Andrew and Rosemary Symonds

Andrew and Rosemary Symonds

Mission Partners

Bangladesh

January 2004

Today we were woken by the sound of the young girls in the shanty area next to our flat earnestly pumping water, much earlier than usual. We had hoped for a long sleep because it is a holiday, but there is an air of excitement all around, for today is Eid-ul-Azha. Even the weather seems to have responded to the excitement. Unlike the earlier days of January there was no morning fog to cast gloom over the city. Instead the large rising red globe of the sun heralded a warm day, suggesting the end of winter and the end to shivering in temperatures of 24 degrees C.!

At 6.30am the muezzins began the cries of Eid Mubarak (happy Eid) to ensure that everybody knew that the day the majority population of Bangladesh had been awaiting had arrived; the day of sacrifice in remembrance of the sacrifice Abraham was prepared to make because of his commitment to God. Of course no one in Dhaka could have been unaware of the impending celebrations. For days the roads have been filled with cattle being led home. Each animal beautifully cleaned and polished, bedecked in splendour with colourful garlands and bright coverings to their horns. Thousands upon thousands of animals have been led home ready for sacrifice as a sign of commitment to God and to the poor.

The early calls of ‘Eid Mubarak’ gave way to the call to prayer and then the lengthy prayers to commence the day. As I write the cries of prayer from dozens of Mosques surrounding us fill the air. Outside the women wait for the men to return from the mosques so that the celebrations can begin.

Silence has just fallen, prayer has finished and already hundreds of men in their white Punjabis are returning from the Mosque. The children have gone out onto the streets to wait and to give their animal a final pet before it is sacrificed.

As we have again watched the love and care of the animals awaiting sacrifice we have been reminded of other sacrifices made by Bangladeshis for the care and devotion shown to these animals echoes that shown in the last days before a bride is given away and joins another family. On the day before the marriage ceremony the mother/friends will decorate the bride, painting her hands and feet with henna, and then will dress her up in splendour so that on the marriage day she goes from the family with a sign of great love.

Soon the animals will lie dead on the streets and the families will cut up the carcass and gather the meat ready for the feast and distribution to the poor. Soon hundreds of poor will begin to wander the streets to collect gifts of meat so that they too can share the feast. No one can escape the excitement, including those of us who are not Muslim, for soon the loud music will start and will continue into the night. It will leave us tired and perhaps irritable because the noise will be incessant but we know most people will be content and the hundreds of dogs living in the streets will have had an exciting and perhaps satisfying day!

Savar Church

As usual the period leading up to Christmas was a busy time in the church with a baptism/confirmation service, a Trade School valedictory service/sports day and the usual Christmas and New Year celebrations.

BAPTISM/CONFIRMATION SERVICE

The baptism and confirmation service took its now (Savar) established pattern with a whole day given to celebration as we prayed for and welcomed into our Christian family two babies and two older boys in baptism and 24 people as Bishop Michael confirmed them. Among those confirmed were the mother and father of two young people who were baptized and confirmed last time and who have attended the church regularly since their children’s confirmation.

The long, but joyful service, of baptism, rededication, confirmation and Holy Communion was followed by tiffin – sweets and savouries. No programme would be proper without such tiffin because these items are still a luxury and mark a formal occasion. Next in importance in any programme are the speeches and presentations. This time, we were able to give a Bible to all those who had been confirmed (because of a gift we had received) and the speeches demonstrated a growing sense of family and fellowship in more informal approaches to speaking. However, no ‘programme’ is of much worth without a ‘cultural programme’. The people of Savar are expert at such programmes and the boys of the Trade School excel on such occasions with sketches that mimic daily life in perceptive and hilarious ways.

I have tried to utilise the boy’s skills on occasions in services where the Bible reading lends itself to dramatic enactment. Many times I am astounded at the way they can take a story and bring the meaning to the Bangaldeshi context in ways that speak powerfully about things that are never mentioned in daily conversation. For example, I was preaching on the love of husband and wives and asked them to prepare a short drama on family life. The behaviour of some men to their wives was illustrated in such clarity that no one could have been left questioning the need for husbands to love their wives as Christ has loved the church.

The sketches, at the confirmation programme, had everybody rolling around - including the Bishop. However, again the real joy is the way in which all ages and sections of the church took part in the programme to share in a family celebration. The climax of the programme was a drama prepared by one of the theological students assigned to the church for practical experience. The story he portrayed was of the trickery used by rich men who want their own way. It was of an old man who wanted a young wife and used his money and superior power to trick a family into giving him their young daughter as a wife. Everybody recognised the situation and the way the illiterate man was forced to give a thumbprint to give away his loved daughter. The speaker was a Santali (tribal person) and he and most tribal people know how rich and powerful people are cheating them out of land and possessions because some of the people are not well educated.

