Christian In Bangladesh

Personal blog from Bangladesh

বাংলাদেশে আছি খ্রীষ্টিয়ান

Friday 26 September 2014

Poverty and Hope

Most of my time is spent in the relative protected environment that is LAMB. Though we are here to ‘serve God by serving the poorest of the poor,’ the poorest are often far away. It may be that God has changed the situation for the ones who live near LAMB, a scarier scenario is that they do not have access to our services. Whenever I travel, often from the capital Dhaka to LAMB, the poor come much closer.
On one such recent trip, I was accompanied by a national colleague who was keen on being at the station early and so we had two hours to observe the life at the Airport Station.
The first people we noticed were a little family of four. As is custom in (rural) Bangladesh we engaged in polite conversation. The family was traveling the same way as us and both children were born at LAMB. The oldest, a daughter of four, was their reason for being in Dhaka. She had been diagnosed with a heart problem and they were now on their way home to raise the necessary funds for surgery. We did not ask what resources they have.
There was a steady flow of beggars passing by as we stood around our bags, some were old, some were disabled but a good number were young children. One old man with his mouth frozen into a kiss was selling soap bags. Convenient thread bags that would hold a bar of soap and could be hung around a tap so as to not fall onto the ground or into a drain. I didn’t see his stock diminish and when I bought one he informed us he would make Tk 2 for each bag he sold. He would have to sell 40 bags to make one dollar.
Many of the young children came by, asked for money or candy and went on their way, but one boy of about ten scooted past without stopping. On his leg was a big pink patch where the skin was missing, the leg was fixed straight and he used the other good leg and his two hands to push himself forward. My colleague commented that there was a syndicate abusing the children to raise funds by begging. If he hurried past in fear that I would get him medical help he is not the first child deprived of the kind of care that would reduce his ability to arouse sympathy when begging.
As we got on the train, the sense of helplessness that comes from not being able to bring any lasting change to these people’s lives was already there. The one bright spot was a perhaps 12-year old boy who, when asked why he sold water on the station at night rather than went to school, confidently said he was in 3rd Grade and worked at night to help support his family.
Before we settled in for the night, we discussed the recent open-heart surgery with one of the other people in the cabin, my colleague had a stint put into the coronary artery a few years ago and they had much to share. Another occupant and the young girl in the bunk above him did not share as much. In the morning when I asked the girl, who was probably not even ten, what grade she was in, she told me she didn’t go to school. The old man with whom she was traveling assured me that she, as his work-girl, did go to evening classes. I know she didn’t go to classes that night as we were on the train, but perhaps she does get some informal education. I have to ask myself, “What are her alternatives?” 
LAMB School serves God by providing education for the children of some of the almost 1000 staff; in doing so we are part of bringing the Kingdom of God to Bangladesh. Thank you for your fellowship in prayer to support this work. Coming back to LAMB, it was good to be reminded, as our new brochure does so well, that LAMB is making a difference in an area with over 5 million people. In 2013 almost 60 thousand patients received care at the hospital and over 45 thousand in our health care clinics, (This doesn’t include the over 250 thousand seen in government clinics that we support). In the training centre there were over 25 thousand trainee days last year. You can find more statistics and stories on the LAMB Website. 
At LAMB we thank God that we can be part of making a difference in so many lives; we thank donors, prayer supporters, partner organisations and the government for working with us to bring lasting change to people in Bangladesh.