Bangla Hope

Some of our medical team with a few of the bangali staff and a couple small squirts

Nojah and I arrived home late last night and I have been thinking all day about how to tell our story. I was going to wait until tomorrow however I am off schedule and completely awake, so I guess there is no better time to write.

Our sleeping quarters, with Nojah still sleeping

I think I will just split the stories into 2 different sections Bangla Hope and Bangladesh. I wish I would have kept a journal while we were there, however I didn't find much time to write. After about a 40 hour journey of planes and a van ride (in the honking death bus 2000) we arrived on the night of December 29th to Bangla Hope Orphanage, what would be our home for the next 7 nights. We slept well that night and were greeted in the morning by a herd of little ones running up to us with giant smiles and outreached hands having already rehearsed Nojah's name and ready to play. They instantly brought both smiles and tears to my eyes and I knew that it would be an amazing week. After breakfast we spent the first day doing Dental and Medical check-ups on all 106 beautiful bangali children. I believe they have 85 girls and 21 boys at this time. Nojah helped with fluoride and was so wonderful with the kids. Along with check-ups we did a lot of walks, hand holding and packing little ones around the orphanage grounds and in the afternoon we set up our pharmacy and began clinic's for the Haziapur villagers.

Nojah, a play toy for the kids :-)

Taking on the challenge of fluoride treatments

For the next day and a half we saw local patients from about 9am until 5pm. They would come to the gates of Bangla hope and given a number and then seen in order as quickly and thoroughly as Jonathan (our MD) and I could see them. It didn't take long for me to assume the title "doctor". It didn't matter that I tried to explain I was a nurse, they didn't understand and one of my translators said "Is it ok if I just call you doctor, it's much easier?" and so for the next 7 days I was "doctor" or "the doctor" or "Nojah's mother". While seeing the patients from the village I would say that the most common complaints were joint pain, skin infections, concerns with menstrual pain, irregularities and or discharge (women aren't valued if they don't have regular periods and can't have babies so it was a huge concern there) We saw some lung disease, congenital anomalies, and chronic runny noses and colds (probably due to the severe pollution) among other weird random stuff. While we were seeing patients our dentist and general surgeon were doing tooth extractions and seeing those with dental concerns. Our Dentist Ted was an AMAZING 90 year old man who could have passed for 70 and has been to over 80 different countries and practiced medicine in over 20. He was sharp as a tack and had a bazillion stories that he shared with us all week.

7 month oldish baby from a village with thick yellow nails (hands and feet) a slightly odd shaped head and skin abnormalities. This fit in the category of the "weird".

Bangla Hope is a Christian organization was started 17 years ago and is continuing to grow. The children are well cared for and happy. Each child has an amazing story and I believe all of them came to the Orphanage under the age of 1. Children aren't allowed by the government to be adopted outside of Bangladesh and so due to their cultural beliefs and the intense poverty they will remain at the orphanage until they can go out on their own. The founders and owners of Bangla hope Dave and Beverly Waid were able to adopt one of the children with MANY hassles along the way and this adoption was described as a miracle. They spend about 6 months a year in Bangladesh and then the remaining time at home in Washington. The Orphanage I believe has 20 + caregivers who room in with the children and care for them day in and day out. Then there are many more employee's who do the laundry, guard the grounds, teach school and keep the orphanage running. Even though it was my first visit to an orphanage I was impressed at the cleanliness, simplicity, and care of the children as well as the kindness of everyone. Many of the children rely on sponsors for their clothing, school supplies and food (although they do all get equal shares of food).

Tuli and I. She translated for me during medical clinics and was wonderful. She is about 19 years old and has grown up at the orphanage because her mom died of Tetanus when she was young.

Chow time

Not a great picture but here are the pots and some of the kids eating on their mats.

It's their cold dry season and it was quite chilly while we were there. Nojah and I brought a few jackets and warm jammies for the kids and all of them were spoken for the next morning. One child Danny who is 8 was sent with me to pick out a new jacket, and only having "girl colors" in his size I was afraid he wouldn't like them. I was wrong. After I showed him the 3 that would most likely fit he said with a big smile "Can I have the pink one?" After he tried it on and it fit perfectly he thanked me multiple times with hugs and huge smiles and ran to show everyone his new jacket and pockets. Apparently they had tried to get him a winter jacket the previous week and couldn't due to the prices of them.

Danny with his new jacket :-)

The children's rooms are simple with white walls and cribs and beds. The school age children are all taught Bangla, English, math, etc and the older ones are speaking great English. They are fed 3 meals a day where they lay out all the mats in the cafeteria and all the children take a seat and wait patiently for their plate and spoons and for the prayer to be said and then are served from 2 or 3 large pots that have rice and dahl, noodles with veggies and or fruit. From what I saw they consume it all and then head out to play. It's was quite the site to watch meal time unfold. Another thing that caught my curiosity was potty training. You would walk by the nursery and see these little ones barely old enough to walk sitting on mini potty chairs. They potty train the kids at 1 because diapers are so much work and what's even crazier is it works. They just have 3 or 4 times a day that the kids are scheduled to sit on the pot and wa la potty training just happens. However I believe their water/fluids are limited compared to our little American babies running around with juice cups and bottles all hours of the day.

Also another tidbit of info. When I say about 4 years old or 20ish it's because they do not have birth certificates or know their birthdays so age is always just a guess by looking at someone or asking them how old they thought they were.

These were kids ranging from 10-15 years of age that either had parents who worked there or were orphans. From Left to Right Timon, Sonia, Nojah, Matalie, and Mali

Even though there are many more stories to share of the orphanage it's self, the children and the beautiful staff I will have to call it quits. Hopefully tomorrow I will have it in me to blog some more and by the end of the week I can have it all written down. If anyone is interested in learning more about the orphanage the website address is http://www.banglahope.org/