HOLY CHILDHOOD ASSOCIATION

CHILDREN HELPING CHILDRE

N

®Jan. - Jun. 2017

Vol. 26.2Intermediate

Gr. 7 - 9

2219 Kennedy Rd., TORONTO, ON M1T 3G5, CANADA1-800-897-8865 www.missionsocieties.ca

Dear Young Missionaries,Welcome back to the Holy Childhood Associ-ation and our New Year: 2017. We hope that after the excitement and celebrations of the Christmas Season you are all set to renew our goals as young missionaries. Those goals are, of course, to learn about the needs of less fortunate children throughout the world, pray for them and share what we can to help improve their lives. This has been a busy and exciting time for those of us who work for you at the Holy Childhood Association in Toronto. We have made some signi�cant upgrades to our web site, so we encourage you and your teachers to have a look and see what we have done. Most of our materials, including the News-letter you are reading, is available for down-load, although we hope that you will contin-ue decide to receive copies: nothing like a good read! Enjoy and learn!!In this edition, we continue to introduce you to our Young Canadian Mission-aries who will guide us through this missionary journey! So, let's get started!

LENT 2017: A TIME TO REAWAKEN FROM OUR LETHARGY

(quote from Pope Francis)

Our young missionary and prayer leader, Francois, reminds us that we are about to enter the season of Lent. Lent o�ers us all a very special opportunity to grow in our relationship with God and to deepen our commitment to a way of life, rooted in our baptism. In our busy world, Lent provides us with an opportunity to re�ect upon our lives, to pray more deeply, experience sorrow for what we've done and failed to do, and to be generous to those in need. As Pope Francis said in the above heading, we need to wake up! Lent provides us with the perfect opportunity to do this.

During Lent, we are often asked: What are you giving up for Lent? Many people try to stop �lling up with junk food and playing computer games. If we clear away some of our comforts for a time, there will be more room for God. However, we can also e�ectively observe Lent by doing things! Make an extra e�ort to be kind, compassionate, loving and hard working.

Here is a special prayer that you can say during Lent, 2017.

Catholic Lenten Prayer

Almighty and Everlasting God, You have given the human race

Jesus Christ our Savior as a model of humility.

He ful�lled Your Will by becoming Man And giving His life on the Cross. Help us to bear witness to You

By following His example of su�eringAnd make us worthy to share in His

Resurrection. We ask this through our Lord Jesus

Christ, Your Son. For an animated discussion about Lent, check out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yv5jxQ4YAPg

Anne

Debby

Evelyne

Francois

David

Tommy

গ্রিটিংসThis means Greetings in Bengali, the main language of our featured country this �rst half of the year:

Bengali at a glance- Native name: বাংলা (Bangla) [ˈbaŋla]- Number of speakers: c. 300 million- Spoken in: Bangladesh and India- First written: 11th century- Writing system: Brahmi and Bengali alphabets- Status: o�cial language in Bangladesh (as well as English), and one of the o�cial languages of India

PROJECTS IN BANGLADESH

School children awaiting completion of classrooms.

As you saw above, we are highlighting the country of Bangladesh in this issue of our Newsletter. The Holy Childhood Association has been supporting children in Bangladesh for many years, and has continued to do so to the present. There are currently many activi-ties in progress that fall into the following categories:• Building of schools - these projects involve the refurbishment of facilities in decay, the building and out�tting of new classrooms and the construction of new schools;• Maintenance of Boarding schools - this involves Christian forma-tion, providing facilities for room and board for students, medical care and the provision of uniforms and educational materials;• Local parish formation - this work involves the promotion of local parish life that involves the formation of catechetical classes, teacher education, Bible study, sacramental programs and the establishment of local Holy Childhood Associations;• Health and Malnu-trition Programs - these projects, of which there are many, focus on assistance to health clinics, food aid and the provision of vitamins for children from remote areas.

Current locations where work is actively occurring are:• Catholic Church, Mundumala• Catholic Church, Chandpukur• St. Francis Xavier’s Catholic Church, Foiljana• Catholic Church, Guplpur• Fatima Convent, Nobai Bottola• Snehanir Handicapped Centre, Baganpara• Beneedwar Parish

More information about Missionary work in Bangladesh comes from our reporter on the ground: Anne.Missionary work in Bangladesh is di�cult. One of the main reasons for this is the popu-

lation itself. 88% of the people belong to the Islamic (Muslim) religion. The Hindu population makes up 13%. That doesn't leave much room for the Christians, predominantly Roman Catholic, who make up only approximately 0.5 - 1% of the population! Therefore, there is much indirect pressure on Christians to become members of Islam. Our brave missionaries have to combat attitudes that are continually in the culture, daily life, radio and television and increasingly, social media. There is also pressure on parents, who make decisions regarding the education and spiritual development of their children in a coun-try where they are clearly the minority.

