About two weeks ago I had the privilege of visiting what is translated in English to a "slum" school in Dhaka.  Every year, our school holds a community sale that is used as a fundraiser in order to help cover the costs of running this Christian school, since most of the children that attend are not able to afford to pay anything.

When I walked in with my year 9 class I was greeted by several (maybe 100) children aged around 5 to 8 years old.  They were so excited to see us, but also in shock as most of them had never seen a foreigner before.  After they sang some songs for us and a few of them did some cultural dancing, we had an opportunity to sing some of our rehearsed Christmas Carols and play some games with them.

I was effected by two things while I was there.  Firstly, the joy that was in the faces of all the children there, even though they had what we, in the western world, would consider to be nothing.   Secondly, I was disappointed with the way that some of my teenagers were acting, as if they were too good for these children.  I had a few of them asking if we could skip the trip and just go to Pizza Hut....

I suppose I should be used to the Western cynicism towards the less privileged East, since I do face it often here, however, I suppose I just didn't expect it from international students who are so incredibly exposed to the poverty that is present in Dhaka that you would expect their hearts to be a bit softer towards this tragedy...  

One thing that has become more clear to me through this half term, as I begin to reflect now is shown in this little life experience.

Those with more appreciate less.


Most of my students come from very rich homes, and not saying that I don't, but they are often arguing over the latest phone or pair of jeans much like the western children, and are blinded to the most obvious lack of abundance all around them.  So what can I do as a teacher?  I suppose I can expose them, encourage them, and show them from scripture, something that I have been effected by since the first time I read it.

"For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also"  Matthew 6:21

Where is your heart?  Where are you putting your VALUE.  Is the way in which you define "value" destroying the way you can love one another?  Do you not realize that if you "treasure" the things of this world that your heart is following them?  Why not put your treasure in something that will last forever?

"For as the things of this world shall pass away, and the desires of it also, but those who abideth and doeth the will of God shall live forever"  (1 John 2:17).

Put your trust and faith in a God who won't pass away.  Appreciate what you have as a blessing from Him who gives Eternal life, and quit asking for more, and your joy will be complete through Christ.  Do not look down on those who have less material things, for it may be possible that they have much more in their hearts.
Just a thought, more soon as I catch up on a few events of my end of term in Dhaka.

In Christ,

Corinne

Hi Everyone,

So I arrived early at the Dhaka airport to board my plane to Dubai and was promptly told after my luggage had already been taken, that I was not permitted to board the aircraft...

I have to say that it was one of those moments where you can honestly feel your heart drop to the ground!  After being packed to go 3 days ago, having excited email exchange and huge thanks sent to my Dad for purchasing the ticket for me, I didn't want to believe what he was saying.

It seemed that Air Emirates does not allow passengers on the plane unless they can produce the Credit Card with which they bought the flight, in order to prevent those who have stolen credit cards from buying flights online.  In my case, because my father is in Toronto, this meant there was no way I could produce his credit card, and therefore I was not allowed to fly.

I have to say that God really showed His strength and providence in this time, as it was our immediate response to start calling people and asking for prayer.  I called my Dad after one rather nice official had mercy on my tears and agreed to allow my Dad to email him his passport, credit card, and another piece of photo identification...once this did occur, and with a few more people yelling at me and telling me how lucky I was, as well as having to sign a legal document saying that if anything went wrong that Emirates could cancel my flight and not allow Dhaka immigration to let me back into the country...I was, through heaps of tears, and thankfulness of prayer, allowed to board.

After a quiet flight sitting next to a Bangladeshi man who I was able to show how the seatbelt worked and what headphones were (we take our knowledge for granted!  It was his first time on a plane!), I am now sitting in what I would consider to be the farthest "west" point of the middle east, Terminal 3, in the Dubai airport, on my MacBook, drinking a Venti Soy Extra hot Caramel Macchiato (worth every ridiculous penny, especially since it has been nearly 5 months!).

