A Week in Bangladesh

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Graydon Colville talks about his recent trip.

LRI Bangladesh celebrated its 20th Anniversary on February 18th this year and for that entire 20 years the work there has been headed up by David & Namita Halder, members of GRN Australia, ably assisted by many committed Staff and Board members. James Karmakar now has primary responsibility for the LRI side of the work.

David & Namita Halder

Much has been achieved. Most of the languages spoken in Bangladesh have materials recorded in them but the work is far from complete. Many of the recordings need revising, some languages need additional material recorded, but perhaps the greatest challenge is in the area of distribution. The Christian community is small, and poorly resourced. Few can afford even basic materials to share the Good News.

I spent about four days at the LRI/HELP Samaritan Children's home in Savar, where a 300 bed Children's Hostel, School, Medical Centre, Vocational Training Centre and Micro Credit programme are all thriving. In this place the children receive food, love, Bible teaching and an opportunity to progress that few would have had any hope for. It's a happy, lively place. Floods earlier in the year have caused the price of rice to triple causing some difficulty for the operation.

I spent just 24 hours in a small village some distance from the children's home. Here I found another flourishing ministry providing support for children and disadvantaged adults. Here also was a place where men and women from non-Christian backgrounds were finding help, teaching and encouragement. Some of these people had been using the hand wind cassette players, cassettes and Good News pictures to share the "good news" with others from their own background. One man present had led about 150 to the Lord from his village. There is the potential to effectively use hundreds of sets of these materials.

James & Helen Karmakar

Pray for Bangladesh and those serving the Lord there. If you would like more information about any of the ministries mentioned in this article please contact me at the GRN Australia office.

Bangladesh Statistics

Population: 130 million

Population density: 880 per sq km

Literacy: 38%

Religions:

• Muslim 85.6%
• Hindu 12%
• Christian 0.7%
• Buddhist 0.6%