there to support expatriates who have or are currently working in Bangladesh and the congregation is made up of a variety of internationals, from English, American, Australian, Indian and Swiss. As a congregation it's a lot smaller than the AG church, despite the fact that it has a bigger membership. This is because a lot of its members live all around Bangladesh and because they don't live in Dhaka they don't always attend the services. On a week to week basis though there are usually around 60 people, so over time we've got to know the familiar faces there. There aren't really any Bangladeshi's but its a nice family church and like at AG, being there we often meet some really interesting people who are truly passionate for God.

At DICC we are involved in their kids' church work too, and we teach a class of 12-14 year olds. Occasionally with our hosts, we also lead worship at the church. The worship there is more traditional and so when we lead we try and sing a few more modern songs. Because the church is so international, leading worship can be quite a struggle sometimes, because it's difficult to find songs that everyone knows, but we manage to do it and most of the time people seem to enjoy the services. At both churches the sermons are always very scripturally based and helpful and all of the people are very welcoming and friendly. In February, the churches kids' churches join together and go on a camp outside of Dhaka. This year we're helping to lead and are in charge of leading some wide games, action songs and helping with the craft workshops. We love going to both churches and feel that it's an important part of our action team week which we couldn't do without.

16 Jan 2008 - School

2008-01-16T15:38:00.001Z

Hello to everyone who is reading this! So, I have been charged with updating you about the new term at school. Typically, this was very Bangladeshi and crazy with lots of unplanned changes and students enrolling at the last minute. But ... it was lovely to see all the old (and new kids) arrive on Sunday, which is the first day of the week here.
Play is now Nursery, Class 1 is now Class 2, but the kids still have the same smiles and the same eagerness to learn. They seem to like the changes that have been made - the painted walls, murals and posters - although I was slightly disheartened when a boy said that he liked the "Manush" (man) which is actually a monkey.
Oh well.The teachers have been busy with admissions and orgainising books and jotters, so we have found ourselves teaching classes alot more. This means more business and alot of fun - I especially enjoying Vicki's creative methods of teaching ABC's. I really think the kids love having us there even if they just enjoy laughing at us!
Actually what we all enjoy is seeing a child understand something they didn't before, or draw a proper square, or learn their name in English. It's great to know that we are a part in that.The two compassion schools in the afternoon are still quite a challenge. The children that come to class are the ones in need of the most education and care, but classes are so big, and the rooms so small, that it's often hard to teach them well.
We have found teaching in pairs to be really helpful, as that way we have time for those who are struggling. We are praying that God will help us to really influence these children and to not get discouraged from perserving.When I look at myself I don't really see a 'teacher' - but then I am always reminded that we don't have to rely on our own strength and abilities. Such good news!Hope you are all well, and keep in touch! Anna xxx

04 Jan 2007 - Team Holiday Sundarbans

2008-01-04T16:16:00.001Z

4th January 2008: Our thoughts on our trip to the Sundarbans -

Happy New Year!!! 2008!!! So far this year - We woke up on a boat in the Sundarbans, home to the Royal Bengal Tiger. As we ate breakfast (parotas filled with Sundarbans wild honey) we watched River Dolphins dive in and out of the river around our boat.
For the past week or so, we spent 4 days and 4 nights on our team holiday in the Sundarbans, the largest Mangrove forest in the world. We went with a group of friends from AG church in Dhaka, so there were 24 of us in total. It was absolutely beautiful and such an adventure!

Wildlife ~ We saw 3 crocodiles basking on the river banks, dolphins, lots of spotted deer, a couple of wild boar, monkeys, a green snake that flys, a huge lizard, crabs and lots of birds! Grey-headed fish eagles, herons, egrets, kingfishers, woodpeckers, brown kites and thats just mentioning a few. Most of the birds had such vibrant colours and were really interesting to watch. One of the most exciting things to see were tiger paw prints (unfortunately we didn't actually see a tiger, it is estimated that there are around 500 tigers in the Sundarbans) But paw prints were good enough! We found some in the forest on our little walks, the paw prints that we saw in the forest had been made before the cyclone but one morning when we went off in our smaller boat along the little creeks and saw some prints go into the river on one side and come out the other, we were informed these were probably only an hour or so old. So we were pretty close to seeing one.

During our walks through the Mangrove forest in Kotka wildlife sanctuary we walked through some of the damage cyclone Sidr has left behind. It was really sad to see the devastation caused as Sidr passed through the Sundarbans. We learned that any people who were living in the forests when the cyclone struck and passed through were warned of its coming and would have tried to evacuate to the nearest safe place, but few people probably made it. Also, unfortunately there wasn't enough time to tell the fishermen out in the bay of bengal that the cyclone was approaching. After our walk in the Kotka forest area we watched the sun set on the beach, however, we were disrupted by lots of journalists who had come to see the effects of Sidr and obvioulsy wanted to take lots of photos of us tourists.

