Andrew and Rosemary Symonds

Andrew and Rosemary Symonds Mission Partners Bangladesh July 2004 (2)

Theological College Despite the usual concerns about whether there will be new students in June we commenced a new academic year at the Theological College. The new intake of students is very exciting with students coming from different backgrounds. Out of the number accepted, three are from different types of Baptist Church, and there is a good mix of Bangladeshi and Adivasis (Tribal - Garo and Santali). This year, for the first, time we have a student from the Hill Track Area in the South East corner of Bangladesh. His roots lie in Myanmar and he comes from one of the many Burmese families who have settled across the border in Bangladesh.

So far the students remain keen and attentive! But, theology is difficult for students in a culture that has not prepared them to think for themselves.

Our external student intake has continued to rise and we are pleased that the college is now beginning to be accepted by people in many denominations. Our ‘Leader’s Seminars’ remain a challenge for us as we seek to provide continuing education for priests and church workers as well raise issues facing the church in Bangladesh. In June, our first seminar, examined poverty and disempowerment. Our concern was to examine how poverty affects people psychologically and sociologically and to search for a theology of empowerment.

Maybe the very structures of the church have tended to disempower the poor within the Christian community in ways that hold them in the poverty trap.

Savar We are really missing the work of Mrittunjoy who had finished his year with us at Savar. He had worked hard in building up the Church by encouraging and caring for the people. Andrew greatly depended on him as the work at St Andrew’s Theological College seems to grow each day.

I believe we have already mentioned that there is major building work going on in the compound with a new Retreat centre being built. The church building has been affected by the work and has been in a state of total chaos for about 6 months with walls being knocked down, the roof being replaced and various other minor works. There has also been a lot of noise and disruption with much of the time being open to the fresh air. This has been a time when the people particularly need encouraging, as worshipping in these circumstances has not been easy. We have really missed Mrittunjoy, and with the pressures of Andrew’s work and the heat and wet, we have not been able to do the visiting that we need to do. The number of people worshipping has been going down and we ask your prayers for our people whom we love. However there are always encouragements and four weeks ago we had 15 of the young people from Savar to our flat after the Friday morning service for a meal. The young people chose the food they wanted, which included certain treats and we paid for food and bus fares. Having made their purchases they brought the food to our flat and together joined in the preparation, sitting on the floor of the lounge. Both boys and girls shared the cooking and seemed a bit lost without anyone "bossing them about" in the normal adult Bangladeshi fashion! The major problem was easy things were cooked first and the beef, the luxury item, was left until last.

As usual, we a sat around on the floor to eat in a sort of a circle sliding the big containers of food around. They really enjoyed it as they have never had the opportunity to do anything like this before. They were also very keen to have some modern music! Their stay was long - they arrived at 11.30am and left about 8.00 p.m.!

As in many countries there is a real and growing problem in Bangladesh with teenage/young twenties boys not feeling part of society and becoming involved with drugs and gang violence. There is nothing really for boys to do socially and a high level of unemployment adds to the problem. Similarly, it is difficult for the girls who now stay in education rather than getting married at a young age. During what is now a long period of time between puberty and marriage their reputation has to be kept pure in order for a suitable marriage to be arranged. This makes arranging youth activities with both boys and girls rather difficult and limiting.

A focus of the Church of Bangladesh is to find ways of helping to create Youth Groups and promote joint Youth Activities on a Deanery basis.

At Risk Project We come very close to starting the new project that has been in planning for over a year. After receiving a generous gift of £30,000 for the project and we now seek premises and staff.

After some discussion we decided the project name needed to be changed and it will now be known as the Duaripara Family Development Programme. At the time of writing this letter we are awaiting responses for a nurse and development facilitator and have identified a possible project office. The preferred rooms are slum accommodation that needs work carried out, but if we can obtain these premises we would be at the heart of the community on the corner of the main crossroads.

Each day we hear of further lay-offs of young girls in the garment factories and grow even more conscious of the great risk such girls face.

Flowers After many years we have finally bought some flowering plants for our small balcony and have the joy of looking out at pink, red, yellow and white flowers that soften the harsh outlook of the jungle of buildings and cables! Each day the beauty of these flowers brings joy and having no pets to pamper we go and talk to the flowers to encourage them in bringing us joy. Thanks As always, we thank you for your continuing interest in the work of the Church in Bangladesh and for your prayers, letters and notes of encouragement. Life in Britain seems a long time ago and a long way away. Your support means so much to us and we appreciate very much that you continue to think about us..

Give thanks: • For your love, prayer and practical concern for us and the people of Bangladesh • For the new students at the theological college • For the electricity and water supply to our flat which has been far less interrupted than last year • For being kept safe • For the women’s and youth groups at Savar Please pray for: • For the people who are suffering such hardship due to the floods • For the young people of the church. The pressures of examinations and a changing society. • For the law and order situation with the rise in the existing high level of violent extortion and murder • For us as we struggle daily. • For Bishop Baroi and all those in a position to do good.