Dan&Apes' Weblog

danandapes — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 23:57:22 +0000

Blogging again?

danandapes — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 11:51:45 +0000

Hmmm, I wonder if we can get any use out of this blog? I randomly thought of having a look at what we put up when we were in South Asia last year. It was quite interesting, and a good reminder of what we did and how we felt at the time. Is that a good use of a blog? Is documenting things for the sake of having a record a good use of a blog? Is there another reason why I should continue to update the site…? Surely a non-public site would do the same job. Strange – if I don’t think it’s public, I loose motivation to write. But I KNOW that no-one needs to know or care about my little life by reading a blog, so why should it be private? And, as soon as I am mindful that text will be read by someone else, I write differently. Maybe my diary remains a better vehicle.

I wonder… what will it be? Continued? Public or private?

Another amazing story

danandapes — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 09:22:57 +0000

An extremely poor Bangladeshi family supports themselves by gathering plastic containers from the roadside and sells them. The fifty year old first wife (of two wives) was gathering plastic one day when a bus ran into a rickshaw which ran into her. They carried her in with a broken dangling upper arm, a broken collar bone (and I mean really broken: one end pointed down towards her chest and the other four inches in the other direction) and all the skin torn off her left lower leg. She was in shock – no blood pressure. We resuscitated her, cleaned up her wounds and I wanted to send her to the nearest government hospital as we don’t have what is needed to handle this type of fracture. But everyone agreed that if we tried to send her she would just go home and die. They were too poor to do anything else. So began a long hospital stay with skin grafts and surgery to try as best I could to get the collar bone in some semblance of correct position (we don’t have any fluoroscope, orthopedic drill, nor plates, nor screws so this was a make it up as you go and use what you have procedure) and attempts at plaster on the arm. She was not too compliant, not in the sense of difficult, just in the sense of doing what was comfortable regardless of how it affected her various treatments. No food, so we fed her.

All patients must have a “shongi”, someone with them to care for their basic needs. For the first little while no shongi but eventually they managed to get someone to come in. Her husband didn’t come for visits. She was very concerned about her wife status with a rival in the house. At about the three week point I noticed more and more withdrawal. The nurses said she wasn’t eating. I asked if there was a problem and she burst into tears. So we arranged more frequent visits from the chaplains, an anti depressant, and some pressure on the husband to appear. And in the goodness of the Lord, the husband actually showed up to be the shongi many days. In fact one day he grabbed me on my way into the hospital to take me in the room and show me where his wife had slipped and fallen and bumped her head. No damage done but he cared. So the day came for discharge. She walked with a limp and used a big stick as a cane. Tiny little lady. The total bill came to 25,000 taka – about $350. I told the husband he was going to have to try and contribute something. Next day he proudly told me he had paid something towards her bill. How much? 100 taka = $1.40. (Please pray for our poor fund!)

As I walked back to the hospital after lunch, here she came on her way home hobbling with her stick with her husband at her side. I smiled and said how happy I was she was finally able to go home. She dropped her stick, went down on her knees and grabbed my feet in a gesture of great thanks. Crowds of people all around watching. Now I have this happen often, but always by some poor patient wanting me to authorize free medical care. I find it awkward. But not in this case. When the Bengali staff moved to pull her away, I said, “Leave her alone. This isn’t begging this is thankfulness.” This was a great honor. This was New Testament where the healed man came back and “praising God in a loud voice he threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him.” (Luke 17:15,16) What a profoundly humbling experience.

Stories about real life

danandapes — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 00:45:00 +0000

We needed to be prepared… the way meals are done over here is quite different. Almost immediately, we are ushered into the dining room, where we are served our food at a table set with plates, water and bowl in which to wash our hands before we ate curry with our hands. As we ate, our hosts watched us… and wondered why we were so awkward at eating with our right hand!! After eating, we moved to another room and had a little chat about the history of their country, and then Australia and blah blah… THEN it occurred to us that they hadn’t eaten yet – we asked if they were hungry, they replied in the affirmative, so we hurriedly left, hoping we hadn’t offended anyone!