Another part of the Sundarbans we explored was Kochikhali - we took a walk to a beach in the Bay of Bengal and dipped our feet in, it was so peaceful and relaxing. Also along the beach were tiger paw prints in the sand, some big ones but also cute little cub prints.

On the boat we were able to just relax, enjoy the scenary and sun and play cards (especially up and down the river ~ we thought it was quite appropriate).

The last day of 2007! In the morning we went to a small remote island, Pokhir Char, in the Bay of Bengal and walked along the sea shore ~ I have never really experienced anything like it, it was stunning. A great place for me to reflect over 2007. In the afternoon we carried on in our boat down the beautiful wide rivers for Dhangmari/Chandpai forest station. We spent New Years Eve on our boat sharing memories of 2007 and hopes and desires for 2008, it was a lovely, most memroble way of welcoming in the New Year. When we travelled back to Dhaka we left our lovely boat and enjoyed a 10 hour bus journey home from Mongla through the rural countryside up to Dhaka. We are now all refreshed from our little holiday and looking forward to what lies ahead for us in the next few months. All the best for 2008! Kirsty xxx

Team Holiday - Sundarbans
Between the 28th December-1st January as a team we will be in the Sundarbans.
The Sundarbans is on the border between Bengal and Bangladesh, where the great Ganges meets the Bramaputra and Meghna rivers on their way to the Bay of Bengal, It is one of the last places where the magnificent Royal Bengal Tiger roams freely but despite this, it's a delicate eco-system at risk from the effects of climate change and in desperate need of protection.

Literally translated, "Sundarbans" means "the beautiful forest".
It's a vast and intricate network of mangroves which has been declared as a Biosphere Reserve and a UNESCO World Heritage site.

The area is made up of three sanctuaries (Sundarbans West, South and East) with a total area of 140,000 hectares. This is an area of almost surreal natural beauty characterised by mangrove forests, swamps and densely forested islands.

Throughout the Sundarbans is a network of small rivers, filled to the brim with wildlife. In the Sundarbans there are many animals that are very common; there are many crocodiles that can be found lounging on the mud banks, Ridley sea turtles, fiddler crabs and mud skippers, monkeys, spotted deer, jungle fowl, wild boar, giant lizards and much much more.

River dolphins can also be found in the deeper areas of the forest, making the most of the abundance of fish found in the waters of Bangladesh. The Royal Bengal Tiger though is the animal that most westerners want to spot when visiting the area, and so this is one animal that we are hoping to see on our adventure. One of the largest of the 'big cats', the Bengal Tiger has an extremely bold colour and a striking pattern which serves as a very effective camouflage. We're really looking forward to our holiday, and hopefully it should be a good time away for us as a team, where we can reflect on the first three months that we've spent here in Bangladesh and take a break before getting involved in the business of AG Utterrah School again.

27 Dec 2008 - Updated Visa News

2007-12-27T15:41:00.001Z

Well, yesterday we went in to renew our visas to be told that they couldn’t help us because they had been delayed by the Eid holidays, so we went back in today to collect the new visas. We now all have visas but instead of 2 month visas we have only one month visas, so we will have to re-apply again each month! That’s not the end of our story…although we all have one month visas, despite the fact that we applied together on the same day, we have visas that run out on different days, so two of us at current have visas until the 31st December, one of us has a visa until the 7th January and the other one has a visa until the 8th!
It’s a little frustrating and very costly for BMS so we’d appreciate your prayers on this subject! We are not too stressed about it at the moment, and we are still going to enjoy our holiday, but we really don’t want to have to leave Bangladesh so we hope things will be sorted without any trouble.

Links to Photos

2007-12-20T12:37:00.000Z

Some photos added ...