Some Geographic/Historical data about Bangladesh from David

NATIONAL FLAGThe National Flag of Bangladesh was adopted o�cially on 17 January 1972. It consists of a red disc on top of a green �eld, o�set slightly toward the hoist so that it appears centred when the �ag is �ying. The red disc represents the sun rising over Bengal, and also the blood of those who died for the independence of Bangladesh. The green �eld stands for the lushness of the land of Bangladesh

NATURAL DISASTERSBangladesh is prone to monsoon �ooding and cyclones due to its unique geographic make up. The country is almost entirely �at and is dominated by the Ganges-Brah-maputra delta where the Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna Rivers make their way down from the Himalayas and converge on the lowlands.

Health and Malnutrition Programs

Monsoon flood (©The Guardian)

RECENT HISTORYIn 1947, the Bengal area was divided o� from India and became the eastern area of the new country called Pakistan, the west-ern part of which was on the other side of India. East Pakistan rebelled with a Civil war in 1971, and gained independence from the West (Pakistan) to become the country of Bangladesh.

TOURISMCox's Bazar Beach, located at Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, is the longest unbroken sea beach in the world, running 125 kilometres (78 mi). It is the top tourist destination of Bangladesh.

Goista.com

• Over 98% of Bangladeshis speak the o�cial language of Bengali. English is spoken as a second language.• Bangladesh has a population of 163 million people (163,654,860) as of July 2013 making it the world's eighth most populated country.• Over 30% of Bangladesh's population live below the poverty line, however, the economy

and standards of living have been improving over recent years. Only 43% of the population can read and write.• Despite the fact that half of Bangladesh’s population is composed of farmers, its export earnings come mainly from the garments industry. Check the label on your shirt or jeans. It may come from Bangladesh.• Bangladesh has six – not four – separate seasons, which it calls grismo (summer), barsha (rainy), sharat (autumn), hemanto (cool), sheet (winter), and bashonto (spring).• With its size of 2,172,000 square kilometers, the Bay of Bengal is the largest bay in the world.

• In Bangladesh, the left hand is considered unclean, so always use your right hand when eating or passing food, drinks – or business cards!• The people of Bangladesh seldom smile. This is not because they

are unfriendly but because smiling much is considered a sign of imma-turity.• The Bengal tiger is the national animal of Bangladesh. It is one of the largest species of tigers in the world. They are also the species that has the highest number of animals in the wild, although there are only about 2,500 of them left. The tiger's biggest threat is to the natural

habitat, which continues to be threatened by logging companies and natural weather disasters..

INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT BANGLADESH

Find other interesting information about Bangladesh by looking up the following addresses on YouTube: • Geography Now www.toutube.com/watch?v=ljebhx_9y5 • www.toutube.com/watch?v=WlvxOeHcxVo • www.toutube.com/watch?v=NrjaTjgd5cE

SPORT IN BANGLADESHKABADDI is the National Game of Bangladesh, is very rough,

and is said to have “no de�nite rules”. The teams (male or female) take turns sending a "raider" into the opponent’s half. To win a

point, the raider must take a breath, run into the

opposing half, tag one or more members of the opposite team, then return to their home half before inhaling again. The tagged defenders will be "out" if they do not succeed in catching the raider who tagged them. Wrestling the raider to the ground can prevent him/her escaping before he/she needs to inhale.

CRICKET is the most popular sport in Bangladesh. There is a strong domestic league which has involved Test players from many countries. In the year 2000 Bangladesh became a full member of the International Cricket Council, which allows the national team to play Test cricket against countries such as Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan, England, Australia, the West Indies and New Zealand. The Bangla-desh national cricket team goes by the nickname of the Tigers – after the royal Bengal tiger.

Miscellaneous reports

from Anne

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TRUE OR FALSE? TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE!1. The Asian elephant is the national animal of Bangladesh. T F2. Bangladesh is very dry with little rain. T F3. Bangladeshis love playing cricket. T F4. The national colours are red, white & blue. T F5. Many fresh vegetables are available to eat. T F6. Lent is the time before we celebrate Christmas. T F7. The HCA supports building schools in Bangladesh. T F8. Elephants, like camels, do not need to drink often. T F9. The clothing industry is the biggest earner of foreign money. T F10. means good-bye in Bengali. T F

AN

SWERS:

1. F 2. F 3. T 4. F 5. T 6. F 7. T 8. F 9. T 10. F

Evelyn tempts us with food information!Rice is the main food in Bangladesh and is served with a wide range of curries. Dishes have strong �avours, and often include eggs, potatoes, tomatoes and egg plant. A variety of spices and herbs, along with mustard oil and ghee, (butter) is used in Bangladeshi cooking. Dal, made from lentils, is the second most important staple food. Because of the availability of water, many vegetables grow easily in Bangladesh, so salads and fried vegetables are very popular. The other main source of food is a wide variety of seafood. No excuse not to dig in!!

Dried �sh market (Creative Commons Public Domain)

CHILDREN HELPING CHILDREN

St. Anthony‛s ParishThunder Bay, ON

St. Andrew‛s ParishFraser Lake, BC

St. Joseph‛s SchoolTillsonburg, ON

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