Wednesday, December 10, 2008

The Ill-Fated Man

One interesting aspect to living in Dhaka is meeting the missionaries that come in and out of the city enroute to rural villages in Bangladesh. One such missionary is a young Aussie who I will refer to as "JT" to save him from embarassment.

JT arrived in Bd last August with the apparent goal of doing as much physical harm to his body as possible. He seems to be a cheerful fellow with no obvious death wish, but his actions speak otherwise.

Within days of his arrival he managed to contract a stomach virus and ended up in the hospital with severe dehyrdation. He managed to recover from that and was released.

Within weeks of his arrival he managed to contract the horrible Dengue fever (see my previous blogs on Esther's bout with the disease for more information), something which many missionaries here for years avoid.

Within months of his arrival he managed to be robbed. After recuperating from Dengue he went out to his village, where his house was burgled by a national. To JT's credit he did chase the thief down and recover his posessions.

Within half a year of his arrival he managed to almost lose his life in a car accident, but settled for almost losing his leg. This past Saturday, hapless JT was innocently catching a ride through a village on the back of a vangaari (a flat bed cart pulled by a rickshaw) when one of the insane local buses sideswiped him, knocking him to the ground and causing severe damage to his leg. JT was promptly taken to a local hospital where he was just able to prevent the national doctor with the saw from amputating his leg and was transferred five hours away to the more reputable Square Hospital in Dhaka. There his cast was removed and he was stiched up around his knee and foot and then wrapped in gauze.

Now, four months into his work as a community developer in Kumarkhali village near Kustia, he is at the point of refusing to call his mother for fear that his latest exploit will "freak her out."
I met JT in August, and have watched his progress in the country with interest. Personally, I think if the "three strikes your out" rule applies, JT should have been way outta Bdesh months ago.
JT normally:


JT getting his leg stictched up:

3 comments:

  1. Kelly just finished reading a book titled "Four Souls" about four college friends who spend a summer doing mission work wherever they can. THE hardest place of all was Bangladesh because of the living conditions and people.

    She came to me last night and said, "Mom, isn't Elaine in Bangladesh? Is she all right? How is she surviving?"

    JT makes this even more real.

    Elaine, we're praying for you and your work among the Bangli!

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  2. wait he wanted this to happen??? or am I just miss understanding you?

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  3. lol. you don't know me but the boy himself sent me here to read this after i said he'd be lucky to come back to oz alive at the rate he's going!! interesting reading. :)

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