.....and can you do some pre-school teacher training!

"Sure why not... hang on I have no preschool teacher training!"
"That's OK you have more training than they do! Anything you can do will be helpful. Just go and observe and see what you might be able to offer!'

So off I went....



BUT first what is preschool in rural Bangladesh? I can certainly tell you it is not lots of 4 year olds playing in the home corner or with dough and painting or even learning to write their name! For children to be allowed to attend school here they must pass an entrance exam where they need to know both English alphabet and Bangla Script and numbers in both English and Bangla. If you are poor and illiterate how can you prepare your child for the exam? That is where our preschools come in! We provide fee free pre-schools for 2 hours a day 6 days a week for poor and marginalized children. In keeping with the Bangla way of doing things classes are held on mats on the floor and largely by rote.

So as I observed I was being observed


... situation normal as a Bedeshi ... The resources where extrememly limited. 1 blackboard (1.2 m x 80cm) mats for the floor, small blackboard, chalk, 1 book, 1 pencil and sharpners and erasers to share. The children sat around the edge of the room on the floor matting repeating the alphabet and numbers.



OK so I am not preschool trained and this is nothing like education as I know it. ..... how can I help.... let's avoid that for a month or two.

So some time later I tried again and visited another few preschools. These had had the benefit of being given some resources and training by Nina Sampson. Much was the same... observer being observed


... rote learning...BUT The puppets Nina provided came out. They were looking fairly new so I wondered if they had been used much but the children clearly knew the rhymes and songs. When the jigsaw puzzles came out however, the children had no idea how to use them. It was good to see children in smaller groups rather than all doing the same thing.




At the second preschool for the day the puppets again came out but this time they were used for a different rhyme. I hear many saying "yeah so?"... but here that means a lot. Remember everything is by rote and everyone the same. The children again where familiar with the rhymes and could use the puppets. This encouraged me that the resources where being used AND it was adding variety to "the curriculum". I was on to some ideas I thought I could contribute ...

So off the the key board... emails were sent. I need $50 for each kit... 22 preschools without kits. My church had said if I had a particluar need ask... so I did. In our general email I asked people to join in. I had one response straight away so went ahead in faith.... and I wondered if my school might even help.... no I wouldn't ask... but one wonderful teacher took it up with her class and the staff anyway.

Jacquie suggested we add a ball to the kit and I thought some plastic fruit might have a variety of uses but we would forget about the puzzles. Alphabet and script charts are a must.

Jacquie and I headed out and ordered puppets


and went off to New Market ... well there are always adventures shopping and while my husband was impresed with my bargining skills I actually got ripped off.... and I had made another 'majorererer' stuff up and then I found out there were more preschools than I had been planning for. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH My great plans, ideas and dreams where giving me nightmares!

BUT all things work together for good

After prayer and good nights sleep an email awaited with good news and we were off and running again! Dalwar came to my aid and did the follow up shop, and in true Bangla style he rose to the challenge of beating the bedeshy prices!

Within a few weeks all was organised and Esther and Steve were helping me sort resources into bags.

Saturday Dec 13 arrived and 5 Bideshis and Dalwar, this time as translator, headed up country... I was as nervous as... me trying to teach teachers!!!


I started with the Story "Let the little ones come to me" and encouraged the teachers that they were doing a great job. I had 5 main points I wanted to talk about, including that they knew the children so they could trust themselves and try something new.


I showed the resources and suggested ways they could be used. ... and we played with some puppets.

The highlight was when we broke into small groups. Each group had some of the teachers who had previously received a preschool kit and were just receiving a few top ups. They shared excitedly with their peers about how to use to puppets and the songs they had learnt etc.

It was so great to see and be a part of.

I was very moved when they all stood and sung a song of thanks to me!

So what did I learn? The value of observing, the joy of calling others to join a vision, the frustration of doing anything in this place and the joy of seeing people excited about learning!

Uniforms Connect Australia and Bangladesh part 1 and 2

(or What's in a Name)
Names and their meanings are very important here in Bangladesh. China, Beauty, Lovely and Lucky are a few of the women in this story. It is a story I am lucky to have been a part of.

Part 1
Way back 3 life times ago, around this time last year, when we were planning to come to Bangladesh, I started asking what I could raise money for before we came. Someone suggested that the very poor children at our Symbiosis school have no uniforms. It was agreed I would try and raise money to pay to have school uniforms made for these children. We would contract women who had learnt tailoring skills through Symbiosis projects to make them enabling them to generate income for their families (rather than just pay garment factories). The uniforms would raise the status of the children in their communities and encourage them to keep going to school as well as simply providing clothes.

This was a gift that would give twice!