From the surgeon:

The next person I saw in clinic rounds was a very personable 12 year old girl who some weeks previous had been carried in by her father with a history of draining pus out of the inside of her leg just above the knee for two years. She couldn’t walk. Her leg just above the knee was deformed and more than twice it’s normal size. I had removed a piece of dead infected bone (sequestrum) and then told her to do stretching and quadraceps exercises. To my great joy, she had worked hard at this. She walked into the clinic. Very proud of herself. A slight limp, but she walked. In fact she brought back the crutch I had given here saying she didn’t need it any more. Draining area all healed. I don’t know whether she or I were more delighted.

Next was a ten year old very malnourished child who looked to be four or five, who was carried in very tenderly in his mother’s arms and very gently laid on the examining table. They had come an eight or nine hour trip. She said he had drainage from near his rectum. When I looked, there was an enormous hole extending up the right side of his rectum as far as I could see with pus running out. The child was in pitiful condition. It took a long, long time to try to put together a history and even then I couldn’t be sure. Apparently he had had a colostomy at age 3 days. Then a year later he had some other sort of abdominal surgery but they had no idea what. Last December he had an infection around his colostomy. In February he developed an abscess near his rectum which was opened and drained at a government hospital and this had been draining since. I asked why they didn’t go back to the doctor who had done all the prior surgery. They said they had and he said there was nothing else to do. I presume the child has Hirschsprungs disease but need records to be sure and see what has been done. I offered to admit him in the meantime but they declined. I suggested at least to do a culture to see what kind of antibiotic he needed but they said they had no money for that. They said they would get records and money and come back. The mother then very tenderly picked him up and left. They won’t be back, I’m sure. At this point in the life of the Bengali poor the father has to consider the whole family. Either he spends money for this child’s medical care and the rest of the family starves, or he lets this one die and the rest live. Pretty harsh but reality. Food prices are skyrocketing and this is only going to get worse. Food prices are up in part because of the western worlds biofuel push in response to their global warming (now climate change) obsession. Don’t get me started on this.

Next was a two year old child with a club foot. I explained to the father that the treatment was serial casting to get the foot straight. Probably a new cast every two weeks for eight total castings. The father didn’t want casting. Said it wouldn’t work. He wanted medicine to fix it. Long discussion.

From the surgeon

One morning during devotions in the outpatient clinic a very hostile lady was present. She kept interrupting, arguing, very angry. A week later she walked into the chaplains’ office. They thought “Here comes trouble!” She said soon after she went home she had a dream in which Jesus appeared to her and told her that He wanted her to follow Him. So she had come to the chaplain’s office to find out how to follow Jesus.

Closing thoughts

danandapes — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 00:28:25 +0000

We write from a friendly guesthouse in Dhaka, still sweating, with the fans whirring, waiting to catch our plane to Singapore. The only flights to Singapore leave at 11:55pm. We thought we would give you a wrap up of this missions trip you have supported us in!

Our last 3 weeks or so were relatively busy, with different work for Dan and for trying to finish my own work, as well as sharing meals with friends. As well as still assisting in the school, Dan picked up a few additional tasks with the Managing Director– in order to gain some experience and more knowledge of the place. And in order to think about whether for a longer time, he could keep himself busy here.

He also lost his body weight in sweat whilst playing 4 games in the annual LAMB football competition…

We really enjoyed sharing meals with a lady from my office, Shathi, and her husband, a guy from my office, Motilal, and his wife, as well as with long term missionaries.

I got the final dataset that I was analysing 7 working days prior to leaving…. So then I worked! But unfortunately, I didn’t quite finish – I will have to take the final report home with me… None the less, the work is worthwhile so I’ll send it back ASAP.

