Bangladesh is the size of the South Island of New Zealand and has a population of 170 million people. It sits on the Bay of Bengal and was once known as East Pakistan. Mymensingh is 116km north of the capital, Dhaka.
For over 100 years there has been a partnership with Bangladeshi and New Zealand Baptists focused on student hostels.
In the Mymensingh Girls Hostel there are 50 young girls living at the Hostel. This is an increase of 7 since we came back home and presented the need to church and people have stepped up to sponsor some new girls.
These girls have nothing. Yet their smiles show how much God is doing in their lives. They come from villages from around Bangladesh where they are lucky to have some sort of roof over their head and one meal a day. The process of getting a child into the programme is the family ask a local person to nominate the child to a church leader who is connected with BBCF. Once chosen they go through a process and it is up to Ross for the final acceptance. Once accepted they come to live at Mymensingh Hostel for 50 weeks of the year. They get a bed to sleep on, 3 meals a day, being rice and dahl and occasionally a meat curry and they get to shower and change clothes every day. They do chores around the hostel to keep it tidy and the older ones help look after the younger ones. They go to school 5 days a week and are encouraged to study hard. They attend Church every Sunday. They have dreams of being doctors, nurses, teachers and going back to their villages to help their families get out of poverty.
Shishir and Kakoly Baidy are the hostel Dad and Mum. They are true servants of God. They are loving and caring. The atmosphere at the Hostel was like walking into an oasis of calm. From the madness out on the streets and coming into the Hostel grounds was so refreshing. The Spirit of God is active in that place and in the lives of everyone there.