The Real Bangladesh

We finally got to go back to work today! And we got to travel outside of the city of Dhaka for the first time. We started with morning devotion, then Holly, Lawrence, and I took a Rickshaw to visit the sick cow we saw last Tuesday - she's doing better!!! :) Then we took a Rickshaw to a bus station (of sorts - really just a gathering of buses right in the middle of the street) and actually took a cab out to a village to visit a farm. They had 2,000 laying chickens - not our area of expertise, but Lawrence knows a lot about birds. The farm and farmer were very nice. We took a CNG (compressed natural gas) auto rickshaw back to Dhaka. Picture a motorcycle with a cab on it - and a back seat that will hold 3 people. It has three wheels (one in front, two in rear) and is bright green. They, like the Rickshaws, are EVERYWHERE!!! Riding in them is a bit like this: remember the movie 'Indiania Jones and the Last Crusade?' There is a scence where Indiana Jones is in a speedboat, being chased by a speedboat - and they go in between two very large boats being pushed together by tugboats. Indiana's boat barely squeezes through, the other doesn't make it. That's what it's like here. We are constantly being 'squeezed' in between cars and buses. They say the laws of physics don't apply in Dhaka - there is always enough room. But it is terrifying!!!

The village areas are beautiful - very green. Lots of crops - they have very fertile soil. We are definitely getting enough veggies to eat! You all would be so proud of all that I am eating! Cabbage, eggplant, carrots, califlower, onions, beans, potatoes, all kinds of things I don't even know, too! The spices make them yummy!

I need a favor from Dr. B and Dr. Nice. Holly and I think that Dhaka is a perfect place to raise rabbits. They don't have much room - so rabbits would be a good thing to raise in order to provide meat. The thing is, we haven't seen any - and no one knows if rabbits can survive this heat. Are they heat tolerant? And where would be the closest place we could get them? Heifer project sends rabbits, so maybe you could call them to find out where would be the closest distributor. Just send me an email when you get some info, thanks!

I just got a phone call from the Campus Crusade director here in Dhaka. Steve Young emailed him - so he called me. He is going to meet with Holly and I tonight and arrange for us to speak and share our testimony somewhere. Great!

Ok, gotta run.