A huge thanks to all who have prayed, and I will post more about the last few weeks of school as soon as I can!  Until then, I will answer all your emails, as I am SO excited to be sitting here and thankful, that sleep is out of the question :)

See you soon,

In Christ's love,

Corinne

Hi Everyone!

I know I have not posted in a little while and the truth is that so much has happened that I am going to have to go in order so I can capture everything!  So the term is almost over, the reports have been handed out, Christmas play has been done, carols have been sung, and here I am late at night, trying to figure out how to spend my next 6 days here in order to finish everything I need to before the students are gone and I am flying to Toronto to go home for Christmas...

Last week I ran a Popsicle Bridge competition with my Year 8 Design and Technology class.  I enjoyed teaching all about trusses and forces with them, yet the best part was to see their faces as we attempted to test the bridges.  All of them did pass the weight test, yet some better than others.  :)

Here is the best picture, more stories of these final weeks to come.  I am sorry if I haven't gotten back to any of you... my plan is to answer emails during my 8 hour stay in Dubai...

In Christ,

Corinne

Ahhhhh I survived!  I completed my second full school assembly today and although stress was high, I was pleased when I was given the topic of John 3:16.   I have embedded the PowerPoint that I came up with...I felt that there wasn't much I could do to bring the full truth of this verse to light, but I did what I could, and I hope that at least one student listened...
More soon!!

:)

In Christ,

Corinne


John 3v16 Assembly

It is December today and although it is just another day in so many ways, I always find the ends and beginnings of months to bear much sentiment...
I usually find myself thinking... "Wow....it's almost another year over... what did you do with it?".... I find that these feelings are much stronger as the ball drops and the Auld Lang songs begin to play...however I often think about it early, in hopes that I may have a chance to still change some of the things I recall hoping for this year...
In a lot of ways my "year" this time began when I took my first step away from Adam in the Edmonton International Airport and headed onto my first plane of three across the world to Bangladesh...and as my term finishes here I am reflecting on both the last real year, 2009, of my life, as well as the half of this new year in my life.  It is a lot to pull together.  I cannot help but shake the images of some of the horrors I have seen here, as well as those warm thoughts of back home, and struggle often to reconcile my thoughts between the two... Either way I am sure of one thing.... no matter the year, no matter the hour, no matter the place, no matter the breath...  God has been there, even if I have chosen not to recognize it....
Do you feel like you have grown this year?  What would you have said or done differently?  Would you have prayed more?  Loved more?  Been more compassionate?  What are you waiting for?  God has been waiting for you.

In Christ,
Corinne.

 "Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest" (Joshua 1:9)

The meat from the sacrifice of Eid al-Adha is mostly given away to others. One-third is eaten by immediate family and relatives, one-third is given away to friends, and one-third is donated to the poor. The act symbolizes their willingness to give up things that are of benefit to them or close to their hearts, in order to follow allah's commands.

It is very important to understand that the sacrifice itself, as practiced by Muslims, has nothing to do with atoning for our sins or using the blood to wash ourselves from sin. This is a misunderstanding by those of previous generations: "It is not their meat nor their blood that reaches Allah; it is your piety that reaches Him." (Qur'an 22:37)

On the first morning of Eid al-Adha, Muslims around the world attend morning prayers at their local mosques. Prayers are followed by visits with family and friends, and the exchange of greetings and gifts. At some point, members of the family will visit a local farm or otherwise will make arrangements for the slaughter of an animal. The meat is distributed during the days of the holiday or shortly thereafter.

Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 

This weekend the Festival of Eid al-Adha is celebrated by Muslims here in Dhaka, and worldwide, to commemorate the willingness of Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac as an act of obedience to God.
Eid al-Adha is the latter of the two Eid festivals here, as the first  one is much like our Christmas and is preceded by the 40 days of Ramadan.
The festival will last three days or more, and occurs the day after the pilgrims conduction Hajj (the annual pilgrimage to Mecca), descend from Mount Arafat.