Team Photos

Training photos

Chandraghona photos

When you visit these blog-pages please use the refresh button in your web browser to make sure you see the latest photos

Some Chandraghona Pictures

2007-12-19T16:25:00.000Z

16 Dec 2007 - Chandraghona

2007-12-16T16:03:00.002Z

Chandraghona :- Well since we last wrote we have spent three weeks in Chandraghona with Les and Fiona Allan, at the christian hospital there which was founded by BMS in 1907. Christian Hospital Chandraghona, is in the south east of Bangladesh, and while we were there, it celebrated its centenary. Before the centenary started, in the first two weeks of our stay we were involved in lots of preparation and we were kept busy doing a variety of different things.These things involved teaching sunday school to nearly 100 children, helping on the childrens ward, observing the work done in the womens health, leprosy centre and operating theatres as well as sociallising with the nursing students, painting a mural and preparing for the centenary. We produced an exhibition about the past of the hospital which was opened for guests of the centenary to explore, we ran a centenary souvenir shop selling plates, mugs and t-shirts and we even performed several songs with the nursing student choir (in English and Bangla.) As well as all this, we also split up into pairs and followed two of the BMW's (basic medical workers) into the villages and went into peoples homes to witness their routinely medical checkups. (Me and Anna even got to name a newborn baby.)We found the work that they do really interesting and as we went into peoples homes the hospitality they showed us was amazing! Even those who were living as the poorest of the poor produced food and drink for us and welcomed us in with open arms. During the Centenary, guests arrived from the UK, Japan, India and other areas of Bangladesh to give thanks to God for the history of Chandraghona Hospital. Previous national staff who used to work at the hospital came back and were reunited with old friends and 20 current and past BMS mission personnel who used to work at the hospital also flew from the UK to witness the celebrations. It was a really joyous weekend filled with love and support for the hospital and its workers, and it was a great opportunity for us as a team to learn a bit more of the history that BMS has with Bangladesh and meet so many amazing people. We were lucky enough to watch a cultural evening show as well which was a showcase of talent from singing, dancing to mimimng and acting. The performers were either staff of the hospital or local people from the hill tracts, and we were able to see lots of tribal dances, including the bamboo dance and Tui's famous bottle dance which was absolutely amazing! Throughout the celebrations we had lots of fun, and were able to dress up in Saris and tips which was great and we made lots of new friends too. After people had returned to the UK and the celebrations came to a close, we stayed on for a few more days and went on some boat trips to Rangamati. It was such a beautiful area of Bangladesh and the natural beauty was a vast difference from the scenery we've been seing in Dhaka. It almost seemed like a world away. Chandraghona was an amazing experience for us as a team and we're really glad we got to go down at such an important time in the hospitals history. Hannah xxx

16 Dec 2007 - Visa News

2007-12-16T16:00:00.002Z

More Updated Visa News:- Hi again, well we have more news on our visas. They have been extended! We have visas now hopefully till the end of January. We have to visit the High Commissioner a few days before Christmas to show him we are who we say we are and to check that everything's ok and then once these run out in January, we will re-apply for another 2-3 month visas which will give us enough time till the end of our stay in Bangladesh. Keep praying for this situation, as we REALLY want to stay in Bangladesh, it's amazing!

16 Dec 2007 - Work Plans for New Year

2007-12-16T15:45:00.001Z

Well 2008 is fast approaching and the work we have to do is definately not about to slow down. In the new year we will start teaching at the Uttarah school again, and we will also be getting involved in more projects including; working in a girls hostel - teaching english and playing games, working at a student friendship centre teaching engliish to University students and helping out more at AG church itself, teaching in its kids "sunday" school classes.

Christmas and the New Year - Hi all, Happy Christmas from Bangladesh! Hope you're all having a great time wherever you are and that you're enjoying the Christmas Break. In Bangladesh, it's not very christmassy as its mainly a muslim area, so there aren't any shops with christmas stuff displayed like there would be in the UK. However, at home with our hosts, we have put up our christmas tree which was great fun and we have advent calendars and cards up that you guys have sent us. At church yesterday we also sang our first few christmas carols so we're beginning to feel the christmas spirit a little bit more now. From now up until the new year we are on holiday really, as the school is closed for Christmas. We have a few Christmas parties to go to and some dinners so we're looking forward to some nice roast turkey and potatoes. Although it's christmas for the christians here, next week it will be Eid-Ul-Azha so people will be leaving Dhaka to go back to their home villages to celebrate and spend time with their families.

Eid-Ul-Azha is second in the series of Eid festivals that Muslims celebrate across the world. It is also referred to as the "Big Feast." On this day Muslims sacrifice animals which have been deemed Halaal, or fit for sacrifice. They not only kill and eat the meat themselves but they distribute it amongst their neighbours, relatives and the poor and hungry. In Bangladesh, the animals used most often for sacrifices are; the goat for the poorer families, cow for the middle class and camels for the rich Bangladeshi's. On the special day of Eid, we as a team and our hosts have been invited to witness the killing of our neighbours cow and to then go back for lunch and eat it! So, instead of christmas shopping this is how we will be spending our time. It's sounds a little bit disgusting but it's all part of learning about a new culture though, so I think we're all going to go.

