"The Comfort Room"

Today, Helen and I walked to the market – today (Wednesday) is the day when many villagers come in from the village to sell their things in the town. And it is a day when there are more women shopkeepers than men, so it’s nice to shop on this day. We passed fish sellers, crab sellers, as well as so many different kinds of green plant sellers (for eating). I took a few pictures – but wish I had taken more. I bought a skirt – Helen will stitch it for me. I hope to wear it when we go to Kha town maybe. My Indian suits are alright, but hotter than their typical dress- and so far, I’ve only seen maybe 3 girls wearing suits like mine. The rest are wearing ths long skit with a t-shirt. And, my Indian suits are long sleeve, which is dreadfully hot – I thought since I was coming to a Muslim country, I should dress more Muslim. But that is not the case…short sleeve shirts are perfectly fine here. Tomorrow, I hope to wear a purple short sleeve shirt with a red printed skirt I got. I should fit right in!

The other day I gave KL and ZL some bracelet and earring sets that Chrisalyn made. Today, I gave Helen some soap, some lotion and bracelets and pins for all the girls in their house- I think there are 6 right now (3 sisters, 2 neices, and 1 cousin).

I’m still feeling fine physically. My head doesn’t hurt as much, and my stomach is fine. I’m still really tired- and I’m sleeping almost 9-10 hours each night – but otherwise, feel fine. Even the heat doesn’t seem as intense as it was when I first got here- perhaps I’m getting used to it. The yellow striped spider outside the bathroom, and the pigs outside the bathroom are still things I’d prefer not to have to interact with every time I use the CR (comfort room), but all well.

Yeah, have you ever heard of that, “the Comfort Room” – ZL asked me the other day, ‘do you need the CR?” I was like, “What?” He then said Comfort Room. I was still like, “What?” He finally said, ‘well, what do you call it, the bathroom?’ – but the bathroom is for taking bath and shower… Anyway, I’m not sure how a cement area that stinks usually and has spiders and frogs (yeah, there are two in the one here) can be called a comfort room. But it is. Funny.

Afternoon
Today, we went to visit to 'Mar' Village- completely Buddhist group. ZL actually hadn’t been to this village before – he has a few classmates (From 4-5 years ago?) that he knows. He was hoping they will welcome us. And sure enough, they did. It was great because he was able to kind of ‘use’ me to get into the village. He said, "I have this foreigner who wants to see the village…" and they were happy to welcome me, and then happy to see their old classmate as well.

We went to the home of one of the classmates. We stood outside, while he told about 25 kids to leave. We walked in and realized that they had been watching tv. Probably the only tv in the village. They don’t have chairs, table or any kind of furniture- but they have a tv. You can see they have their priorities in order! :) We had coke and biscuits. Then we walked around the village. It was a bit different from the other villages. There were pigs, chickens, people – all living together. They have little gates outside their homes to keep the pigs out- I think it works most of the time. But still, from the other villages there were definitely more animals roaming around – and their droppings. But the people smiled a little more here. It also just seemed like a more ‘fun/exciting’ place. The trees covered the village, and gave a good amount of shade (even though it was still raining a bit, there was no sun at all). I felt like it would be so enjoyable to live in this village – I didn’t exactly feel that way in the other villages…

I asked about clean water. They said they have a ‘deep well’ – which is where they get their water.

They invited us to see their temple (Buddhist worship place – I’m not sure the correct term – pagoda?). We went in – it was similar to Hindu temple in that there were lights on around Bhudha’s head, and there were statues of bhudha in a class cage. There was a monk in a red robe sitting to the right, on a mat. ZL's two friends knelt down and worshipped in front of the budha, and then did the same in front of the monk. Then they invited us to come and sit with the monk. We accepted. There were a few other people in the temple – some were sleeping.

