July 25, 2010

I spoke with Rakib today our usual weekly Sunday phone call, morning for me and Sunday night for him. He informed me that he still had not received his grade for his anatomy and community medicine courses. Rakib said he likes his teachers very much. They told him they like him because of his personality and because he tries very hard.
Rakib said he attended his first Scout meeting on Friday. The group name is the Universal Open Rover Scout Group. He took the bus to get to the meeting. Travel time was 1 hour each way because of traffic and it cost 22 taka ($ 0.32) round trip. He said a rickshaw would be faster but it would cost 50-60 ($ 0.75) taka round trip. He said he would continue to use the bus to save money.
At the scout meeting they worked on basic scout skills and discussed what it took to earn the Bangladesh Presidential Scout Award. The group will meet once a week and will also do community development service projects and go hiking and camping. There are nine Rover Scouts in the group, all male.
Rakib said he would like it if we could send him some USA, troop or council scout patches that he could share with his new friends in scouting. He gave me the address of his brother (cousin) and said it would be the best address to sent anything to him.
Rakib said he had recently viewed the Troop 1776 website and was pleased to see that my updates were posted there. He said he reviewed the updates and they were accurate. He asked if Ryan M. was still the webmaster, they exchanged a few emails while Ryan was webmaster. I told him that Ryan was no longer webmaster and that he would soon be attending the American University in Washington DC and that I believe he will be studying international relations. I told him that Greg S. was now webmaster and he was doing a great job.
Rakib asked what the Venture Scouts were planning for future Treks. I told him that I had been approached by scout Nigel L. and he had a great Idea for next summers Venture Trek. I told him it was in the initial review and approval stage at this time, and if approved Nigel would be the Venture Patrol Leader for the trek. Rakib said to give Nigel his love and that he would pray for him, that his trek would be safe and successful.
Rakib said he was very grateful for all we have done for him. He was very hesitant but he said he was in need of another shirt, pants and an apron. He has three shirts and two pants. One shirt and pants he brought with him from Rayenda. They are ok for casual wear after school, but they are not suitable for attending class. He also has one shirt that I bought for him last year as a Ramadan present. It is for festive occasions and is not suitable for attending class. The other shirt, pants, and one apron are the cloths we bought for him when he started medical college. He has to wash them every 3-4 days. The lab apron gets very dirty in a few days. A shirt, pants, and another apron would cost about 3000 taka ($45 US). If a family would like to donate money to purchase them we could earmark the donation.
Since Rakib has started scouting again he is in need a pair of hiking boots and a backpack. My daughter Dawn and her co-workers have shown an interest in donation money for the scouting items, but to date they have not collected the money.
Many Scout families and Neshanic Reformed Church members have donated money to support Rakib. He asked me to give you his cordial love. He said he knows that without your support he would not be a medical student today. Some families have requested that I release their names when they made donations to encourage others to donate to the Rakib Fund. Others asked to be anonymous. One family recently said “if you get recognition and praise for the good things you do it does not mean as much, as you are getting something in return”. I can fully understand both thoughts.
Rakib ended the call by extending his love to all of us and said he would pray for our good health and happiness.