The Question that Challenges Us All
May 07, 2025
The Question That Challenges Us All
By Jenny Baxter, State Leader for Baptist women in Tasmania, EmpowHer.
A Turning Point
“Who is my neighbour?” someone famously asked Jesus. (Luke 10:29)
In telling the story of the Good Samaritan, Jesus implied it’s important to care for people, no matter what their religion, language, race or creed.
It’s easy enough for us, as givers, to play the part of the Samaritan because as givers, we have power. However, it’s much more difficult to be a receiver. To be the humble, needy person. But then there is an opportunity to leave others empowered.
Here’s a story to illustrate . . .
The young woman was in labour and struggling. As the head man’s daughter, she had every possible assistance— the village midwife, the medicine man’s potions and lotions for a speedy delivery, and all the usual cares and comforts for a woman in a remote Bangla village. But that baby was stuck. 24 hours this mother laboured. 48 hours. More.
People began to wonder if they should have said “Yes,” when BWAA partners PARI Development Trust had suggested the village could use a Maternal Health Clinic. Two PARI volunteers had spoken to the head man. But he shooed them away, saying the old ways were good enough. The village people agreed.
“Why do we need their fine ways?” they wondered. “We are Muslims, they are Christians. Why would we need help from Christians?”
But now there were whispers. Things were not good for the head man’s daughter. It was a difficult drive of many hours to the nearest hospital. At last, the midwife helped her into the back of the village truck. The villagers watched as the truck drove off, with the tired young woman propped up on sacks in the back. None of them would have swapped places. The rutted road was bad enough to endure on a good day, let alone after two days of hard labour, with more to come.
The head man’s daughter eventually arrived at the hospital. But sadly, she and the baby did not survive.
It was a turning point for this village.
Beyond Headlines: The Bangladesh I’ve Come to Know
This story represents just one of many experiences shared with me during my visit to Bangladesh with Baptist World Aid (BWA). Since traveling there, the country has evolved beyond the limited lens through which many Westerners view it— as simply a place of natural disasters and humanitarian crises.
Bangladesh continues to face significant challenges. With a population now exceeding 170 million people in an area about two-thirds the size of Victoria, it remains one of the most densely populated nations on earth. Recent climate challenges have only intensified pressures on infrastructure, with rising sea levels threatening coastal communities and increasingly unpredictable monsoon patterns disrupting agriculture and daily life.
Yet despite these challenges, Bangladesh has made remarkable progress. The maternal mortality rate has declined significantly over the past decade thanks to organisations like BWA partners PARI Development Trust and Baptist Aid who continue their vital work in rural communities. Their women’s empowerment programs and maternal health initiatives have expanded to hundreds more villages since that first visit.
Women Leading Change in Their Communities
The story of the head man’s daughter represents a turning point repeated across countless Bangla villages. What begins as tragedy often transforms into community-led change with women at the forefront.
The Women’s Self-Help Groups and Child Clubs continue to flourish, with their focus on education, hygiene, and rejecting harmful practices like child marriage and dowry payments. These grassroots movements have gained momentum, with women increasingly taking leadership positions in their communities. The Child and Maternal Health Centres have multiplied, bringing professional healthcare to areas where it was once unimaginable.
For the mothers of Bangladesh this Mother’s Day, there is indeed cause for celebration—not just of motherhood itself, but of the progress made in ensuring that bringing new life into the world is no longer a death sentence but a moment of joy and hope for the future.
Jenny Baxter visited Bangladesh at the invitation of with BWA as the State Leader for Baptist women in Tasmania, EmpowHer.
The Question That Challenges Us All
This article was originally published in time for Mother’s Day in 2018 with Baptist World Aid Australia, and has been updated for republication in Tas Baptists Heartlands and reCharge, May 2025.
More reCharge articles!
- Becoming Resurrection: Living Hope in Uncertain Times by Stephen Baxter
- The Resurrection of Hope: Beyond the Afterlife by Stephen Baxter
- Living in the Reality of Resurrection by Stephen Baxter
- The Parable of the Water Bearers by Andrew Turner
- Around the Churches February to March 2025
- How Brittle is your Salvation by Liam Conway
- DOWNLOAD past issues of reCharge