After Eid and Christmas we are then going to take our team holiday.

We are planning to go on a boat trip from the 28th December-1st January so we will be celebrating new year on a boat. The boat we're going on is for 20+ people so we are going with our hosts and some other people from the church. We're really looking forward to it. Originally, we were intending on going through the Sundarbans on our journey, however because it was badly hit by the Cyclone Sidr and parts of it destroyed the plan has slightly changed, and we will now be going slightly near there, but not to the directly affected area. So... all thats left for me to say is Merry Christmas and a Happy new year.

18 Nov 2007 - Activity So Far

2007-11-18T16:06:00.001Z

What we have been doing so far Hello everyone! Here's just a quick post to tell you all the things we have been doing in Bangladesh since we arrived. We have mostly spent this month teaching English in a school in Dhaka. It's a fee paying school in the morning, and that pays for the children from slums to come in the afternoon. The kids are so lovely and so happy to be at school (even though their english isn't so good- I've heard "I am a Mango" too many times!) and although we can't speak too much Bangla, we are making progress. The Bengali system of not planning anything and doing no preperation can be frustrating, we just want someone to tell us what to do! So, we have also been enjoying the city of Dhaka which is very crowded. We've had some completly Bangladeshi experiences : hearing the call to prayer blasting from the Mosques, eating with our hands, wearing Shalwar Kameezes, learning the national anthem, travelling by rickshaw and of course catching the bus to school which is much more exciting (and scary) than it is in Scotland and England. But Dhaka has other nice things : eating classy Movenpick Ice Cream, going to coffee world (the Bangladeshi Starbucks) and Harry Potter t-shirts that we purchased for 80 taka. On Tuesday, we set off to Chantragona Hospital which is about 6 hours away by car. The roads should be bumpy after the cyclone and it's a lot more basic over there - we are expecting lots of cockroaches, rice for breakfast and maybe a chance to dress up at the hospital centenary. All in all, nothing is ever boring. Even with the disaster of the cyclone, the Bangladeshis are so resillient (not sure if that is spelt right!) and the goverment is delivering aid as fast as it can. At the moment we feel like we are learning a lot more than we are teaching anyone! Bye everyone, From Anna

Cyclone Podcast

2007-11-17T19:32:00.000Z

Whilst being on the Bangladesh Action Team we were witnesses to the destructive power of cyclone Sidr. In this podcast you can hear about that and our other experiences in Bangladesh.

Click Here to open the Podcast on BMS World Mission.org web site

17 Nov 2007 - Cyclone in Bangladesh

2007-11-17T16:09:00.000Z

Cyclone in Bangladesh: Cyclone rescue effort under way Aid workers are struggling to reach hundreds of thousands of survivors from a powerful cyclone that ripped through southern and central Bangladesh. Almost 2000 people are confirmed to have died during the storm, a toll that is expected to rise further. The cyclone has destroyed or damaged tens of thousands of homes. Bangladesh is still an amazing place, we've done so much. Bangladesh is however in quite a bad way especially today after the cyclone, 2000 people have died so far and the number is rising, 7 of the dead were found in Dhaka. Where we are staying in dhaka wasn't badly affected, although there was some damage caused due to things falling down in the winds (trees and buildings etc). All of the team are ok and Chandraghona, where we will be going on tuesday for three weeks, is also not badly hit. But, if you can get people to pray for the situation in Bangladesh and for us in how we deal with it and all the things we will be seeing, it would be really great. Thankyou xxx

Click Here to open the Podcast on BMS World Mission.org web site

Latest news from Bangladesh

2007-11-17T12:00:00.000Z

16th December 2007 - More Updated Visa News
Hi again, well we have more news on our visas. They have been extended! We have visas now hopefully till the end of January. We have to visit the High Commissioner a few days before Christmas to show him we are who we say we are and to check that everything's ok and then once these run out in January, we will re-apply for another 2-3 month visas which will give us enough time till the end of our stay in Bangladesh.

Keep praying for this situation, as we REALLY want to stay in Bangladesh, it's amazing!

16th December 2007 - Chandraghona
Well since we last wrote we have spent three weeks in Chandraghona with Les and Fiona Allan, at the christian hospital there which was founded by BMS in 1907. Christian Hospital Chandraghona, is in the south east of Bangladesh, and while we were there, it celebrated its centenary.

Before the centenary started, in the first two weeks of our stay we were involved in lots of preparation and we were kept busy doing a variety of different things.These things involved teaching sunday school to nearly 100 children, helping on the childrens ward, observing the work done in the womens health, leprosy centre and operating theatres as well as sociallising with the nursing students, painting a mural and preparing for the centenary.