Most important, however, was a simple rice meal following the programme with everybody joining in serving and helping. In all one hundred and eighty people shared with us on that day.

TRADE SCHOOL VALEDICTORY

This year we amended our trade school academic year to allow the second year boys to leave before Christmas, to more easily find work in the New Year. A benefit of the change was that the presentation of certificates and tools could now be combined with the annual sports day, and we decided, therefore, to rethink the way we say farewell to leaving students. Consequently, a valedictory service became the focus of sending the boys out into the world for work at which all church members could share in prayer and well wishing for the leaving boys. The boys took a leading part in the service and we were again able to present them with tools because of the generosity of churches in Britain.

The sports activities and speeches followed the service, and then lunch which was special because the main item on the menu was goat. As you may remember the boys have been looking after two goats as part of their training and we have watched with joy as the goats have grown and become part of the family. We were beginning to say that they should never be killed and there was no one who was brave enough or prepared to kill these members of the community. However, circumstances took control. The retreat centre alongside the church building is being greatly extended with consequential massive disruption to the grounds of the trade school and church. We had no choice - a good lunch was the only answer to our problem and indeed those two goats were the most tender goats meat I have ever eaten. We said goodbye to boys and goats in one day!

CHRISTMAS

Christmas, involved much travelling to and fro for Rosemary and myself.

Christmas Eve at Savar was food again – food is so important in Bangladeshi culture, probably because it is a culture of great poverty. Everybody brought along food to share and the early evening was spent singing carols with prayer and readings and with a ‘gift exchange’. Each year we set a minimum-spending limit, at a few Taka, so that people can share gifts. The gifts are pooled and then allocated by lottery so that everybody can go home with a present from some other person. Of course, there is great fun in receiving these small gifts and everybody enjoys clapping and cheering as people receive their presentation.

Afterwards, the young people, and some youthful older people, left to go into the village to sing carols around the homes of other Christians until midnight. (This year, rightly, the police set a time limit on Christians disturbing the peace.) We however, returned to Dhaka, as Andrew was taking the midnight service in the centre of Dhaka. Our great problem was how to return to Mirpur in the early hours of the morning but someone had kindly hired a taxi to take us home. Then early Christmas morning we were again on our way back to Savar and the joy of a full church – two hundred people - celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ. After, the service there was traditional Christmas dancing and singing and a couple of visits to homes and then home to sleep.

CHURCH COMMITTEE

For two years we have been blessed by the first, and wonderful, church committee. Two years have passed and it was time to give other people the opportunity to share in serving the church on the committee. The old committee devised a process for a fifty percent change and recommended new people to the church for sitting on the committee who were readily accepted by all without any bad argument.

Again we are pleased that Ruth, another women, has become secretary of the church and we are proud of this statement in a society in which men are always dominant and powerful. We hope that again, Ruth, along with the other members of the committee, will show that office in the church does not mean power, but service.

St Andrew’s Theological College

Before Christmas many events took place at St Andrew’s. Not least was the second theological seminar for church leaders dealing with the issues surrounding mission to Muslims. This seminar was well attended by people from other denominations and we hope has started a discussion concerning the problems and theological issues we face in a majority Muslim society.

We have tried to improve the practical experience students have whilst at the college. Students now have to attend different churches to experience different forms of worship and also to visit situations to think through issues they will face when they return to serve in churches. One such visit was to the slum project of which Andrew used to be chairman. Although the students come from poor backgrounds they were apprehensive about meeting the very poor in a slum situation. At first the students were diffident in talking to the people and all the old prejudices filled their minds. However, gradually they began opening up and discovered warmth amongst these poor, mostly Muslim, people.

Afterwards, in reviewing the day’s visit, the students spoke of how they discovered loveable people who experienced real problems because of people’s prejudices and oppression. However, they also spoke of how they could see that the project had empowered the people. For Andrew it was a thrill, because the results of any slum project are difficult to gauge, indeed to measure progress is virtually impossible, but here was an example of how love and care can change people in their minds and hearts, even though they remain living in a slum.

‘At Risk Centre’

The new project for children and young people in Dhaka is slowly developing through its planning stage. Andrew, with students and other church workers, has spent a lot of time visiting slums and other areas to determine where the project should be established. At last we think we have found the right area and are proceeding with a survey to finalise the project proposal.

The area being looked at is in Mirpur about two miles away from the Theological College. It is not the poorest of areas in Dhaka although a number of slums form part of this district. However, the people are at the lower end of the strata, with many young girls working in the garment factories located nearby. The men, mainly rickshaw drivers have several wives and many children. Our concern is for the young girls who increasingly face redundancy or short time because of increasing competition from other third world countries. We are also concerned for the hundreds of children who cannot attend school because education is too expensive and unavailable for the very poor.