The children at St Ignatius have the privilege of having uniforms. For one day they were ask to pay for that honour or, if they wanted the give twice, they could wear casual clothes and pay double. Families were generous beyond my wildest imaginings.... Thank you Iggies!
(I wore a three piece and talked about Bangladesh. Here I am with my good friend Vicki... who has become a mum while we have been away.)

Part 2
Nothing is ever easy in Bangladesh! The contracting of the work proved more difficult than expected. The women had not made uniforms before. The up side is that now approximately 10 women have a new skills they can market. Finally work was well under way and we set off to see it in progress!
(Lucky shows me the great work of her students)

Lucky was our first guide. Lucky, once a Symbiosis student herself, is one of our teachers and has offered support to China and Beauty.



Beauty has traveled some distance to meet us. She lives in the very poor sandbar area where we will go later to deliver the completed uniforms.

Her husband is only able to see his family 4 times a year as he has to work in a factory in Dhaka. The joy she has from gaining this big order is clear to see on her face. She is Beauty!


China will use the money she earns to keep her children at school and to buy ducks and chickens.

Shopna and Lovely were the next two women we visited. Lovely worked away quietly.

Lovely! (by name and workmanship!)

Shopna has passed on the skills she learnt from Symbiosis to Lovely. Basic tools: Tape measure, screw driver and treadle sewing machine!

Most tailors are men in this male dominated culture but receiving this large order has generated much interest in the community and now Shopna, assisted by Lovely have new clients!

Amina and Shumana are in Jamalpur and there the police gave us and escourt and shared lunch with us.
I am modeling a three piece.

These 2 ladies have made 30 pairs of shorts, 45 shirts, 51 three pieces, 99 frocks and 15 trousers on sewing machine they were able to buy because of interest free loans from Symbiosis. Yet another way Symbiosis helps!

Sharing Stories with Amana

Finally we went to Mymensingh, where we have been doing most of our work. After a toilet stop I expected to get in the car again but no, we just had to cross the main road and walk a little to be in a slum area where the final lady we were to visit, lives. The house was small and crowded with sewing fabric and people who came to see why Mukta was having foreign visitors. We stepped over open sewers,


but Mukta was very proud of the work she was doing to help poor children have uniforms for school.

WHAT A DAY
WHAT A JOY to be a part of this.
Real people; real benefits ... beyond my wildest dreams. A fine match for the gifts given beyond my dreams in Australia!

These women had gained so much more than just the pay they had received. They have new skills, new clients and have been empowered by the whole process!

Stay tuned for part 3 when I get to deliver the uniforms to the children I hear are very excited to getting a brand new school uniforms made just for them with love from both Australia and Bangladesh!
Jeanette .... so children like this one can benefit!

Eid... it's not quite Christmas but ....!

Eid... it's not quite Christmas but .... !
Tuesday was Eid-ul-Azha day here in Bangladesh. "It is the second largest religious festival of Muslims. Well-off Muslims will sacrifice animals and share the sacrificial meat with their relatives, neighbours and the poor commemorating Hazrat Ibrahim's (read Abraham's) devotion to almighty Allah as illustrated by his readiness to give up his dearest son Hazrat Ismail." (read Ismael) Quoting "The Daily Star"(brackets mine) (for the full story http://www.thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=66663 or the editorial http://www.thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=66517)

It was a part of the Bangla experience to be here for this. Being the more rural types we were more interested than some expats friends who fell in love with the many sets of big brown eyes in the streets.

We visited the market the day before. There were numerous bulls and male goats for sale.


Many were decorated with lays or pink horns!


We had come to look but as bedeshies in Bangladesh WE were interesting to look at too!


Steve even got a new friend who was keen to tell him about the importance of Australian Bangladesh friendship, and hold his hand for a photo.

A walk around our area showed many beasts waiting and still more arriving.

(This is our street)(the main road in DOHS where we live)




People were keen to be photographed with their bulls




and knife sharpeners were busy! While others were heading back to their home village.

The next day well.... I am not going to include some pictures because they might distress some.

It was actually more peaceful to watch than the photos would suggest. Care was taken to make it as quick and painless for the animals as possible.
(This 'picnic' was down stairs from our place. The white car in the background is the one we use.)

There was a festive party atmosphere as the carving up took place. Only 1/3 of the meat is kept for the family while 1/3 must go to the poor and 1/3 to other relatives and friends. ... so at several times during the afternoon it became very noisy as people gathered to collect their gifts of meat. NOTHING at all was wasted.

While it was interesting, we both found it was a little overwhelming with the sheer volume of it all....

Our "adopted family" came for dinner that night and we enjoyed a meal together just as many deshes were!


Written by Jeanette
Josh, Steve, Elaine and Esther