Tradition
All Muslims are expected to wear their finest clothing while performing the Eid prayer, which occurs in a large congregation or  mosque.  Then there is a sacrifice performed on the best household or bought animal that is most likely sheep and goats, but the rich can afford camels, cows and horses.
The sacrifices are done in the streets throughout Dhaka and there is blood drained out everywhere.  Being that it is not rain season, the blood stays on the street for weeks.  I know it is hard for you to picture this, and I will post some censored photos after this weekend.
The meat from the animals is chopped up and distributed to everyone,  it is common to see people walking down the street with their hands and bags covered in blood as they pick up and distribute sacrificed meat.

I can't say that I am really excited about this since the number of goats and sheep tied to trees in front of houses is increasing and they are very cute... I will be sure to post my thoughts on it after the event!

Until then, report writing continues....

On a light note!  My roommate has discovered Strawberry syrrup at the grocery store... it tastes a bit funny and is highly diluted... but we decided that when we were done reports we would have a celebration of our own which will include "italian sodas" since we have also discovered small cans of soda water....

Just felt like sharing!  I was pretty excited.  :)   I am freezing today... it's only + 25C out....

In Christ,

Corinne

The parks in and around our little area of Dhaka are actually quite beautiful and well-kept.  Here you can see three of us, myself, Hannah (my Korean roommate), and Sue (head of First School) in a park not too far from our apartments.  Although we do still have issues with getting followed and stared at sometimes, for the most part it is acceptable and safe to go here and walk and escape from the city.
Overall, I still do have moments where I feel out of place, yet I am trying to find "my version" of Dhaka, which I have found is entirely based on my attitude.
For example... when I was riding a rickshaw home from school the other day, I found myself almost shocked to pass a man riding the other way with his two monkeys sitting on the seat beside him...  you can see this two ways... you can laugh and say "Wow I wish I had my camera"  (like I did!), or you can get upset about how Dhaka isn't more civilized and Western.

I am really starting to appreciate the differences and I think that that in itself is part of the experience here... just because something is different doesn't mean that it's wrong.  Who wouldn't want their pet monkeys on the rickshaw with them?  Makes sense right? :)
That's all for today, I am just trying to note these little things more often.  Report cards are still weighing me down so I haven't been answering emails.  Please bear with me and I will get to you soon! :)

Thanks again for all of your support, it is much needed!

In Christ,
Corinne

These last few weeks have just flown by as I start planning many things as "year end" projects.  I am absolutely stunned that the time has gone by this quickly and I really barely feel like I have even settled in.  I do notice a difference in my reaction to large cockroaches.... the screams have stopped and now are replaced with mumbling and fumbling for the highly toxic spray...  but some other things have changed too that are far less obvious.

A girl was hit by a car and killed on the street in front of school today... I was speechless when I heard the news.  I felt as I had been struck.  So many things came to my mind, and after some reflection I have finally had a chance to nail down a few of them with words...

I suppose the first thing that bothered me was that her soul is now in eternity... and only God actually knows where she went.
As most of you know, I believe in one life and one death, and that if we are in this life that we can make a crucial choice about whether or not to accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior and follow Him.  Once we do die, I believe that our soul goes on into eternity in one of two places, heaven, which is a glory filled lifetime with God, or hell, which is a fire filled painful place of darkness away from God.

My thoughts then floated to how and what I could learn from this.... I thought about whether or not the girl knew that morning when she ran barefoot away from her tin-roof home that it would be her last... if her mother knew when she waved goodbye... sometimes I think that we can have a feeling about these things, like an instinct or a reminder in our hearts to cherish what we have...but perhaps that is more rare than we would like it to be, and even more likely, perhaps we are too busy to feel it.

I think that God does give us "reminders" in life, and that more often than not he uses other people to do so... today, for instance, I recognized that we not only need to be thankful to God for what we DO have, but also for what we do not.  That His grace is the reason I was not in the place of the girl in the street today, and that there is no other reason that I am kept alive.  

I am thankful that in 1 John 5:11 - 13 that God himself tells us this:

So I have decided to recognize that I am missing fall and winter by updating the season on my blog. Fall is one of my favorite and it is still about 30 above here! :)

Corinne :)

Hi Everyone!