We had a good discussion with the monk. I took the opportunity to learn some stuff about Budhism. I tried to demonstrate to ZL how to ask cultural questions without being confrontational. I think he was impressed with how direct I could ask questions, but still just asking out of curiosity – not confronting them in any way. The monk actually would answer in Mar language, then ZL's friend would translate into the national language, then ZL would translate into English. I so wished I could just speak the language. We could have covered so much more in that time if we didn’t have to go through two translations!!!

I asked the monk if he could tell us a story – something from Budhism, or their culture. He and ZL's friend talked for a few minutes about what to say/tell. Then he started telling a story about a 16 year old boy. One day, he was in forest, he saw a dead man and started wondering about death. He wondered how he can escape death. He realized that he needs to sacrifice all things. It is not about gaining something or earning something, but only through sacrificing everything that you can escape death (I’m not totally positive on that, may need to clarify with ZL again). [Of course, sacrificing is still ‘doing’ something on our part, and thus still earning/achieving something- right?]. The boy fasted for a long time (5 years?), and then was never seen again. (Also not sure if this is correct ending of the story…).

Apparently, he is remembered or worshipped even today. I’m not sure if that was the start of budhism, or just one of the budhas along the way. I tried to ask, but didn’t get a clear answer – I wonder if there is one.

I then asked about some of the things in the temple area.
- What is that white circular flag? - It is used as a symbol of shade. Since shade is a good thing, we want to show that we are giving Budha shade.
- Are the statues inside the glass cage all the same? – Yes, they are all budha.
- Why do you have so many? Do they represent the same thing, or different gods/budhas? – No, they represent one budha. They were given by different people who have visited the temple.
- Does the budha represent god or a person? – I actually didn’t get a clear answer on this either…but they said, “budha/god is alive, but he cannot talk. There is a story about one who was told that this budha would come but would not talk. He would be alive, but would not talk. If he was able to talk, then he would get a lot of requests for wisdom and other things – so he doesn’t talk. He predicts things.
- If he doesn’t talk, how does he predict things? - Good question – Well, it’s really just a guess, not an exact prediction. For example, if there are ashes near the statue, then that may mean someone’s house will burn down. If there is water near the statue it could mean there will be a flood.
- How do the ashes and water get near the statue – what statue do they come near – this statue in the glass cage? - No, there is one important statue somewhere in Burma – it happens there.
- Then someone tells someone else, who tells someone else, then finally you find out about it? - Yes.
- Please don’t mind my questions, I have lived in India, and have learned things about Hindus, but I don’t know anything about Budhism. It is very interesting – I appreciate you sharing all of this with me. – You should go to our bigger temple, there is someone who has more wisdom there and he can help you.

I think there were a few more questions asked and answered, but I can’t remember them all now. Anyway, I could have stayed for 2 more hours and continued to question. I told ZL later that I was honestly curious about what they believe. He said, “yeah, that was a good question – if Budha can’t speak, how does he predict things…”

I said- most religions, or at least my experience with Hinduism has been that for most things, they have some answer – and many times, it might even make some sense. They are smart people and do things and believe things for a reason or based on things they really feel are true. We have to find out what those things are first before we can counter it at all. I don’t think he realized 1) how important it is to find out their beliefs, or 2) how easy it can be to find out. I told him about how after finding out more about them, then you can choose stories to match things in their culture or help them realize what is true.

We then went to his home. I met his wife, daughter and son. I checked email, and then we all went out to dinner. We had meat again. Oh yeah, I’ve had more meat in this week than I’ve had in the past two years…I don’t think I even ate this much meat in America! Phew!

Anyway, it was an enjoyable evening – though I felt bad I couldn’t really communicate with his wife. I tried to learn a bit of their language, but didn’t get very far since she would just call her husband to come translate. All well. She gave me a handmade bag from her village – Bam tribe.

Visit to school and Village

Visit to School – “Hope of Children’s Home” – about 70 students who attend, I think maybe 30-40 live at the school as well. All the teachers are men – it was a little odd eating lunch with all men.

