Being Resourceful

Another busy day as we traveled several hours outside of Dhaka to visit another example of Grameen Shikkha, this time in a village. About 20 pre-school youngsters were awaiting our arrival inside a Center House and saluted each one of us and we entered and took a seat on the floor. They sang songs and recited poems for us. One of their songs was “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star”. These youngsters attend for 2 ½ hours each day for six days a week. This pre-school is a combination of borrowers and non-borrowers children, with as in most cases, the borrowers get priority. The funding for this program comes from Grameen and UNICEF.

The second stop of the day was Grameen Kalyan which is a health clinic for villagers. Dr. Moinur gave us a brief overview and then a tour of the facility. The delivery room, where they perform up to 10 deliveries a month was very primitive. If a woman has complications during the pregnancy or delivery, she is sent to the nearest hospital which is approximately an hour away. The most common diseases he treats are hypertension and diabetes. While were visiting, a young boy who had fallen and cut open his head, came in for treatment.

The other two stops on this trip exposed us to Grameen Shakti, which means “energy” with examples of solar power and turning cow dung into methane gas to use for cooking purposes. The solar panel is wired to a battery and in the evenings, the battery can provide up to 4 hours of electricity. These villagers are very resourceful and they take advantage of what Grameen has to offer in making their lives better.

Knitwear and Knowledge

After two off days for the weekend, we traveled to Grameen Knitwear Ltd. to see how the garment industry operates in the Export Protected Zone. Production started in 1999 and has doubled since then. There are 2, 718 employees working in three main production departments. This facility does not sell locally, but exports 50% to Germany, 45% to other European countries and 5% to the US. Each of us received a shirt. Mine has a picture of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.

Our second stop of the day was a Slum School visit. These youngsters, 10-12 years old are offered a few hours of education a day, as the rest of the time is spent working to help support their families. They introduced themselves and sang songs and performed dances for us. I was really impressed when they sang “We shall overcome” in English. I can appreciate the fact that Grameen Shikkha, a sister organization of Grameen Bank is trying to help these children achieve their dreams. They told us how they wanted to be doctors, teachers, businessmen, and computer engineers. We also visited one of their homes and saw the sari that two boys were working on. It would take them 7 days to complete one and they would earn 900 takas which is equal to approximately $12.80 in US currency.

The innocent faces of poverty

Today we visited the NGO (non-government organization) Padakhep to learn more about urban replication of the Grameen Bank program. One of their programs is for the Street Children of Dhaka who are orphaned, lost or even abandoned. This drop-in center has 25 day residents and 40 night residents. The day residents actually have a place to return to at night where they sleep. The drop in center offers non-formal education and some vocational training so that they might learn a trade before they turn 18 and can no longer utilize the center.

We asked a staff member at the center about a memorable success story of a child who had stayed at the drop in center  and she told us how one boy learned the tailoring trade. Now he has his own tailor business and many of staff from the drop-in center have their clothes made by him.

It is heartbreaking to see these youngsters, some as young as 8 eight years old, who have nothing.  But despite their stark existence, there were still smiles and they enjoyed singing and dancing for us. They also taught us a unique handshake. It always amazes me that those who have so little, give everthing they have without any hesitation or reservations.

Read more about the Street Children of Bangladesh.

Taking turns

It only seems fair that I take my turn in being sick. About half of our group has had one ailment or another in the two and half weeks we have been here. I thought I felt good enough this morning to go, but my body told me otherwise. I am bummed that I missed the tour of a garment factory and some serious shopping at Aarongs, but it was best that I stayed behind and rested in close proximty of a bathroom. Last night's dinner was probably a little more spicy than I am used to, so I'll need to be more careful in the remaining weeks. I can say the Cipro and Immodium does help tremendously! I am feeling much better than this morning and plan to be back in action tomorrow.

Please be kind, rewind

There have been a few things on this trip that I haven’t had a chance to write about, so I’m trying now to catch up.

On our way back to Dhaka from the Fisheries, we stopped and visited two Social Businesses, Grameen Danone Foods (Dannon Yogurt) and a Grameen GC Eye Hospital in Bogra. Grameen Danone Foods was conceived after Frank Riboud, Chairman and CEO of Groupe Danone and Professor Yunus met in Paris in 2005. In February 2007, the plant in Bogra produced its first yogurts. This partnership is working to reduce poverty by a unique proximity business model that will provide daily healthy nutrition to the poor of Bangladesh. Grameen Danone Foods Ltd. is the first investment supported by “danone communities,” an investment fund, created to support businesses that aim to be sustainable, but make social and societal goals their objective. And yes, we were given samples. I liked the Mango flavored best.

Operating right next door is one of the two Grameen GC Eye Hospitals. One of their main objectives is to ensure quality eye care treatment which is affordable the people. We also learned that the hospital operates camps where they visit the rural areas and offer eye examinations. One camp costs 4,000 takas, and our group took up a collection and donated 5,500 takas for a future camp. I especially know how important eye care is as I broke my glasses the first week of the trip and have been using reading glasses to be able to function. It’s no fun not being able to read without them!

But I have nothing to wear!

When we came back from our week-long trip to the villages and the fisheries, almost every piece of clothing that I brought with me was disgustingly dirty. I sent it to the laundry Sunday night and was told it would be done Monday evening. This normally would not have concerned me, but I  remembered that Dr. Ahmed's brother-in-law's party for his 7 year old son's milestone event was at 8:00 p.m. Since this was a formal event, I at least needed a clean pair of long pants and a top. At 4:00 p.m. with no sign of clean laundry in sight, I quickly put Plan B into place and went to the bizarre which is on the ground floor of our hotel.  I knew this would probably be a challenge because I am much larger is size than the traditional Bengali. The sales clerks spoke a little English and I kept say "big", much to their amusement. Finally I was handed an outfit (salwar kameez) and sent to a very tiny dressing room. As the sweat was pouring off me, I did manage to squeeze my oversized American body into the outfit. However, the clerk pointed out that I had the pants on backwards!  I'm sure they were thinking, silly American. But I decided it would do the trick and made the purchase for 875 takas.
As the party time approached, I donned my outfit and was ready to go. It actually didn't look too bad, and I received a few compliments. Things sometimes have a strange way of working out.

One big fish story

After our stay in the villages we traveled to the Grameen Fisheries. These  ponds were taken over from the Bangladeshi government because they were "derelict, full of debris and the aquatic vegetation was unfit for the fish culture". Grameen cleaned up the ponds and turned them over to the villagers to fish in them and take the fish to market. The objective is to make the villagers self sufficient, plus provide a constant food source. Many of them have no other income generating activity. The villagers catch the fish and take them to market. From the water they load about a dozen large barrels with fish and make the 1 1/2 hour trip to market.They receive 50 percent of the profit and Grameen gets the other 50 percent. Grameen's share is reinvested in the production of hatchlings, so there will continue to be fish in the ponds.

  While at the fisheries, while we were watching the men haul the nets in filled with fish, a local villager approached me and ask where I was from. "America," I replied. Then she asked if she could shake my hand, to which I graciously agreed.