Sunday School Teachers' Training at SUPOTH

My second SS Teachers' Training was quite a bit different than the first one,but I think, just as good. The group was much younger, many still in high school. The other unusual aspect of this group was that 12 out of 15 were young men. I was really delighted by this, since it would be very unusual in the U.S. for this to be the case.

The church in Nilphamari is all the same denomination, but seems to be splitting over an internal power struggle, so many of the churches are barely functioning. An unfortunate side effect of this is that most do not have a Sunday School at all at the moment. It was very encouraging then, to have these 15 young people determined to learn how to teach Sunday School so that they could begin the process of bringing a Sunday School program back to their churches.

They worked hard, and though many had little or no experience, they learned many new things that they are confident to try out as they rebuild their programs. Please pray with with me that they will soon be able to use what they worked so hard to learn.

Many thanks to Annie who translated for me. I also want to say a special thanks to Carol Reinsma who contributed the funds that made the workshops possible and to all those who have supported me so that I could come here to Bangladesh to volunteer.

Visits with SUPOTH Groups

We just got back from up north yesterday, arriving at about 11:00am after an all-night train. For some reason I couldn't access my blog up there, so I'm going to have to play catch up before I leave Dhaka again on Wednesday. We visited Adolescent, Women's and People's Institution(P.I.) (something like a neighborhood association)Groups who are part of SUPOTH, another of CRWRC's partner organizations. Because the area is rural, groups are quite far apart so there was a lot of traveling involved between groups, but the countryside is so beautiful it was well worth it.

The Adolescent groups we visited were all girls and were run a bit differently that those of SATHI, but I was equally impressed with them. They had many good ideas for improving their program as well; one that hadn't been mentioned before was that they want to have a little library in a box of small books relating to the subjects they are studying in their groups, so they can read more about them. I suggested to SUPOTH that they teach the girls how to make a proposal to their P.I. who would be able to make this happen.

I could say a lot more, but I want to get this up, so I'll stop for now and show you some pictures of the groups we met, the beautiful children we saw, and the lovely countryside of Bangladesh.

My First Sunday School Teachers' Workshop

Yesterday (Saturday) we finished the first two day Sunday School Teachers' Workshop. There were 22 participants. Half of them were Garo, which is a minority group here in Bangladesh, four were Telagu, another minority group, and one was Santal, also a minority . So only six of the participants were ethnic Bengali. Most of the group was quite young; probably early twenties which made it rather easy to get them to do all the action songs that I taught them!

I shared the basics of Child Development with a particular emphasis on how children experience God. They also learned a new way of telling stories (courtesy of Jana Brasser who helped me with Children's Worship materials), several new craft ideas, making instruments from found objects, many new songs, and the basic of constructing a good lesson (thanks to Jola Howe of Faith Alive for her help with this).

I was impressed with this group. Everyone participated fully, so they all got the maximum benefit from the training. An important, though unexpected result for me was that though several denominations were represented, there was a spirit of sharing and cooperation that was evident. At one point I asked if someone had a song they would like to share with the group. one woman shared a song that no one else knew. I felt this was a very important moment in the training. The attendees were not only learning from me, but, more importantly, from one another. It would be wonderful if this kind of sharing between churches, who sometimes can be at odds with one another, could continue.

Albert was my photographer and helper, and of course, he joined in on everything as well!

Now we off to take the night train to the northern part of Bangladesh where we will see the adolescent programs of the organization called SUPOTH and also do another Sunday School Teachers' Workshop. I am hoping my internet will work there - it is VERY rural. We'll see.....

Final Adolescent Field Visit

My last adolescent field visit was on Thursday to Lalbagh. This is a group that is a little older than some of the others, so when we talked to them about ideas to improve the program, they had lots! They want to add lessons on birth control, disaster preparedness, drug abuse, and several others. They brought up the point that they are learning about underage marriage and dowry, but that the adults need to know more about these problems as well. They proposed that they teach the lessons on these subjects to the adults. When I asked them if they would be comfortable doing that, they answered, "Of course! We know these lessons well and have been teaching them for a couple years. We would feel very comfortable teaching the adults."

So I have been able to pass the ideas from all the groups to the administrators of SATHI, and they are very interested in pursuing some of the issues brought up by the young people. I continue to be amazed and encouraged by the youth in this program. They are using what they have learned not just to better their own lives but are passing it on to others as well.

A few pictures from Lalbagh:

In the Meantime, Albert was Busy, Too

On Tuesday, Feb. 8th, Albert led a 3 1/2 hour workshop in Dhaka on values formation for the Business Development Team. Fourteen people attended. They discussed values that are important for business people: like, honesty, respect of others and justice. The team has representatives from all the CRWRC partner groups. It was a good time of learning for everyone. This team meets four times a year but they don't often get to talk about values and the challenges there are for business people in following good values.

Adolescent Visits, Continued....

On Wednesday I visited Maniknagar where I met with another Adolescent Peer Educator Group.We did a similar program and in addition talked to them about updating the lessons. They had some great ideas. I'll post pictures of them working on their projects and also some pictures of the girls - they all wanted me to take individual pictures of them. I'll have these printed before I leave Bangladesh so they can have a copy.

Three Days of Encouragement - Visits to the Adolescent Groups

Tuesday - My first day of visiting I went to visit the Tongi Adolescent Peer Educator group. I hadn't realized that I would have three hours with them and that they were expecting some kind of workshop. So Sanjay, who is Program Manager for SATHI and who had come along as my translator, and I had a quick conference and came up with a couple of questions for them to work on together in small groups. We asked them to think of the lessons that had been particularly meaningful to them, then to pick three of them and make plans on how they could share them with their larger community.
They came up with some very creative ideas including contacting their school to get permission to do a skit against early marriage (before 18 years old) during a school assembly, making posters to place in prominent places in the neighborhood showing the evil of dowry, and doing a skit in the street about keeping the public areas of the community clean after having cleaned an area themselves.
The plan is that they will actually though on their ideas, so that next year when I come back, they can report to me on how it went. I am looking forward to that already. Following are some pictures of the groups in action - working on their plans.

Deja Vu' All Over Again

Today is like deja vu' because a hartal has been called here in Dhaka. A hartal is a general strike. Practically it means that everything is closed and nobody goes anywhere, so after one day here, we are basically housebound. The strike has been called because the government wants to build a new, but unnecessary airport and the farmers whose land would be confiscated for that purpose are, understandably, not too pleased.

The upside is that I have an extra day to get myself together for my first Sunday School Teachers' Workshop which will be this coming Friday and Saturday. It will be held here in Dhaka and there will be 22 participants. I'm just finishing up the itinerary for it.

Tomorrow, Wednesday, and Thursday I will spend returning to visit the adolescent peer educators and programs that I worked with last year. It will be a chance for me to find out what has happened in the past year and if anything needs to be done to improve their program like new or revised lesson.

Being here is wonderful. It is rather warm, (though I won't complain knowing that my friends and family are suffering through snow and cold in Michigan) but we are loving being here and eagerly look forward to the tasks ahead.