We did a ‘storying program’ for the kids. I told the story of Shadrach. It was a little long to start with, but the kids really liked it. I tried to get a retelling, but that didn’t go too well – I think they are like Indian kids. They want to be told what to say – and are afraid to try their own ideas. The same was true when I asked the questions like, ‘what did you like in the story’ – I’m sure they would have excelled if I had asked a simple question like, “did the 3 men burn in the fire, or not?”

I explained in the last workshop in "Kahan" in South Asia, how this second type of question can maybe give us an idea of if they understood the story, but it does not give us anything deeper. If they can retell the story, this is the understanding/comprehension check – the questions are to get a little deeper, without being too direct or controversial. Anyway, the kids did okay…but not as well as I had hoped. I’m not sure if it was the setting, the kids, me, the language barrier, the weather or what…anyway, ZL did a good job of translating.

One thing that was interesting was that when the girl was trying to retell the story she said that the King was going to throw them into the ‘lake of fire’ – I have yet to confirm this with Zar Lawm. I’m not sure if it is how he translated what I said to her, or something she herself got from the story and told back to him. Very interesting. In English I would see this as Hell, which it clearly isn’t Hell in the story – but I wonder if a “box of fire” would be similar to a “lake of fire” here? Oh, I love language and culture – I wish I could spend more time to figure it out!!!!

Anyway, after telling the story and the questions, we then acted out the story. The headmaster of the story said the kids weren’t used to drama and may not know what to do- but we went ahead and tried it. They did really well, and I think the drama really helped them understand the story better.

After Shadrach, I told the story of the demon possessed man and how Jesus healed him. This was a slightly shorter story, and they did better with the retelling – possibly also because they knew more what the retelling entailed. We then acted it out, before I asked the questions. They did great with this story, and got even more into it than the first. One half of the class were the “pigs.” :)

Afterwards, I asked the questions again, and they seemed to have a better grasp of the story, and thus able to answer the questions a little better. I then asked one last question, “Will you tell this story to someone else/who will you tell this story to?” They all said yes- and I challenged them to practice both the stories with their classmates, then in a month or 5 months, when their parents come, they can then share the stories with their parents. They all agreed!

The headmaster of the school then spoke to the children for a while. Zar Lawm translated for me. One thing that was really encouraging was, “In the past we have had other teams come to visit us. Sometimes they brought toothbrush or toothpaste, maybe some shampoo. And those things are very good. But they run out. They finished after some time. Today, we have had something very new and different brought to us. We have had something that will never run out. These stories shared by Miss Elizabeth are good for your life here and in Heaven. And it is very good that you can share them with your parents. We thank Miss Elizabeth for coming so far from America and sharing these things with us that we can have forever and will never run out.”

"Muu Village Visit"
Zar Lawm has two national Workers working in a Muu village not far from the school, so we went their to visit it. It was a steep hike down and a bit muddy, but thankfully, I did not slip.

The village was like the other one – bamboo houses, bamboo floors – about 5 feet above the ground. Something interesting is that the men can just spit right through the cracks in the floor. No need to go to the window. I saw 2-3 men find a fairly large crack and just spit right through it! I know that I should be careful if ever I needed to walk under a Muu home!! And, you can just wash your hands right over the floor- well, maybe not in the house, but on the porch area – which is also bamboo floor…the water just seeps through the bamboo. The kitchen area is similar to a Kahani kitchen in that there is like a mud cave where a fire goes- and the pot sits on top. The smoke can fill the room. But unlike the cement houses in the villages in Kahan, these bamboo houses have much better ventilation- and it’s not a smoky. Honestly, I like the bamboo style very much.

We got to the village, and I sat in a house with about 10 men, 3 kids, and a tiny white cat. I felt fine, but in all my time in South Asia, haven’t been surrounded by a group of people that was just men. The Workers wife came in a few times…I wanted so badly to go out and watch her or help her – but only knowing how to say thank-you in the language, and ‘how are you’ in another dialect of the country, that wouldn’t help me a whole lot.

