Dhaka, Bangladesh (February 2019)

The primary purpose of me and Mr. Bong Rae Lee traveling to Dhaka, Bangladesh in February 2019 was to lead a 2-day BAM Seminar primarily for Korean missionaries and some businessmen on top of the plan to meet with a missional entrepreneur who has successfully run an agricultural farm in a Muslim village.

My physical condition was pretty bad and the lodging condition was not every accommodating, but we were able to manage the seminar satisfactorily. After the seminar, the participants began Bangladesh BAM Network and we will see what the Lord desires to achieve through them.

An experienced businessman's engagement was a big plus.

Can you imagine a cafe located on the fourth floor? One of the participants is running a cafe on the fourth floor and they manage to survive. We had a farewell dinner after the seminar.

It took us a round trip of nine hours to travel to an agricultural farm where we met with Mr. Yeon Sup Yoon who has lived and served in a remote Muslim village for the past 20 years, on and off. As we were listening to him, we were greatly encouraged by the principles we shared in BAM. He and his wife plan to wrap up their service in Bangladesh and Mr. B.R Lee invited them to Cambodia to seek advice and if the Lord willing to invite them to serve in Cambodia. We will see what happens.

We joined the farm workers for lunch and ate the foods with our right hand without silverware because it is their custom.

Mr. Yoon's farm, a joint venture owned and run through a 6-member partnership, has dug 40 wells, fixed 50 toilets, built 8 houses, and many other village projects for free. Mr. Yoon has made the apparent Christian business well acceptable to the Muslim village. Even some antagonistic Muslims now admire and compliment this business and Mr. Yoon. Christians have built a church and the farm workers have created their wealth as good examples. That is transformation!

The farm also runs a kindergarten for little children and a vocational training program for village workers. It is an example of biblical community development case.

The first impression of Dhaka was that it has a lot of mosquitoes/ They were everywhere, even at the airport and in the car. They have not figured out how to eradicate them because there are water holes everywhere.

The second impression of Dhaka was so much noise. All cars and motorbikes were honking everywhere. Moreover, there were so many rickshaws - man rickshaw and motor rickshaw all together.

The residents were sharing a complaint in that Bangladesh offers no tourist places or points of interest where they can take a break or rest. So whenever possible, they try to get out of the country for vacation.

Bangladesh has been popular for garment businesses due mainly to its cheap labor forces. But these businesses are pulling out of the country because they have found a way to produce more with robotics production. In other words, Bangladesh no longer offers cheap labor advantage.

Bangladesh is a poor country with a lot of people living in chronic poverty. Yet, it has many geographical disadvantage, such as frequent floods. Moreover, they are spiritually in darkness. My heart was sad when we left this country. - Jeffrey