Those first few days flew by in Dhaka, and then we headed out for our first outreach location : Fatikchuri! After around 8 hours of bus and C&G rides, we finally made it! Let me tell you, it is definitely not easy traveling with 12 people and the amount of luggage we have in Bangladesh! We have had some pretty interesting travel experiences, and we as a team have gotten really good at learning how to squish and into small spaces to fit more!
The closer we got to the village, the city life faded off. behold! the simple life was our life! About an hour or two before we got to the village, there was barely any lights except in a few markets, and then soon there were no cars to be found. Finally we arrived as the moon was high and giggling was outside all around us. We were met by candles which was super cool. And we followed them and hiked to our hostile in the dark with our headlamps; It reminded me of outdoor school. <3
Because we were so tired from that day, we crashed pretty quick after managing to grab out what we needed for our sleeping. In the morning we woke to the sun coming in from the windows. Children’s hands grabbed the iron bars in the windows and said their hellos. IT was so cute! We were in a real hostile! When we got a better look at the place we could get a good picture of where we were actually staying. We had managed to fit 12 girls into a very small space in the house, i’d say about 14 x 9 or something with just a curtain at shoulder height for a little bit of privacy from the front door and boys side, while the boys had the other side.
I walked outside and the sweet breeze of fresh air filled my senses and I felt like I was in a whole other country! It was so different than the Dhaka that we had just experienced. and i was ready for this adventure. We learned fast that this village was Hindu and that they spoke Tripura. In Bangladesh there are three main tribal groups- Tripura, Chakma, and Marma. Each with their own language and culture, so I learned quite a bit of the language in the ten days that i was there for, more than the bangla that I know to date. For the majority, many of them had never heard of Jesus before. It was so cool to be the first to plant seeds!
The mornings were usually a little chilly for most but by the afternoon, the blazing sun peeked through the fog and it was so warm! We were surrounded by fields, and hut houses on the outskirts. There were always goats and cows and chickens just running around everywhere. Usually everyday we would catch the women coming home with baskets over their heads coming home from a days work. The dress in the villages are a lot less conserved than the cities.
The children were very shy at first and you could tell that not many people had come through to play with them. Language barriers are tough! I remember feeling like this when I had been to the orphanage in Nicaragua: wanting to say so much but actions HAD to speak louder than words since that was the only way you could really communicate. Half way through the week the kids really became a lot more open and playful with us. out of everyone of our team, they knew my name the most because to them it sounded a lot like Chocolate! Sometimes i couldn’t tell which word they were calling out, but it was so cute waking up to the kids at our windows yelling out: JAclyn! Jaclyn! or Chocolate, Chocolate! haha I had my favorites that would always be wanting to play and hang out: Especially two girls that I still remember and love Ennie and Carpa. Carpa tried to teach me her language as she took me for a adventure walk pointing out different plants and objects and telling the word. Gosh I miss them!
Our ministry consisted mostly of doing house visits to the different parts of the community as well as children ministry. I was never told how many people were in the whole village but I was told that there were around 900 children! We split up into three different groups to cover more ground.
I loved those house visits and I really loved the opportunities to speak out and take leadership in my groups to tell the gospel to people through a translator. The people were soo grateful for us to come and wished they could have given us food but because of the extreme poverty in the village, they were not able to which was totally okay! We saw so many different situations and houses. It makes you definitely be thankful for what you are blessed with.
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| Vivian and I with our goats! |
ON one of the many occasions I had the incredible opportunity to lead a old man with tuberculosis to the Lord with the holy spirits help:) It was so beautiful it brought tears to my eyes! I believe that was my first time that I had ever walked through that before with someone. What an honor and privilege that God allowed us to be a part of this! One of my most favorite memories of outreach for sure!
I was put in charge of making the Christmas program so I wrote out a musical and at the end of our time we performed it for a crowd of around 75 people! It worked so well and even the shepherds used live props for their sheep!
Another exciting thing and favorite memory in the village was that girls were allowed to play soccer! Don’t worry! we still wore our sawra camis, but we just tied our scarf in a more active way! Me and my friend Hannah took full advantage of this and played whenever we could! We were the only girls! I’m sure for some of them, it was the first time they’d ever seen a girl play before! We would usually play before the sun set and one time we had a chance to go take a shower after and me and Hannah were pumped because sometimes we would just have to use wet-wipes since we were not allowed! Also, my bear one time got stolen by the children that had seen though the window. Don’t worry! I got him back!
OH I forgot to mention we got to bathe in the river! So fun and free! YEs this was the most simple life I have ever experienced. The village was mostly all uneducated people, not knowing how to read. There was no electricity, no clean drinking water, and the sleep was sometimes hard, but I loved Fatikchuri so much. I wish i could go back.
Here was also where I picked up my old love and tried to teach myself what I remembered of the guitar. I got to lead worship for the first time un-expectantly one night which was so awesome! I want to continue with this gift!
OUr team definitely had it’s hard times here. For many this life was so different that it was hard getting used to. Everyday we had to cross a stream, and together we would have to carry sometimes people over it which was fun. Side note: Jenny and I had both felt like we should help build a bridge for the people, but we were not the first apparently to have this burden and there are complications that don’t make it “that” easy. So we are continuing to pray for what God’s plan for this could be! Sickness first plagued many members of our team here. People were hit hard, and throughout outreach there has not been a ton of meals where we have all come to feeling great. Fortunately, I have not been bed sick yet ptl. But it definitely weighs on the team a lot. So if you could pray for this as well for disunity to not break our team apart- very big prayer requests, but with God all things are possible. Food sometimes haas been hard as well, in Fatikchuri the food was delicious while other people sometimes had a hard time. Breakfast (again) was my favorite! There was a tea shop that we went to every morning for some delicious milk tea and these pancake thing that puffed up in delicious goodness, haaha i couldn't get enough. All while the “men’s group” would be watching us from outside the shop. haha
One of the things I miss most of the village was the team there that helped us. There were 7: Onjo, Rafiel (Raf), Shagor (Shogar), Gabriel (Gabe), Newton, and Mark as their leader. We got so close to them as they were like a family. We had so much fun playing cards and just getting to know them. What fun and witty personalities, gosh it’s hard to say goodbye, and the last night was filled with tears and discussions of the fond memories we had. They had a good reminder: if we won’t get to see them again, at least we will see them in heaven!
Those ten days flew by so fast, and I could not believe it came when it did, but the memories will always last from Fatikchuri! Always will i remember the deep talks with my team and relationships I built. I loved having Jesus time in the field and then being swarmed with children wanting to braid my hair all the time and listen to my ipod.
God bless Fatikchuri!