We produced an exhibition about the past of the hospital which was opened for guests of the centenary to explore, we ran a centenary souvenir shop selling plates, mugs and t-shirts and we even performed several songs with the nursing student choir (in English and Bangla.)

As well as all this, we also split up into pairs and followed two of the BMW's (basic medical workers) into the villages and went into peoples homes to witness their routinely medical checkups. (Me and Anna even got to name a newborn baby.)We found the work that they do really interesting and as we went into peoples homes the hospitality they showed us was amazing! Even those who were living as the poorest of the poor produced food and drink for us and welcomed us in with open arms.

During the Centenary, guests arrived from the UK, Japan, India and other areas of Bangladesh to give thanks to God for the history of Chandraghona Hospital. Previous national staff who used to work at the hospital came back and were reunited with old friends and 20 current and past BMS mission personnel who used to work at the hospital also flew from the UK to witness the celebrations. It was a really joyous weekend filled with love and support for the hospital and its workers, and it was a great opportunity for us as a team to learn a bit more of the history that BMS has with Bangladesh and meet so many amazing people.

We were lucky enough to watch a cultural evening show as well which was a showcase of talent from singing, dancing to mimimng and acting. The performers were either staff of the hospital or local people from the hill tracts, and we were able to see lots of tribal dances, including the bamboo dance and Tui's famous bottle dance which was absolutely amazing!

Throughout the celebrations we had lots of fun, and were able to dress up in Saris and tips which was great and we made lots of new friends too.

After people had returned to the UK and the celebrations came to a close, we stayed on for a few more days and went on some boat trips to Rangamati. It was such a beautiful area of Bangladesh and the natural beauty was a vast difference from the scenery we've been seing in Dhaka. It almost seemed like a world away.

Chandraghona was an amazing experience for us as a team and we're really glad we got to go down at such an important time in the hospitals history.
Hannah xxx

18th November 2007 - What we have been doing so far
Hello everyone! Here's just a quick post to tell you all the things we have been doing in Bangladesh since we arrived.
We have mostly spent this month teaching English in a school in Dhaka. It's a fee paying school in the morning, and that pays for the children from slums to come in the afternoon. The kids are so lovely and so happy to be at school (even though their english isn't so good- I've heard "I am a Mango" too many times!) and although we can't speak too much Bangla, we are making progress. The Bengali system of not planning anything and doing no preperation can be frustrating, we just want someone to tell us what to do!
So, we have also been enjoying the city of Dhaka which is very crowded. We've had some completly Bangladeshi experiences : hearing the call to prayer blasting from the Mosques, eating with our hands, wearing Shalwar Kameezes, learning the national anthem, travelling by rickshaw and of course catching the bus to school which is much more exciting (and scary) than it is in Scotland and England. But Dhaka has other nice things : eating classy Movenpick Ice Cream, going to coffee world (the Bangladeshi Starbucks) and Harry Potter t-shirts that we purchased for 80 taka.

On Tuesday, we set off to Chantragona Hospital which is about 6 hours away by car. The roads should be bumpy after the cyclone and it's a lot more basic over there - we are expecting lots of cockroaches, rice for breakfast and maybe a chance to dress up at the hospital centenary.

All in all, nothing is ever boring. Even with the disaster of the cyclone, the Bangladeshis are so resillient (not sure if that is spelt right!) and the goverment is delivering aid as fast as it can. At the moment we feel like we are learning a lot more than we are teaching anyone!
Bye everyone,
From Anna

17th November 2007 - Cyclone in Bangladesh
Cyclone rescue effort under way
Aid workers are struggling to reach hundreds of thousands of survivors from a powerful cyclone that ripped through southern and central Bangladesh.
Almost 2000 people are confirmed to have died during the storm, a toll that is expected to rise further.
The cyclone has destroyed or damaged tens of thousands of homes.

Bangladesh is still an amazing place, we've done so much.

Bangladesh is however in quite a bad way especially today after the cyclone, 2000 people have died so far and the number is rising, 7 of the dead were found in Dhaka. Where we are staying in dhaka wasn't badly affected, although there was some damage caused due to things falling down in the winds (trees and buildings etc). All of the team are ok and Chandraghona, where we will be going on tuesday for three weeks, is also not badly hit. But, if you can get people to pray for the situation in Bangladesh and for us in how we deal with it and all the things we will be seeing, it would be really great. Thankyou xxx

13th November 2007 - Updated visa news
Well the visa situation is still changing, but we're told visa changes happen to most missionaries whilst working here in Bangladesh, so we're not too worried. Currently, we have 2 month tourist visas which expire on the 1st December, so at present it means we have to leave the country then.

