Of Knitting and Peanut Butter

You may be wondering what these two things could possibly have in common, well the answer is that the handicapped women working at Shantineer (Peace House) produce both these items. In this Islamic context, the opportunity for me to talk with women is very limited, so I greatly appreciate those couple mornings a week I spend at Shantineer with the women.

Home-made peanut butter is probably my favourite snack food in the world right now. It might have something to do with the fact that it keeps really well without refrigeration, and so is the only thing I can eat with my crackers, but nevertheless CCH Peanut Butter is to die for! Well it might not be so good dead, but it's fantastic. There are things that I never realized were so easy to make. Get out the grinding stone and away you go, after not too long, with a little bit of oil and salt, you have all natural peanut butter. That's my update on my food situation and my mention of how much I love peanut butter, on to knitting.

As many people know, knitting is one of those hobbies I learned from Jess last year and have had some fun with it. When I found out that the women at Shantineer knit scarves, I decided I would go knit with them. It was a good way to pass the time and meet some new people. Then I found out that scarves were the only thing these women knew how to knit, what a shame! Needless to say, thanks to my parents for the knitting book with great pictures and some more knitting needles, the women are on their way to making hats and bags, and someday soon a child's sweater! A couple days a week, I love to go in to Shantineer, sit down and pull out some knitting, teach a couple new stitches to the women and give them some new ideas for things to knit. When you leave home for SALT you just never know what kind of serving you will do, and that could not be more obvious to me than when I am sitting there with women teaching them how to knit.

So, the story goes, knitting and peanut butter make my days go by, give me some protein and joy. Life is good.

Shanti.
Steve.

The Success Story that Could have been Much More

I recently wrote a story about the victims of the Sidr storm in November. The people, who had so little, and now have nothing. The people facing the monsoons with grim determination but not much hope. The victims of more than a storm, these are the victims of promises broken, time and time again. The people in these areas do not have the means to solve their own problems. They are in many ways like the poor victims of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans (except that New Orleans is in America). The devastation of Hurricane Katrina is still receiving support from groups years after the storm. In this case, it seems Sidr is but a distant memory.

Here in Bangladesh, the MCC Housing Project has been receiving government officials as guests, officials who are praising the work MCC has done in providing emergency shelter for these victims at a cost well below what anyone imagined possible. These government officials are so impressed that they are willing to help us continue this work. This is a story of success in Sharankhola, in a district where much has been promised and little has been delivered. See the article from the Daily Star, http://www.thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=27440. This is a story of relief working, people in desperate need, who lost everything in an instant, 1400 families now have something they can build on, they have a place to escape the monsoon rains, they have a new place to call home. I want to say congratulations MCC.

But this story of success has an unfortunate ending. As predicted, and as always happens, when the storm is gone, and the people have no food and shelter, the rest of the world turns their backs. And people need not give to the same cause forever, emergency relief is just that, for emergencies. MCC cannot build houses for every victim of Sidr, it just is not possible, but MCC could do so much more with so little financial support. But decisions are made, and there are millions of people around the world who need that money, and despite the success of this story, we are not receiving anymore funds. We will finish off what is pledged to us, and unfortunately we will break the hearts of people who could have received an MCC built house. They will be, yet again, left in their tarpauline tents, to stew in the monsoons; hopefully they will survive and be able to continue rebuilding their lives in the years to come. Hopefully these people will not succumb to the elements, to disease or hunger, hopefully they will have life breathed back into them. I do also wish people in North America and other rich countries, would reconsider allowing this machine to run full force until the monsoons, until building must stop, and until there is nothing left for us to do. I wish this story could be more than a success, I wish it could be an enriching tale of the amazing work MCC does with those people the rest of the world has forgotten about. I wish MCC could be the role model in Bangladesh, that light of Christ that shines when the darkness falls.

This is my hope and my prayer, that the victims of this terrible tragedy that was Sidr and the tragedy to come, which is the monsoons, will find support and respite to give them a boost out of the hole of devastation. That someone will keep their promise and shine a light in the darkness to work with the most desperate of people.

May Peace Abide.
Steve.

Visiting the Hills: Views of Baromari

These photos were taken at Baromari Mission near the Indian border north of Mymensingh in Bangladesh.


This photo is of the reconstruction of a mud house in a village beside Baromari Mission.


This is St. Paul's Parish Church in Baromari Mission, built in 1942.


Baromari Mission has very comfortable accommodations and the sisters' hospitality is to be admired.