One story which we’ll remember for a long time:

…we had planned to take some cold Sprite (big treat) to Motilal and Polina’s for lunch, but he was already waiting to meet us, so we went without any gift. We were treated to three types of meat curries (goat, chicken and fish) as well as special (probably Basmati) rice. And mango for dessert. So after lots of head wobbling and a lovely but stilted conversation we left, feeling very blessed and humbled by their hospitality. So we thought we’d buy something useful for them – a themos jug with a nice little pouring spout. We delivered it unannounced and were served hot milk and chocolate biscuits. Before we left though, Motilal was quite insistent that we visit again. We clarified that it would have to be a quick visit, because we were running out of time. Polina served us a banana, we talked about her job and then, after an awkward moment, they pulled out a bag with a beautiful selawar kamize for me, and pants and shirt for Dan…. This from a couple who earn something, but not a lot, who live in a two room, tin roofed, mud floored house, with electricity, a computer and internet! We were humbled and embarrassed and so blessed… so much from these who have so little…

I finish this letter in the warm sun in our lovely little granny flat in Turramurra (poor Dan is at work… I will be as soon as possible, but not today!). We have so much to be thankful for – our families, fresh vegies, vegemite, rugby, our roof and walls, music, a thriving church…. and a fair amount to think about – what will we make of this great experience, what God is saying, what does ‘missionary’ mean in Australia, is that different to a missionary overseas, what does to be ‘called’ mean, etc. We were so blessed to hear that BBC have already prayed these things for us, and to be warmly welcomed back to Hornsby Baptist by Steve Rodda last night… thank-you for your prayers as we settle back in and ponder the future!

Thanks for your support. We really look forward to seeing you soon… will start doing the rounds again when we feel like we’ve caught up on sleep etc… coming to Canberra and Newcastle asap.

India and Hope

danandapes — Thu, 21 May 2009 03:05:12 +0000

Hello everyone!

We have arrived back from a great long weekend in Darjeeling where we saw the Himalayas (including Mt Everest), sample some teas, went to the zoo and had some great food. It was really beautiful up there in the hills, at 2150 metres, although Darjeeling intself wasn’t so beautiful. But overall it was a bit of an adventure and we were stoked to see the Mountains, as we had to get up at 5am, 3:45am and 4am before we actually saw them. The first 2 mornings were all fog and rain so we couldn’t see them.

Recently we have had a chance to talk to the long term missionaries here which has helped to answer questions we have had about how to decide to be long term missionaries ourselves. What our motivations are, what would we do, what sacrifices have to be made, and what is the best way we can build God’s kingdom here on Earth.

In Darjeeling we were taken to a Buddhist monastery which was rather depressing. We saw people looking quite miserable with no hope in their faces just going through the religious motions of Buddhism. It was very sad to see people trapped in idol worship and making offerings to little statues that can’t talk, hear, care, love, heal, die for or rise again for them.

On the way back to our ‘home’ we saw many people by the side of the road as they do a lot of their rice processing on it. The drive itself was mostly terrifying for 2.5 hours, but in between the terror I could see many of the people were not happy chappies. They had no hope or promises for the future, their purpose and joy in life was not to worship God, it was to make rice and feed goats and cows.

We had dinner with Christian, the school principal last night and he told us about how people here had become Christians. The conversation gave us a lot of encouragement and hope for this country. God IS working!

Praise God for such an adventure and all He’s shown us and taught us. We have found some WONDERFUL old Christian books by the likes of John Wesley, Watchman Nee and others from bygone eras… what excellent things they talk about!

Please pray that in the next 3 weeks that April gets her work finished well, that Dan can explore other aspects of the mission (in addition to the school) and that we continue to have useful conversations with long-termers.

THANK-YOU for your partnership and friendship!