These visas also have a condition that means we have to leave Bangladesh every 30 days. So far whilst this has meant we've been able to take an enjoyable trip to India, having to do this every month could turn out to be quite tedious and very frustrating, so we are hoping to to renew our visas to 6 month multiple entry visas, without any conditions and we are praying that this would be able to happen quickly and without any trouble.

However, since arriving in Bangladesh, we have been able to get 6 month multiple Indian visas, so if the worst came to the worst, we could go to India and work alongside one of the teams there for the remainder of our time.

2nd October 2007: - Visas Problems
Ahhh... problems with visas, but hold on...it's not the end of the world.
After initially applying for research visas we've found out today that we can't get hold of these. This means that we will have to re apply for Tourist visas.

As a result, we now have two months visas as from the 1st October, this would mean that on the 1st of december we would have to leave the country to renew them. However, we can renew them another month whilst in the country until the 1st January. Come the new year though, we will have to leave Bangladesh because of the visas, and its during this time that we hope to take our weeks holiday either to Thailand or India. If this all goes ok, after the holiday we plan to then go to chandraghona to work in the hospital. If in the worst circumstances though, we can't get into the country again, for the last three months we will be working in Kolkata in India alongside the action team there, in mobile school projects and Mother Teresa ones as well.

Because of all the travelling, as well as seing the Kolkata team, we may even get a chance to see the Dehli and Thailand teams too.

So, the adventure awaits us! We're so excited and can't wait to be in Bangladesh!

UK Training Photos

2007-11-15T15:08:00.001Z

Training Churches, Bristol

13 Nov 2007 - Visa News

2007-11-13T16:11:00.001Z

Updated visa news Well the visa situation is still changing, but we're told visa changes happen to most missionaries whilst working here in Bangladesh, so we're not too worried. Currently, we have 2 month tourist visas which expire on the 1st December, so at present it means we have to leave the country then. These visas also have a condition that means we have to leave Bangladesh every 30 days. So far whilst this has meant we've been able to take an enjoyable trip to India, having to do this every month could turn out to be quite tedious and very frustrating, so we are hoping to to renew our visas to 6 month multiple entry visas, without any conditions and we are praying that this would be able to happen quickly and without any trouble. However, since arriving in Bangladesh, we have been able to get 6 month multiple Indian visas, so if the worst came to the worst, we could go to India and work alongside one of the teams there for the remainder of our time.

Team Photos

2007-11-13T13:52:00.000Z

02 Oct 2007 - Visa Pproblems

2007-10-02T16:12:00.000+01:00

Visas Problems Ahhh... problems with visas, but hold on...it's not the end of the world. After initially applying for research visas we've found out today that we can't get hold of these. This means that we will have to re apply for Tourist visas. As a result, we now have two months visas as from the 1st October, this would mean that on the 1st of december we would have to leave the country to renew them. However, we can renew them another month whilst in the country until the 1st January. Come the new year though, we will have to leave Bangladesh because of the visas, and its during this time that we hope to take our weeks holiday either to Thailand or India. If this all goes ok, after the holiday we plan to then go to chandraghona to work in the hospital. If in the worst circumstances though, we can't get into the country again, for the last three months we will be working in Kolkata in India alongside the action team there, in mobile school projects and Mother Teresa ones as well. Because of all the travelling, as well as seing the Kolkata team, we may even get a chance to see the Dehli and Thailand teams too. So, the adventure awaits us! We're so excited and can't wait to be in Bangladesh!

Welcome

2007-09-04T18:30:00.000+01:00

Hi, welcome to the site for the BMS Action Team to Bangladesh for 2007-2008!
In September we began our Action Team adventure with BMS World Mission.

As part of our adventure we knew we would be going to Bangladesh, for 6 months and that's where we are. In the team there is me Hannah Page from Northampton, Vikki Ibbett from Bedfordshire, Anna Power from Edingburgh and Kirsty Scott from Galashiels in the Scottish borders!

This site will provide a wealth of information about our time away with BMS World Mission. We will post regular updates to the site, including photos, to highlight the work of the team. Please keep in touch with what we're doing through this web site and e/mail your comments to us to let us know how you're getting on back in the UK xxx

Training - Our experience

2007-09-04T18:21:00.000+01:00

In this section will be updated news about what we're getting up to on training. All the activities we will be doing and our individual thoughts about them

3rd October 2007: -

Well, we're almost at the end of training and it has flown by so quickly. We've had a very busy schedule but it has been one amazing time. Whilst at IMC we have had many sessions on; Living Faith, Understanding Mission, Team Building and have had many team times and worship sessions which have been really encouraging. We've had great food, great accommodation and lots of fun getting to know the other 32 people not on our team.

