Mud, elephants, and jackfruit

Not going to school today...the elephants wouldn't let me sleep.

The girls at the orphanage sing their hearts out for us.

All the new staff with a sister and the driver and Phoebe.

They are standing in prime position for mud flinging from the tire spinning, and some did get muddy.

This week is the orientation for all the new staff in MCCB that have been hired over the last 6 months or so. They are traveling all over Bangladesh visiting all the offices, seeing some partners, and learning about all the programs. It just so happens that all of these new staff are women. This is probably the first time in the history of MCCB that this has happened.

They were in Mymensingh yesterday and invited me to go to one of the missions that MCC's Global Family program supports. Early this morning we set out for Baramari Mission in the rain (monsoon!). If you had a superhighway from Mymensingh to the Baramari mission it might take less than an hour to get there. When you add in thousands of chickens, shaky bridges, stupid goats, potholes the size of small ponds, hundreds of dogs, village children, overloaded rickshaws, cows tripping over the rope they are tied to on 12 inches of ground between the road the pond, and other surprises that just happen when so many people live in such a small space it takes three hours. I'd say our average speed was 20 km/hr., because our driver did not want to kill the chickens, goats, dogs, or children as they are important to the people that they belong to. I will only say that I think this is where Dhaka buys all its chickens from, and that this trip only solidified my hatred of goats - most animals move away from a moving vehicle, not toward it.

Then the van got stuck in the mud. It's hard to tell how deep a mud puddle is or which mud puddle to drive through when the entire road is covered in them. Our driver chose the wrong one, and it took all 13 of us getting out, a lot of tire (and mud) spinning, and some careful maneuvering before the van was out of the very deep mud. A crowd formed instantly to watch the entire interesting event.

We arrived at the mission to find the sisters very eager to show us around and feed us. They had not slept much the night before as elephants from India had been tearing around the mission destroying things and knocking down jackfruits. Fortunately (or maybe unfortunately) the elephants didn't eat the jackfruits, probably due to the strong smell and taste of the fruit. When we had our morning coffee on arrival, they served pitas, bananas, and jackfruit. This was the first time I have been offered jackfruit this season, and it had been long enough that I still had some desire to be culturally appropriate and eat one. I took a piece and smoothered it in moorie. Then I had to smoother my gagging reflex - definately early jackfruit - a bit soft.

We walked over to the mission school to find it empty except for a few teachers. I understand that the sisters are very strict with the students, but maybe not strict enough as no one came to school today. Their excuse....they didn't get any sleep because of the noise of the wild elephants and it was raining. Exactly the same as our, "the dog ate my homework."

The missions are always beautiful with lovely big buildings, gardens, hospitals, schools, and orphanages. This one had 12 huge crosses along a path that went up a hill to the top where there were 3 crosses. We didn't see all the crosses, we stopped when we got to the cross that had been bent by an elephant. It felt good to use unused muscles and walk up a hill, and we were able to see India.

We went to the orphanage and saw where all the girls stay, eat, pray, and study. These girls aren't necessarily "orphans," but girls from poor families who can't afford to properly raise or educate them. The girls danced and sang for us on the roof of the orphanage.