Cooking a meal at Baromari Mission (bhat ebong dim). Meals are very tasty and surprisingly varied.


Baromari is a beautiful Catholic Mission situated on the hills mere kilometers from the Indian border. The beauty of the surrounding area makes this Mission something of a retreat within Bangladesh.

Pax.
Steve.

To Have Nothing and Lose it All

"It is a kingly act to assist the fallen." - Mother Teresa

"The forgotten in Bangladesh, never mind the world, those people are the worst affected by this disaster. And the help that will come for the survivors of this disaster is important, but media does something to people which is a blessing and a curse, the media shows the "exciting" stories of the suffering and loss of poor in Southern Bangladesh. The media does not show the boring stories of children wasting away with no rice to eat, the stories of people who have to find a new piece of plastic to use for a house, the stories of the forgotten people in Bangladesh."

This quote is from a post I made following the devastation as cyclone Sidr pummelled the coast of Bangladesh. Since that time, the media attention and awareness of the devastation have waned, but for the people with nothing, the people promised everything and left with nothing, the upcoming reality is grim. I had the fortunate opportunity, along with my parents, to visit MCC Bangladesh's Sidr reconstruction projects in southern Bangladesh. This story will outline the situation we witnessed in the Sherankhola district of Bangladesh.


The home that used to stand on this foundation is gone. Some members of the family who used to live here were probably victims of the storm. The few pieces of tin and straw that would have comprised this house are no more. For months after the storm victims of Sidr's awesome power were found littering the field behind this home. This is what it means to have nothing and lose it all. The images engrained in my memory from this visit to Ward 8 were of plastic huts for houses, boats poking out of the earthen fields far from any water, and people desperately begging MCC to build them houses. People here lost everything in a brutal storm and they are waiting, hoping that someone will come through for them and provide a helping hand, a step up out of the pit.

Emergency relief and aid belongs to the world of politics. Promises are made, money is given, money is used well, money is wasted, promises are kept, promises are broken, and stuck square in the middle of this confusion are the victims. Those people with nothing, the people for whom this aid is destined are the puppets to be thrown around, tugging heartstrings but rarely receiving what they are promised. Millions of dollars have been pledged to rebuild houses destroyed by Sidr, plans are drawn up and districts allotted. The most devastated areas are given to government agencies, because politics is important, and governments need to project a good image. But governments are also beaurocratic black holes, where the money pledged must pass through so many barriers, checks and balances, that the desperately poor victims receive nothing. Such is the case in the Sidr affected areas. Those areas where the devastation was the greatest, are the areas left fending for themselves through the cold and possibly through the coming monsoons. Promised beautiful houses by foreign governments in gestures of goodwill, the people here are becoming cynical. Foreigners come, foreigners leave, promises are made, and they have no assurance that those promises will ever bear fruit. These are the people who need your help!

This is where I will bring MCC into the story. MCC made the decision to provide emergency shelter for as many victims of Sidr as possible. MCC had a plan, politics changed that plan, so MCC made a new plan. MCC made lists of families needing houses in one area, then were told to move to a new area. MCC quickly complied and with the help of dedicated staff (and Matt), MCC started building. Building emergency house I have learned is like running a machine. The right components, the motor, the axles, the drive trains, everything must be in place, and when that happens, presto you have MCC the house building machine. MCC carpenters were putting up over 40 houses per day! MCC's plan involved building 1250 houses, and those houses are now a reality. In less than three months, MCC Bangladesh has built 1250 emergency houses for families devastated by this storm. Driving down the paths in that area was like driving through an exhibition for MCC houses. Little tin MCC built houses on the horizon in every direction. I cannot imagine what this must have been like before any of these houses existed. MCC is building houses faster than any other organization or government I know of in Bangladesh, and this is where you can help!

The MCC Sidr project is a machine running out of gas. The Bangladesh government representatives in the area are taking notice, and MCC is being allowed to work in an area set aside for another group who have not built houses yet. The small tin houses built by MCC are what people in the Sidr affected areas desire as they start to rebuild their lives from scratch. One of the more amazing aspects of this whole operation is that MCC is building houses for less than half the cost of what the Bangladesh government thought it would cost. An MCC built house in the Sidr area costs approximately 20000 Taka or less than $300 per house. MCC is a well oiled machine, trying to go as far as it can on the financial gas it has. Now the reason I am mentioning all of this is in fact what you might think. I will not try to hide my hope that someone out there will not forget about the people here in Bangladesh who lost everything they had. I hope that for those of you who cannot help financially, you will at very least pray for, and think about the people who have been forgotten, like victims of these tragedies around the world.