Ok so I have to admit that I have been the most ill I have ever been in my entire life this week.... well, at least that I can remember... so I have had the week off from school. Praise God that the other teachers were able to step in and help out! I am recovering after some medicine and am feeling MUCH better than at the beginning of the week. A huge thank you to all the people who knew about this and were praying! :)

On a lighter note! I finally had some flavored water today (first real beverage after almost a week, still not doing well with food....), and so I finished and wanted to brush my teeth (naturally), and therefore went into my bathroom, rather sleepily picked up my toothbrush and went to grab the paste when I looked down (luckily) to see JUST IN TIME a 1.5 inch long dead cockroach fall off of my toothbrush!!!!

EEEEEEeeeeeWWWWWW!!!!!

Yes. That is a girly scream, and you can most surely insert flapping of arms and jumping.

It was seriously disgusting and I immediately disposed of the toothbrush and have managed to raid all of our cupboards to find a glass jar to house my new brush (special thanks to my dentist who gave me extra brushes to bring).

Can you imagine?!??! EEeeeeewwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.......

So anyhow, it looks like we need to "re-chalk" our house because I ventured out of my room at 1:40Am to share this with you (internet is only available close to the window in the common room), and nearly stepped on a 3-4" roach! My new weapon of choice? The iron. You simply just drop it straight down from a decent hight and leave it to be discovered by my fabulous Australian flat mate who happily wears the hat of roach cleaner after I exterminated her spider last month.

Ahhhhhhhhhh life in Bangladesh..... Can you BELIEVE It is only 8 more weeks until Christmas?

Unbelievable.

I do have more reflective and coherant thoughts to share soon, but figured the toothbrush story took the cake for now :)

More soon!

In Christ,

Corinne

Check out Nepali Pictures here if the slideshow below isn't working:

http://picasaweb.google.com/crolson/NepalTripOctober2009?authkey=Gv1sRgCPPz57ytvqCEjgE&feat=directlink

This past week we had a vacation from school and three of us (myself Hannah and Shannon) travelled to Nepal! It was great to have the opportunity to do something like this for an amazingly low price and God definitely blessed us with people who helped us find our way around the whole time!
The pictures are attached here with captions saying what they are.




The best part of the trip is twofold, firstly, whitewater rafting was amazing, yet there are no pictures. The scenery was like nothing I have ever seen before, as we rafted through the mountains and valleys, as the sun shone on the green plush surroundings. It was one of the best experiences I have had in my many times traveling.

The second part of the trip that I enjoyed was the escape from our surroundings here in Dhaka. It gave me a chance to remember that I was, in fact, here. I know that sounds strange, but sometimes you need to leave a place to realize this. I found it odd to notice myself saying "when I get home" and referring to Dhaka, and the reality of my journey here is finally starting to settle in.

It was however, quite hard to see all the idols and temples of the other religions (mainly Hindu and Buddhist). I found it hard to see how many people have spent many hours worshiping things made by man and idols made of things that too shall pass. I am thankful that I have come to know a God that surpasses time, and I pray for the people of Nepal.

Speaking of the people and the culture, both were completely different than here in Bangladesh.

So I took a wonderful picture of the massive spider I saw at school.... then proceeded to hear Kim SCREAM in her room when she found one under her bed.... I just thought I would share :) They are called "Huntsman Spiders" from what I could figure on the internet, so Kim proceeded to take pictures of me as I attacked it with our house broom.... It went well and we managed to contain it without too much girly screaming into our laundry area.... we decided we will make do with the clothes that we have until we can let someone of courage enter the room later and dispose of it... :)

What does a child in Dhaka dream? What are their ambitions?

Hello Everyone!

Hello everyone!
It has been a very quick few days since I have last written. I am often up very late (like now), attempting to complete everything before the sun rises the next day. I am quite exhausted and could require some prayers! I haven't had internet or power these last few days so I haven't had a chance to write to you. I have some interesting updates I would love to post soon so please stay tuned for this weekend where I will hopefully have a chance to tell you some more "Only in Bangladesh" stories and post more pictures.
Thank you for all your prayers, I am doing well, just very tired and working very hard.

