Picnicking in a Sari

This month is Sari Bari's 13th birthday!!!

According to our most recent survey of the women we work with, among other feedback, we found that; 96% of the women are looking forward to the future and 100% believe that they are finding freedom! (Check out the Sari Bari Annual Report, located HERE)

These are amazing statistics and so encouraging that these women are choosing freedom and have been for 13 years now!

In celebration of becoming a teenager we all went on picnics together. The weeks leading up to the picnics I was repeatedly asked if I would wear a sari. Of course! I was also encouraged to straighten my hair, wear eye makeup, wear lipstick, tuck my bangs away, get some bangles...I didn't do everything on the list, but I did some of it.

It was enjoyable to get to spend some casual and relaxed time with the women and build some shared experiences. I learned that I can do many things in a sari, like: paddle a paddle boat around a lake, throw around a frisbee, lean out the window of a train to try and snap an artistic photo, and go on amusement rides, including a "thrilling ropeway ride"!

You can do pretty much anything in a Sari. Saris are one of the most elegant pieces of clothing and they are also versatile and functional (at least in my amateur opinion).

Small Victories

I have a water filter in my house...but it is not installed. In Tanzania I had a stand-alone Katadyn filter, no electricity needed and I added the water manually. Here, my water filter will be hooked into the plumbing and it uses electricity.

I hadn't made the time to schedule the installation until this past weekend.

The first time I tried to schedule the installation it took 20 minutes on the phone to set up an account, then I was told that I couldn't schedule the installation over the phone. I was advised to do it through the app.

I downloaded the app...there was no place to schedule an installation and the number that was posted in the app was a wrong number. So, that wasn't going to work either.

I decided to find the office and visit them face to face.

I found the address, but there was no signage to encourage me that I had truly found the right place. I asked around and was told that it was on the first floor of the building. On the first floor they told me it was on the second floor...and past the second floor I found an office space (still no signage) on the third floor.

On Wednesday I'll find out if I really did successfully schedule the installation, fingers crossed!

Right before I left the office one of the men looked at me in surprise and said, "How did you find us?"

Google Maps and asking. You cannot hide from Google Maps!!!

A Brief Drop-In

My mom seems to follow me around the world. Actually, there is no "seems to" about it, she does follow me around the world. She does part time volunteer work with an organization of seminaries around the world. She specifically requests assignments to countries close to wherever I am living and working.

She first taught in Kenya, which led to my first visitor EVER in Tanzania, after 4 years of living there! (Mom is Here!!!, Mom Takes Pictures I Don't Think Of)

It only took her 4 months this time to find her way to me. My mom arrived in Bangladesh only three weeks after I left!!! She got to meet a few of my friends in Dhaka when she shared at a local Bible study.

Then on to Kolkata! She was only here for 4 days, but it was fun to show her around and introduce her to a couple different parts of my new life here! She visited Sari Bari, sat with women as they sewed and prepared products, and was told many times to return...but to bring my dad with her next time.

We also enjoyed delicious food:

Went grocery shopping:

And rode the metro:

Thanks for coming mom and I hope I have many more visitors as the years go by!