If you are interested in helping, you can visit the MCC website, mcc.org, and contribute to the rebuilding of houses for Sidr affected victims in Bangladesh.

In Peace.
Steve.

Ki Phol Chai?

Ki phol chai? What fruits do we wish to see? This was one of the opening questions of our three-day peace training with the Taize-brother sponsored Peace Committee. Literally, the question is one of results; what results do we envision arising not just from the training, but also from our broader communities through our Peace Committee. This question encompasses and arouses a multitude of thoughts and pictures in my mind. The most important is that of a fruit tree. For fruits grow not on their own, but on a plant, a tree, a vine, or a stalk; and that plant grew out of a seed. That seed is what we need to plant, which fruit we wish to plant is important, but the most important thing is to plant the seed, because without the seed, the plant, and therefore the fruit will not have the chance to grow.

The peace training over the last three days has proved an inspiring and strong reminder of the power of community and peacebuilding. Together we discussed topics of creative conflict resolution, compassionate listening, power structures, religious dialogue and human rights. With exciting role-plays, fun games, and lively discussions, days seemed to disappear and the participants were engaged and attentive through it all.

The most insightful moments for me during these sessions were the moments of self-realization. Those precious moments when participants discovered something new about themselves and their relationship to their communities and each other. For instance, the realization that they have power in many situations and they must take care to use that power positively or justly, or the understanding that listening goes deeper than the words people say to the feelings and values underlying those words. The questions raised during these discussions were deep and transformational, questions of ones role in their community, of how power can be used positively, and of how listening can be improved and what to listen for. These insights were a powerful reminder of what our goal is in peace education, but the most important message we transmitted during this training is what I will call Creative Solutions.

Creative Solutions seems pretty straight-forward, looking for new ways to solve a conflict. And that was part of the role-plays we did discussing different solutions to a conflict. In this activity we divided the group into three teams to do a role-play to resolve a village land dispute between brothers. Each team was given the same scenario to develop their own solution. As they presented, the solutions to the conflict seemed to remain the same. Now how is this Creative Solutions if the solutions all seemed the same? The answer lay in the process. Each group found a different way to the same solution, a new path to the same town. The idea that was developed out of this activity was one brother Erik and I have been wanting to develop for some time; the idea that there is not one right path to solve a conflict. Not knowing the answer to a question about peace, or not knowing how to resolve a conflict is not a reflection of one's ability to work for peace, it is a chance to grow together and find a new solution. Peace is not about knowing the right answers, peace is about a common goal and a process for coming together. This was the essential element in freeing us from a feeling of inferiority and inadequacy because we did not have the answers.

Ami ki phol chai? What fruit do I wish to see from this Peace Committee? I hope this Peace Committee comes to an understanding of peace as a wholistic and powerful goal of humanity. A vision for the empowerment of not only Mymensingh, or Bangladesh, but the world.

Shanti.
Steve.

Banderban: A Real Retreat

We, the MCC expatriate staff in Bangladesh, had a retreat recently, and did I ever need a retreat. After two months of go, go, go, it was time for a rest. Bangladesh is a country of extremes. It is an intense country and the chance to retreat to somewhere away from the crowds, the smells and the noise, was a prayer come true. Shown a picture of Banderban, I would never have placed the location as Bangladesh. Bangladesh is flat, overflowing with people and rice fields. Bangladesh is not a hilly oasis of tribal groups floating down the river and climbing hills with large bundles of wood.

Banderban was the polar opposite of the Bangladesh I have come to know. But it was exactly what I needed. After some frustrating cultural exchanges and Bangladesh induced stress, the sound of birds and the smell of vegetation was a beautiful reminder of the natural beauty of God's creation.

The resort was a little natural paradise. Bamboo huts on stilts, built off the edge of a large hill. A porch and bathroom with a stunning view of the Burma hills, as they are called. The physical beauty and relaxing atmosphere coupled with time to enjoy the excitement of the children and the chance to exercise was empowering.

The theme of our retreat was meditation. Now meditation is not something I had ever given much thought or time too. I always assumed that meditation was not something for me. I should learn better than to think such things! Meditation provides a powerful time for relaxation, a time to be in concert with creation and with myself. The singing and silence during our sessions was a prayer answered and a peace relished. There was nothing I could have wished for more in that time (Bangladeshi saying), than to have the peace, silence, beauty and solitude that Banderban provided.

Shanti.
Steve.