ZL actually said he could only understand a few words in the Muu language. That shocked me. Only about 1 hour from town- the language is so different, even a national can’t understand the language dialect. Wow.

I watched the village life happen outside the door. An old woman without a shirt on came to the door to look in and see the foreigner. She had a child following her around. Oh, and something amazing about this village – the women and kids have huge earings and they put leaves in their ears! I saw one kid without any earings, but just the leaves. I got one picture of a woman with these bell type earings and the leaves. I wanted to take more pictures, but felt a bit shy – and it was probably better I didn't. On the way out of the village, I tried to take one woman’s picture, and she got really scared and starting running away. Later Helen said that some of the people in villages think that if their picture is taken, their spirit will be captured in the picture. I felt bad about scaring her. I asked ZL to find out how to say ‘goodbye’ to her as we walked away…and I said it, but she didn’t look up. Her son/daughter (I’m not sure if it was a boy or girl) was with her. I was able to take some pictures of her before and the mother didn’t mind that. Maybe their spirits get captured only after a certain age? I don’t know.

It is true that a smile says hello in many languages…but I don’t think it says hello in all languages. Or perhaps it’s the combination of being a foreigner and not knowing even a single word of the language…In this Muu village and the Bam village, people would stare, but when I smiled, they generally smiled back. But not everyone. Some people just continued to stare, and even seemed afraid of what might happen next now that we had made eye contact.

This is something I haven’t experienced as much in India. People stare, for sure – but if they are Kahani, I can communicate/break the ice, and before too long we are laughing or at least at ease with each other. Somehow, I didn’t feel the same warm welcoming feeling as I’ve felt in India. But I’m trying so hard to remember our first days….did the people also seem cold, and uncertain before we could communicate with them? When I went to Ganga’s village the first time, I had to go through various people’s homes…did they stare and show some uneasiness with me being there? You know what – I think they did. They weren’t sure who I was, what I was doing, or if I could speak the language or not. And in the beginning, I couldn’t speak very much. It took a while to warm up...

I wonder if it would be possible to live in one of the villages I visited so far. I don't know what's ahead, but I’m just trying to picture how life would work, how a foreigner would affect things, and how long it would take for the villages kids and people to warm up – and how long it would take to learn the language!!!

It’s a good reminder that my 2 years in India didn’t just start off easy. It took time, relationships take time. Language takes time. It’s good to remember His faithfulness during my time in India – and ask Him in advance to be faithful in the place He may call me to next.

Oh yeah, the police again talked with Zar Lawm about the program for today. He told them. They said they wouldn’t come, but to inform them when we got back. Everything went well, though we did have to cross two more police check points. At one, we had to sit, and wait for some important commander to come and ask me some questions.

At one point he said, “How many times you will stay in Bangladesh?” I tried not to insult his English, but I just couldn’t figure out what he was trying to ask…did he want to know "How many times I will come back in the future?" Or, "how many times I had come…?" Finally Zar Lawm confirmed what he was asking – it was, “How long will you stay in Bangladesh.” Anyway, he was fairly friendly as were the other police guys at the other post.

"Do you want us to gather the people?"

Discussion with KL and ZL (two local Leaders): “What do you want to do there – do you want us to gather the people?”

I replied, "I can tell a story…"

Although I don't really feel God drawing me here, I am trying to ask questions that would help me make decisions in the future should He call me here. Since I really don’t know what He wants, it’s good I’m here, it’s good I’m seeing this place and these people. KL said ESL would be popular here – though I’m not sure. English is less useful here than it is in India. In the villages I was in, in India, people had no desire, no need, to learn English.

I thought about trying to just say, “I’m just here to see the place/people, I don’t need to do anything” – and I did say that, but then I thought, ‘You know what, I may never be back here and wouldn’t it be great, if I could at least share one story with them, and do the questions- like a mini-storying training in just 20 minutes or less.’ So then I said, “I can share a story if you want…” I think they liked this idea, and thought of a few situations/villages where it should work. Of course, they will have to translate, which will make it all the more interesting…but all well- what else can I do at this point?