During the training process, we have also been linked to a church in Bristol which has been our training church! This church was Stockwood Baptist Church and we spent two weekends here, getting alongside and involved in their church life.
During the first weekend we got alongside the church to just see what sort of activities they do, and the style of worship they use on a sunday morning!
Over the course of the weekend, we attended a barbeque, played games with the children from the church, were interviewed on the sunday morning in the service and went in to their sunday school and ate loads of food! On the second weekend however, we were very much more involved in the life of the church. When we arrived on the Friday we went to a Harvest Ploughmans supper at a sheltered accommodation for the eldery, whilst here we sat amongst 45 elderly residents, ate with them, chatted to them, sung with them and then were interviewed about what we would be doing overseas in Bangladesh. After this on the Saturday, we had a spare day. We used this time to bond as a team by taking a trip into Bristol Town centre. We went to Starbucks, into a few shops, and then to Pizza Hut for lunch before making our way back to our hosts homes to prepare for the services we would be doing on the Sunday. Out of all the training i have to say that this was really a worthwhile day and was one of the days that i feel really helped us as a team to bond.

On the Sunday, we led the morning service at the church, and also the childrens and youth work(sunday school), before also leading a joint evening service in the Anglican Church, Christ the Servant.
Finally, on the Monday, we led an assembly at a local primary school, Stockwood Green and then also a year seven lesson in a secondary school, in the afternoon before getting trains back to Birmingham. So... as you can see we were kept very busy at our training church.

As well as training church weekends and sessions at IMC, during our training we also spent a few days in Wales, at Min Y Don, a christian outdoor adventure centre. Here, we were involved in lots of activities such as; canoeing, crate climbing, problem solving, orienteering, hill walking, high ropes, low ropes.. and even camping out one night in the woods, under our own built shelters and eating food cooked off of a small fire.
This weekend was a very challenging weekend for the team, and there were a few moments when we were tested to the limits, but it was also a very enjoyable weekend in which we learnt a lot about communication, team strengths and weaknesses and each others likes and dislikes.

4th - 5th October 2007 : - Christmas party!
Woo hoo.... what a last day! Tonight we celebrated christmas as we won't be together this year for christmas or new year. At 5.20pm we started off with a sit down christmas dinner which was absolutely amazing with tinsel and crackers and then we got presents from santa, played party games before going into a full night disco!

At 00.00 we then celebrated new year, before a few more hours of some dancing, and then we finally went to bed.

Celebrating christmas and new year in October did seem very strange but also very worthwhile. A very enjoyable evening which i think we're all going to remember.

Diary of events

2007-08-31T17:41:00.000+01:00

9th-14th September: - BMS training - Birmingham IMC
15th-16th September: - BMS training church weekend 1
17th September: - BMS training - Birmingham IMC
18th - 21st September: - BMS Adventure weekend away - Wales
22nd – 28th September: - BMS training - Birmingham IMC
29th – 30th September: - BMS training church weekend 2
1st – 5th October: - BMS training - Birmingham IMC
6th – 13th October: - At Home
14th October: - flying to Bangladesh

15th October - 5th April: - In Bangladesh

2008
5th April: - flying back from Bangladesh
6th-14th April: - At Home
15th – 27th April: - BMS training - Birmingham IMC
28th April – 26th June: - UK tour
27th-28th June: - BMS Debrief - Birmingham IMC

What will we be doing?

2007-08-31T17:21:00.000+01:00

For this gap year we will be travelling in the team with BMS world mission, (Baptist missionary society) to two different areas of Bangladesh.

We will all be living together in two different homes.
Whilst in Bangladesh, we will be based in Dhaka and Chandraghona! For the first part, we will be in Dhaka at the home of Rodney and Ann who are friends of Bangladesh. During this time we will be getting involved in language training and just really getting to know Bangladesh before starting to work in AG Uttara Compassion School!

After this, we will then be getting involved in a varied programme of teaching and community work, which will involve time spent serving in community health programmes in Chandraghona, a more rural area of Bangladesh and at the Christian Hospital in Chandraghona. As well as working alongside medical staff at the hospital, we will also be helping with centenary preparation work, and teaching in a sunday school to the Bangladeshi children.