In Christ,
Corinne
Psalm 29:11

Many of you asked me “Why are you going to Bangladesh” and I hopefully answered that I felt God wanted me to learn something here, maybe that I wasn’t really sure what it was, but that I had felt God showing me a direction or ‘vision’, and that I was willing to be a part of it. I was excited to grow and to learn; yet I was also willing to give and to serve others.

In complete truth I often wonder what I am doing here and how a young Canadian woman can have an impact in a society of millions. I am reminded of something I used to think about years ago; that it is not the big things that you didn’t do, but the small things that you did do.

Perhaps no one will ever remember that I didn’t teach all of Bangladesh to know Christ as their Savior, and perhaps I won’t feed all the hungry, and clothe all the poor…but perhaps, Lord willing, I will change one life, impact one heart, and show love to one person who figured that the world had forgotten them...and I can tell you truthfully, it would make my entire year worth every moment.

I am really not sure how all of this will add up here in Bangladesh…how do I cope when I walk by a woman who has been cast out of her family and burned with acid begging on the street…or when I say “na na’ to the children that bombard me in the markets in order to avoid being completely mulled if I only give to one…how can I gather the courage and strength I need to change the world for one person when I struggle in my days to understand the society and language and find my own place in it?

These are the questions I pose to God in submission to His will for my life while trying to remind myself that really, honestly, and truthfully, we never do know where we are going in life do we? I mean, sure, even back there in the West, back in Edmonton, do you really know where you are going to be tomorrow? Can you really say that for sure? What control do we really have in life?

We like to think we have a direction, perhaps a vision or a dream, yet really, even in the strongest of times do we really ever know what is best for us? As I am sitting here reflecting on why I thought I came here, what I thought I would be doing and how I thought things would go. I have to be honest in saying that I am excited to find out how wrong I really was! I hope you are following me. What I am trying to say, God puts concisely in Isaiah 55:8-9: “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, saith the Lord, For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.” I still don’t know where I am going, or what I am doing, as none of us do. But I do know one thing, whatever it is that God has in store for me, I am willing, ready, and will give it all that I have in me.

When it comes down to it, we really are much the same aren’t we? We all feel sorrow and pain, regret and joy, happiness and peace. We all have a sense of desire to understand a greater picture. Perhaps if we all started our days realizing this there would be a lot more love and grace in the world today.

-- Corinne Olson, Aug 29/09

Praise the Lord! I have made it through three weeks of teaching. I am not really sure where to begin. I suppose I should say that I have had a few moments where I have questioned my ability to function here as a teacher, and others where I have felt like I really could do this. It really is finding a balance somewhere in the middle that allows us to be human in it all!

The first day went well, I only went to the wrong classroom once, and the worst of the day was teaching my year 8’s my year 9 introductory lesson! The students here are quite forgiving though and I am therefore enjoying my time so far. As for quirks you will only find in Bangladesh…I have learned the hard way that you are never to leave your cup of tea unattended for even a moment! Even worse is your biscuits or bread that you planned on having…it may just have a cockroach in it when you go to take a second sip! Yes you learn the hard way around here to always SLAM the toilet seat before you sit on it, always shake the toaster before you put your toast in, and be sure to turn on the light in a room before you enter it, wait a moment, let the roaches hide, and then proceed to enter. I have only been violently ill once, and have managed to find my way around the city a bit more. Most of the time I walk home from school despite the constant heckling and people literally staring at me, (I mean they come up to your face, about 4 inches away and look at you, this is usually right before they take a photograph or run to tell their friends). Apparently here it is not rude to stare!

So around 3 weeks ago before school started, a group of the teachers headed out to explore the canals of Old Dhaka. We also visited the Armenian Church and the Lalbagh Fort. Since then, we had our first staff retreat out at the Hope Center, which I will tell you more about next time, and now I am finally able to say that I have survived a month!