NGO Office visit: I visited the NGO (Non-Government Organization) these guys are with today. They have permission from the government to do just about whatever they want –including inviting foreigners in to help out.

I also had a discussion with ZL about languages and people in the area... Generally, he said the "Muu" people have their own religion and even own religious script, though they can’t read it. They are the least reached among the Hill tracks people, and the least literate. He said storying may work well among those people…

He showed me pictures of various tribes – some villages the women weren’t wearing clothing on the top half of their body. He said most are more modest now and wear clothing. The pictures were really good – like post cards almost.

Motorbike around Ban town. ZL took me around for about 5-10 minutes on his motorbike- around the town. It is small, with narrow streets between thatched houses/fences. Some houses have steel/metal doors/gates. There are some roadside shops. Bicycle rickshaws pedal through mud puddles along with pigs, dogs, people, few cows, children, old folks. The street is literally about 15 feet wide. It’s almost like you’re in a crowded city, except it’s a little town- not trucks or cars, just bicycles and motorbikes. Instead of high rises on each side of the street, there are bamboo walls…

Harvest Center Visit - raining, putting on plastic type sweat suits that are water proof. Putting on over top of Indian suit- that was interesting. Road slippery, wet, muddy. Like dirt-biking. Scenery is beautiful. Green, green, green. Trees, bushes, grass – green, green, green. Rivers, I crossed more bridges in ½ hour than I’ve ever crossed in my life.

The Harvest Center was a big building – not much to look at – but encouraging to hear about the training they do there. It would be a perfect environment to do a storying training. It is situated on the top of a hill with beautiful green fields surrounding it. They do a variety of training there.

Visit to Bam Village – bamboo thatched roofs, but also bamboo thatched floors – up on sticks maybe 3-5 feet from ground. Eating guava fresh from tree. Eating corn on the cob – absolutely the best corn on the cob I have ever had in my life – kernels are bigger than I’ve ever seen, very easy to eat, very tasy. Having chai twice, then 7-Up on the way back. Buying blanket and miniature basket that women put on their back to carry- wood, straw, grass, etc. Most the Bam people are believers. There was even a Worship building in one of the villages!

Oh, the police did call KL this morning and asked what our program was for the day. KL told him. The police said, “will you provide a van for the police to accompany you” – KL said, “We will be going by motorbike…so there is no need for us to rent a van. But if you want to come, you’re welcome to come – you’ll have to provide your own transportation.” So, they decided not to come.

Day 1 - Travelling to 'Ban' town

I arrived in Riverland, and took a bus for 6 hours from the capitol city to 'Chit' city where I met a local Leader. From there, we travelled about 3 more hours by taxi to 'Ban' town.

Police Checkpoint: Of course we had to go through some police checkpoints along the way, since foreigners aren't usually allowed in these areas. At the first one, we got out of car, I signed my name, gave my passport number visa number, date of entry, sponsoring organization on three different sheets. KL (The national worker who was with me) had taken permission previously, but still there seemed to be some hassle. Amazingly, there was actually a paper in that little hut there on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere that had my name and passport number on it that had somehow gotten there prior to us arriving there – impressive!

There were two guards, but quickly there were about 4-5 other men who came for the show. There was a large gun chained to the hut. Many busses passed by and were checked in about 5 minutes. But we waited and waited. Apparently, they (The guards) had to check with someone higher up and wait for his approval for us to continue on. We waited about 45 minutes- in the dark with mosquitoes biting.

The guards asked KL, “what kind of food does she eat? Does she eat rice/daal like we do?” Amazingly, I could actually understand that this is what they were asking- although their language is very different from Kahani/Hindi. The asked what kind of teacher I was, and where.

