 The Beatles song echoed around my mind as we pushed forward through the steaming crowd in Dhaka's Zia International Airport, "Will he still need me when I'm 64?" I was in a jaunty mood. We were ready, we thought, for a 'real world experience’. 
What could we do?
I asked myself, 'what use would an out-of-date electronics engineer have in Christian Mission?' My wife was a senior dietician which seemed more useful. We were asked to go to the LAMB Hospital (Lutheran Aid to Medicine in Bangladesh).
First Impressions
When we arrived in Dhaka the 'atmosphere' impinged upon our senses – a strange mix of curry spices and raw sewage! We later came to know this place as 'Beautiful Bangladesh'. A New Zealand couple welcomed us, helped us, fed us, guided us through ladies' clothing requirements and did some in-country orientation for us. The following day we made our way by air and road across a vast area of flat paddy fields and four mile wide rivers to LAMB Hospital.
Our work
My work involved teaching English Composition to the national children at the LAMB School. I was assured by the Headmaster not to worry that I had never taught before! This was both challenging and |
very satisfying. The writing they needed me to do was further work on aproject recording the history of LAMB. I interviewed twenty-seven of the long-serving nationals. It was a fascinating task and a privilege.
Margaret's main work was in Community Health – visiting the villages on the back of a motorcycle! Besides staring into each and every steaming cooking pot, she was to survey what people ate and their food beliefs. For example, when a woman has given birth she is expected to eat just salt and rice for a month to ward off the evil eye.
The rest, as they say, is History
There were ups and downs; the tummy bugs got us down, the locals stared and stared, the language almost defeated us, people left unexpectedly sometimes, we did miss home comforts and the noise of the nearby market plus a railway took some getting used to. However it was definitely a very worthwhile experience: the expatriates were supportive, the national staff were patient with our language and always helpful, the shopkeepers were helpful and mostly honest. We were both fortunate to feel that we had made a small but worthwhile contribution to the work of Interserve.
For information on how you can serve On Track please contact the Personnel Specialists listed below. |