Marriage, bubbles, storms

danandapes — Thu, 07 May 2009 09:49:55 +0000

This man is beating the sheaths of rice to get the grain out... it falls to the ground from this slopey bit of wood

Hello friends

Thank-you so much for your emails/facebook messages/comments etc! We smile because of them. Even more, thank-you for your prayers. As we really settle in and the daily things start to be very different to home (eg curry every lunchtime!), we are trying to capitalise on our free time here with more prayer, reading and meditation on our loving God. And I’m sure your prayers have helped us draw near to Him….Ps 63.

• We had the pleasure of attending the wedding of a local Christian couple on Friday – so encouraging!

o We didn’t understand a word of the ceremony, we sat on separate sides of the church and there was not even any kissing!

o BUT, it was a cooler day, we ate goat, and we got to see/hear some catchy dancing/music.

• One of the short-term girls brought some bubble blowers with her – brilliant! We went for a wander to find some kids and they LOVED them! Great fun for the adults and children alike.

Quick points for praise/prayer:

• There is a lot of work which April could do, so pray she chooses the most strategic/useful stuff to focus on.

• We are off to India next weekend for short break, please pray that our travels are safe and we get to relax whilst there.

• Dan was feverish and sick but only for 24 hours – praise God!

Points to ponder:

• We are in the midst of rice harvest. We are struck by how hard these people work… and in this humidity!(pictures included)

• It’s about 10:30pm, and we just had a massive storm with lightning, thunder and torrents of rain. While this is normal at this time of year, I can not imagine how the people who live outside our compound cope… I didn’t want to leave our bedroom cos it was loud and scary – how much more so with only a corrugated iron roof with gaps for the wind to blow through. The kids must be petrified…but Dan reckons we are just soft.

Our time so far…..

danandapes — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 08:26:01 +0000

Namashka – hello! (we have no idea how this should be spelt…) We are safe and happy at our hospital/school after arriving late at Zia Airport. After a nearly-decent night’s sleep we were taken to the station where we waited for 3 hrs for the very old, very slow, very unair-conditioned train.The novelty of 3 white pple (another new short-termer was with us) waiting at the station was HUGE, we were never without at least 10 people gathered round staring at us and talking about us to each other. The 9.5 hr trip (should be was exhaustingly humid and hot. Thankfully, dinner was waiting when we arrived at 11pm!
From April: The bulk of the 17 staff at the Management of Information Systems and Research department (where I’m working) are Bangla with limited English, and very kind smiles. I’m delivered food and/or drink for morning and afternoon tea! There is a LOT of work to do, so it’ll be a matter of choosing the best suited projects for my experience. Pray I work well with, and provide a Godly witness to, the Bangla data manager and Chatti, a lady with OK English (both Muslim). And that I am able to contribute well to a survey project which is a new type of work for me.
From Dan: I have been helping at the school with reading, writing and general English lessons for primary age kids. They are mostly children of staff, and a few belong to the long term missionaries. I enjoy the work, the kids are so keen to learn and are very well behaved. They are very bright and happy which is in stark contrast to the kids that sell bananas and snacks on the streets. I will be helping with PE and science classes soon which will be great. Please pray that the children will see the Truth in their bible study classes and that they will be witnesses to their family and friends.

Please email us as we check our emails almost every day…

weather where we’ll working

danandapes — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 03:31:10 +0000

http://weather.yahoo.com/Rangpur-Bangladesh/BGXX0008/forecast.html?unit=c

ah, technology!
this link should take you to the weather in a town close to where we’ll be!

VISAS!!!!!!!

danandapes — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 12:24:43 +0000

How good is God! and how valuable are your prayers!!! we sent our visa applications express post to Canberra on Monday, and here we are, 10 pm Wednesday, with our passports and visas all ready to go!

look what we have!!!

Thanks for doing this with us! We hope you’re excited to see your answered prayers…

So. We’re off next Friday then – 17 April. : ) (first stop Singapore with the Lows then the Bassetts!)

NOW, its time to get excited!

praise god!