When I said ‘Delaware’ they were like, “what?” And tried 4-5 times to pronounce the name. Later, I learned Delaware is similar to a Muslim name, so they weren’t sure if my school in America was named after a Mmuslim or not. All in all, they were fairly nice to us. They told us we needed to go to the police station when we got to town. KL said he hadn’t done this before and wanted to know why it was necessary. They said that due to another kidnapping about 20 days earlier in another district, this was the new rule.

Police Station: We went to the police station, and the head guy said, “we need to escort you wherever you want to go.” KL wasn’t so sure about this and said maybe it wasn’t necessary. The man said, in English, “No, this is my district, and if she is in my district, then she is my responsibility, her safety is my responsibility- I will send forces with you.” He then said we needed to hire a van to take the ‘forces’ (police) with us. KL said we would be going by motorbike and we didn’t have money to pay for a van just for the police. The police said that was fine, they would take care of it then. We will see if indeed they do come.

House: The house where I am staying at the moment in Ban town, is concrete with thatched roofs, and then sheet metal on top of that. Their kitchen is are wooden slabs (you can see the ground below it). It is held up with wooden poles, and while I was in it, I felt once in a while like I might just fall right through. The water is held in a blank tank, but also in a concrete water holding thing. There is a ½ foot concrete trench around the house for water to flow through. It’s nice you can brush your teeth anywhere outside the house and at any point you have the sink to spit in (i.e. the trench). They said they boil the water for drinking- so that’s good. But still bathing and brushing teeth with this other rain water or whatever it is makes me wonder just how clean stuff is here. But then again, our tanks in "Kahan" have about 1 inch of mud on the bottom, so how clean is that? At least I can see the bottom of this concrete tank!

Three times Helen (the daughter of the family here who can speak English) has asked if I want to bath. I’ve decided in spite of the sweat, I think I’ll wait one day. However, I think it’s pretty gross to them that I haven’t bathed since I got there last night. All well, we’ll see. Maybe tonight I’ll bathe. Though once in Almora, a phone call came at night, and I missed it. Later, I called the person back, and told them I had been taking a bath. They were like “what? At this time of day?” – in other words, “are you crazy, why in the world would you ever take a bath after 7pm?” Anyway, Helen showed me I can bath inside (which is actually still outside- though surrounded with concrete wall, and some kind of roof), or outside, right next to the house. It think I’ll choose the inside option.

Mosquito net: KL asked if I had malaria medicine. I said I did in India, but it had expired and I never had needed it there. He was like, “you’ll probably be okay.” I said, “do I need it?” He said, “no, probably not…” He said we could get some in Ban town if necessary, but since I’d use a mosquito net at night it should be fine. So, my bed has a mosquito net on it…pretty nice…it’s like a see-through cave. It hinders the air from the fan a bit, but all well.

The bed is somewhat soft. I slept amazingly well…woke up at 5:30, went to the bathroom (which is like a little trek through the jungle- and there is a yellow-stripped spider outside the door ), but otherwise, it is concrete, there is water available, and it doesn’t stink too bad. I then went back to sleep and slept until about 8. I also slept for a few hours on the bus too. I don’t know why, but I feel extremely tired these days. I think it is the heat, and perhaps trying to understand a language, that has about 2 words similar to Hindi/Kahani, but otherwise is completely different. I keep telling myself, “stop straining yourself, you don’t need to understand…” – but it’s hard. I just want to learn it today, so I can communicate and understand. I got some phrases from Helen, so that’s been fun.

Breakfast: omelet and chapatti (moida flour). Their chapattis are made from a different type of flour. It’s more like a flour tortilla than a chapatti. But very good, very soft. I liked it a lot. So far, I’ve not felt sick…occasionally my head hurts, I feel like I’m a bit dehydrated…

Few phrases... (Journal Entry)

Saturday, September 1, 07

Capitol City of Riverland
- lots of people, bicycle rickshaws, hot, sweat, Muriel’s house: a safe refuge with A/C.