After our time here we will then head back to Dhaka and we will be working with the AG compassion schools and universities teaching English and getting involved in Drama, art and music classes .

The Team

2007-08-31T14:00:00.000+01:00

There are four members of our team, we are;

Hannah Page(Northampton)

*DOB - 1st March 1989
* Age - 18
* Background -For the past two years I have been studying for a BTEC National Diploma in health studies at a college in Northampton which is where I live. I live at home with my mum and sister Rachel and I have a Dad who lives in Exmouth, Devon. I have a pet cat called Monty and I enjoy sociallising, scuba diving, singing and drama. I go to an amazing church MPBC where I help lead baby church, a youth group and worship by singing.
* Why you joined the action team and was Bangladesh your first choice? - I joined the action team with BMS world mission to do something worthwhile for God in a gap year where in a normal situation I would spend it either working or lazing around. Bangladesh wasn't my first choice but i'm glad i'm going there as it will give me some great experiences which will help me in my future career.
* What you want to do after Action Teams? - I want to go to university in 2008 and train either as a midwife or paediatric nurse.

Vikki Ibbett (Bedfordshire)

*DOB - 8th May 1989
* Age - 18
* Background - I've just finished Sharnbrook Upper School 6th Form where I took A-levels in Biology, Chemistry, Maths, French and Critical Thinking. I live with my dad, step-mum & older brother Peter in North Bedfordshire, whilst my mum, step-dad & 2 younger brothers Jonathon and Sam live near Truro in Cornwall. For the last couple of years I've helped out with my churches youth groups, which has involved everything from building Noah's arks with lower school children, to wet'n'wild nights, canoeing & treasure hunts with the older youth; I also play the flute in the worship group. Completing the gold DoE award has been great fun as I also love the great outdoors!
* Why you joined the action team? - After deciding to do 'a gap year for God' I researched all the Christian gap year programmes & concluded that the action team programme run by BMS World Mission was: well established, well organised (I think the month of training is essential), totally for God, & above all, ex-action teamers have reported that it was a life changing experience. I've never really thought about going to Bangladesh but when I discovered what the work was going to entail at the contact weekend I was really excited & I put it down as my first choice.
* What you want to do after Action Teams? - I've got a place at Birmingham university in 2008, where I plan to study medicine.

Anna Power (Edingburgh)

*DOB - 21st March 1989
* Age - 18
* Background - I was born in Edinburgh but I grew up in Sydney, Australia. I've been living back in Scotland for 6 years now and I think it's fantastic. I've just finished A levels at school, so I am enjoying having some free time. I have two younger sisters called Eilidh and Mairi who are still in highschool. I go to a great church called MBC with amazing people. I like snowboarding when I get the chance, watching movies, dancing, going on trampolines and eating ben+ jerry's ice cream.
* Why you joined the action team? - I always wanted to do a gap year because I love travelling, and I knew it was what God wanted for me. I looked around at some options but BMS was the best structured. Applying was scary but the contact weekend was great and I know this is what I am meant to be doing. Bangladesh wasn't my first choice - I didn't know much about the country- but because I'm doing medicine it's a good team for me to be on. And the more I learn about the country, the more I love it.
* What you want to do after Action Teams? - I'm going to be doing medicine next year at Glasgow University.

Kirsty Scott (Galashiels - Scottish borders)
*DOB - 15th July 1989
* Age - 18
* Background - I grew up in Stratford, the East End of London and then moved to the Scottish Borders, Scotland six years ago. I live with my parents and younger sister, Kim. I have just finished Scottish Highers at school and now I am taking a year out before maybe going to university to continue my studies. My home church is Galashiels Baptist and I enjoy creative arts, the outdoors and spending time with friends.

*Why you joined the action team? When I lived in London I had a fantastic opportunity to visit The Mercy Ships, a christian mission organisation-this inspired me from a young age and gave me a desire to one day be involved with mission! Mission has always struck me as excting and adventurous and I always wanted a chance to take part in it overseas. I had always planned to do a gap year involving mission overseas after school and so I applied to several organisations, one being BMS World Mission. I decided that as part of my gap year I would like to spend time serving overseas but also in the U.K, so I tried to apply for a BMS summer team, however, this didn't work out. I found myself back on the BMS website looking for alternatives and came across Action Teams - unfortuntely I had missed the deadline. However, there were still four more places to be filled. I was given a late interview and found myself on the Bangladesh Action Team.

*What you want to do after Action Teams? I am fairly uncertain about my future steps after this gap year. However, I have had unconditional offers from all the Scottish Universities I applied to for courses to do with Theology/Public Policy. So now I just have to make a choice.