Firstly, the fishing ports! Well, quite the experience really. We hired boat to ride up and down the main river and I got some wonderful pictures of how the people live by the water; washing their clothes with children playing, which was really a blessing. One rather interesting thing is that they did have a small motor on the boat that they would use from time to time, however, it was right in the center of the boat which allowed water to come in! So about every 20 minutes or so we would be asked to move off to the sides so they could scoop out the water!

The smell of garbage is definitely obvious, and the people still stop and stare, even from their boats! Poverty and pollution are everywhere juxtaposed rather seamlessly with well built “rich” apartment blocks and beautiful gardens. I have managed to capture a few pictures of this in my long walks through the city. I am enjoying my time here, and am getting surprisingly used to how things are.

The Armenian church is the oldest standing church in Bangladesh and was erected in 1781 by Orthodox American Christians who started entering the country for trading in the 12^th century. The church seats about 100 people as well as a choir in an old fashioned wooden choir loft. Within the walls of the church that there was a unique sense of tranquility, something that is a rare gem here. The church is still used today and has services on Sundays, which is rare here since the holy day is Friday.

The Lalbagh Fort was started by Prince Muhammad Azam during his 15 month reign in 1678. He was recalled to Aurangzeb and the Fort was left to Shaista Khan, who reigned until 1688, yet did not finish the Fort due to the death of his daughter Bibi in 1684. A tomb was made specifically for her.

We were not permitted to take photographs, yet the inside is beautifully covered in floral tablets and white marble. The Department of Agriculture has taken over the Fort as a historic site as they are still discovering many underground passageways and tunnels. It is uncertain where all of them lead. The mosque, the museum, and the gardens were well kept and housed beautiful flowers. It is interesting to see how many couples come here to sit in the gardens. You don’t usually see men and women holding hands in public, but in gardens and parks they do and it’s quite cute!

On the way home from the trip the roads were flooded! Not something that happens often in Canada but during monsoon season here it is a regular occurrence, and people just embrace it the same way they do a lot of things here that we would find to be quite appalling! Notice how the child is sitting on the corner of the back of the rickshaw, the man riding on top of the bus, and the child hanging out the window! Certainly different here!

Ok so I am definitely having an issue with Bangladesh right now! It can be expected... I have been here just about a month! :) Ok so I have been sick with the flu for two days (+ chrone's disease is never fun...even in Canada), and I'm pulling through that but am now up late (it's midnight right now) preparing for my lessons tomorrow as I haven't been able to for the last few days...and that is fine, but I just walked into my room to grab a different colored pencil to keep working on paper since the power and internet have been down (making lesson planning quite difficult) when I reached for a pen and a cockroach skittles across my desk! Lovely! So I screamed and grabbed my trusty bug-spray that advertises "Instant death!" and begin to spray this thing since it is larger than most miniature cucumbers and I figure if I hit it with anything I end up with roach-juice and body parts all over my desk and proceed to empty nearly half the can of this "death spray" before the thing falls to the floor and begins to twitch for nearly 20 minutes! Meanwhile, I now have a sore throat from ingesting enough of this toxic chemical that I figure I will be twitching by the time I leave this country and now my items on my desk are also covered. Even more lovely! So I proceed to "get over it" because this is Bangladesh after all, realize that I still have at least 2 hours worth of work to do even though it is midnight and the bus comes at 6 am, and decide I should wash my hands, grab my pen that I first went in there for, and get back to work. Alas, go to my sink...no water. Lovely. So anyhow, I finally decided that the roach, now laying dead on my floor next to my desk (although his legs still twitching.... silly death spray...), should probably be removed from my room or I know I will never sleep.... so I went hunting for a stick, managed to find one in the broom closet (praise the Lord there were no more roaches), and slowly managed to push his corpse out of my room into the laundry area for our housekeeper to take care of tomorrow. Alas, now I am back to work... a typical night in Bangladesh that sometimes really just makes me want to go home! :)
Just thought I would share that with you... :) Much prayers for sanity needed...