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.

It takes a village

Our trip to the villages was an experience that I'll never forget. The people there have very little, but they open their homes and are very hospitable. At the Center Meetings, which are held in buildings that are very hot, several of the women would fan us as they realized we were getting extremely hot. The Center Meetings bring together the women borrowers to make their installment payments on a weekly basis. We heard numerous storiess of how the loans helped them improve their lives. We talked with old borrowers, new borrowers, scholarship and high education loan recipients. All seemed to echo the same sentiment that Grameen Bank has helped them tremendously.
  Check out the article in Newsweek. The Poor Always Pay.

The lady next to me is named Joomla.She has been a mentor to new borrowers of Grameen Bank. You could tell by the way people acted that she was a very respected by the other villagers.

I've adapted!

If I had known what I might have to endure in the villages, I probably would not have made the trip. Nothing could have really prepared me for our stay in the villages. We stayed at the Branch Manager's residence, where 4 of us shared two beds and one "squatty potty". We also were so disgustingly dirty by day 2, that we took bucket baths on the rooftop at night. We slept with mosquito nets surrounding our beds, and the blackouts also occur in the village, but can last up to 2 hours or more. So when Shamima called to check in on us and asked how our accomodations were and how we were doing, my reply was repeatedly--"we're adapting."

But being in the country at the villages is so much different than the city. It is greener. The air is less polluted and it definately is much quieter. We returned from country this afternoon once again to the noise, dirt, pollution that is Dhaka.

Tomorrow is sort of an off day for everyone as we can rest up before going back to Grameen Bank Headquarters for another meeting on Tuesday.

I've done more things on this trip that I would have never thought possible. I am truly adapting.

Our group in the village where we stayed.

One down, three to go

I can't believe we left home one week ago. I think most have adjusted to the heat, noise, and smell. We are even getting used to the crazy traffic....well sorta. You would not believe how people drive here!

Today we traveled to visit Grameen Water Veolia. It's only 35 kilometers from Dhaka, but due to the traffic it took us 3 hours...one way! Veolia Water has partnered with Grameen to build this water purification plant. You don't drink the water in Bangladesh because it contains arsenic. The plant has only been open for one year and they hope to be able to build 5 more in the next ten years.

Tomorrow we leave for the villages. We will be in groups of four along with an interpreter. We actually stay at the Branch Managers residence, so we will have a roof over our heads. We will be talking with the village people and hear their stories of how Grameen helped them and made their lives easier.

We return to Dhaka on July 18th.  We will not have internet access in the village, so I'm sure I'll  have plenty of stories to tell when I get back.

Well worth the walk!

Walking to Grameen Bank today was brutal due to the heat, but it was well worth the effort. Today we met Professor Mohammed Yunus, founder of Grameen Bank. We learned only two days ago that he would be in town and would briefly visit with the interns. We also had our pictures taken with him as a group and individually. The NKU group went first. Although many of us looked like drowned rats due to the heat, it will be something I'm sure many of us won't forget. It's not every day you get to meet a Nobel Peace Prize winner. I hope to get a copy of the pics from one of the students and will post it when I do.

I think I mentioned the random power outages in an earlier post. Dr.Yunus spoke briefly this morning, and while answering questions the power went out. Everyone is so used to it now and business continued as if nothing had happened. The power usually returns in a minute or less.

                                                                                                          Grameen Bank from hotel rooftop

The rest of the group went shopping. I think there will be plenty of time to do that later as we still have over three weeks to go. So I am chilling at the hotel just taking it easy.

We also learned today that we will not be going to the villages tomorrow as originally planned. It seems this country is soccer crazy and the World Cup finals are tomorrow night. All the drivers want to watch it as well, so our trip tomorrow will be a day trip to one of the social business activities, the Grameen Veolia Water Ltd. That trip was planned later, but now will substitute and the plan now is to leave for the villages on Monday.