“You all seem to be my family”. This is what our auntie, our kala, told Sana and I after she laid some fresh sheets and pillowcases on the table and told Sana and I to remake our bed and clean our room. We just laughed, told her that we feel the same way, and reminded her that we wouldn’t need dinner because Tim and Ryan would be bringing us some pasta from “Spaghetti Jazz”. The restaurant is in Gulshan, a district of Dhaka, not too far from Uttara (where we live), where people eat Swiss ice cream, Mexican food, and the phrase “We’re not in Dhaka anymore” is as funny as it is appropriate.
One hour earlier, Sana and I sat on the veranda, seeking refuge from the heat of the apartment; the power went off for an hour and a half and the fans are not battery powered. We talked about how much we will miss Dhaka when we leave, and how we are glad to be more aware of how polished our lives are in the States—no rationing of electricity, far less mosquitoes, 10 less degrees farenheight, coffee, no traffic, and the ease of knowing more than 6-7 key words and phrases of a nation’s primary language.
Last Sunday we left Uttara and Dhaka to spend 3 nights in village named Shalonga, in the Bogra district, which is a four hour drive northwest of Dhaka. The villages of Bangladesh are the clearest explanation for the green color on the country’s flag. Here, storefronts are replaced by rice fields and rickshaws carefully avoid goats, cows, and chickens instead of traffic jams.
On the way to Shalonga, we stopped at Grameen Shakti, where Grameen operates projects like solar paneling and biogas chambers; the Grameen model is unique in its implementation of social businesses to accompany its original objective of economic growth. Two women, the main technicians, explained how to fix an LED (Light Emitting Device) to our male Grameen translator/employee (interesting fact: Grameen loans to 97% women and employs only 15% women) He fumbled, frustrated, over the translation of a process relayed to him by two women with no college degree, but with intensive training in their field. He was uncomfortable for knowing so little, and Nawsheen (a Bengali intern in my group) stepped in to help and then offered these incredible, bright women a round of applause.
We visited some owners of solar panels, including a nearby village pharmacy, and then explored Grameen Kalyan, a health clinic that offers discounts to Grameen members and Kalyan Card Holders.
Sunday evening, our van of 9 interns arrived at Shalonga. Sana, Nawsheen, and I got out and headed up to the second floor of the Grameen Branch Office. The branch manager’s daughter, Toma, welcomed us with mangos and water; Toma is in 12th grade and her younger brother, Shakil, is 10 . They were both really warm, and sat on our bed with us to speak some English and watch Indian music videos on our television. The branch manager was a quiet, husky Bengali man, whose name I never learned, and who was rarely amused and spoke no English. His wife, on the other hand, was very outgoing and provided Nawsheen, Sana, and I with what we considered “aggressive hospitality.” She often barged into our room early in the morning or late at night, flicked the light on or tore the curtain open (once she even tore the mosquito net down) and asked how the three of us could possibly be sleeping comfortably on our bed and how could Nawsheen sleep without a pillow. (I was in a different room originally, but I gave in when about 7-10 cockroaches wanted to share) Obviously, we could all sleep under these conditions, because it was what we had been doing, quite soundly, until being so affectionately interrupted by our temporary, somewhat intrusive, Bengali mother.
We began Monday with egg and homemade tortillas, and then headed to visit two center meetings in the village. For each Grameen Branch, there are several centers where designated groups of borrowers come to pay the weekly interest rates. They travel to the branch offices only to pick up the loans (always in full), and they pay weekly installments at these center meetings. Each group of borrowers consists of 5 women from different families, who are eligible for Grameen loans based on a landless (income less than 50,000 taka/year) and assetless (land less than 1.5 acres) basis, which considers both she and her husband. There can be many groups in a single center; the meetings we visited ranged from 50 to 70 borrowers.
The center meetings are often in huts made from bamboo and jute. The women in the villages usually dress in Saris, which are always vibrant, typically warmer colors, ranging from elaborate stripe designs to tasteful jungle patterns. The Branch manager asked for the leader of the center (elected by its members) to speak about her history and loan situation and we heard from other borrowers in the group as well. The women we spoke to at these meetings (which were less like interviews than general surveys) took out loans for businesses such as, clothing stores, vans, fish farms, poultry farms, weaving, land rental, and grocery stores. Other types of loans include housing loans and higher education loans (which is a very popular loan, and a development that could really steer villagers away from traditions such as dowry, which remains very much engrained in their culture today, and provide a more promising future for microcredit, as it focuses on serving the next generation).
The women in general were very confident and comfortable standing in front of Sana, Nawsheen, me, and male bank employees, to talk about their families, their pasts, dowry, and the role their husbands play in their businesses.
We met with about 8 women for more personal interviews. Our questions centered on the role that the borrowers play in their businesses, access to healthcare, and personal environment (gardening, water sources, etc). We interviewed a few of the more affluent borrowers, Hindu borrowers, and even a 4th year physics student, who is the son of a borrower who received a higher education loan.
We learned a lot on our village visit. We learned that families are still paying dowry to get their daughters married (between 20,000 and 100,000 taka), that many borrowers own gardens for their personal consumption. Grameen used to sell seeds for rarer plants that borrowers could buy cheaply (coconut seed for 15 taka) and sell at the market for twice the price. All women we spoke to had children in school but the women cannot read and write themselves. Many women have given birth in their home without medical attention, electricity is uncommon and power outages are frequent (there is even more rationing in the village than in Dhaka). Lastly, the majority of women either hand their loans to their husbands and/or arrange for their businesses to be operated by their husbands or any male family members. No female shopkeepers, fish farmers, or grocery store owners. Most women stay at home, and many men don’t mind their women attending center meetings, because they are usually at work and do not have time.
We were curious as to why Grameen Bank, which is still a highly influential, admirable institution, has put so much emphasis on women’s empowerment when it seems like these loan recipients are being empowered on a much smaller scale. Most women can buy more saris for themselves, more food, and more clothes for their children. I am not saying this is not a wonderful thing, because it is; I just would love to hear more women talk about how they learned to budget the money and reschedule their day between work and the home. Instead, almost everyone is still at home.
I asked the area manager, who manages the credit for 8 branches in Bogra, how Grameen defines empowerment. He says their main goal is to let the women do something so long as they are not totally dependent on their husbands. We also looked over the mission statement and objectives of Grameen Bank,
The mission of Grameen Bank is to alleviate poverty by providing banking services to the poor without collateral or any legal instruments. Grameen Bank empowers the poor to realize their potential for economic emancipation and advancement of their social status.
Objectives of Grameen Bank:
1. To extend banking facilities to the poor, especially women.
2. To eliminate exploitation by the money lenders.
3. To create opportunities for self-employment for the vast unutilized and underutilized manpower resources.
4. To bring disadvantaged people within the fold of some organizational format, which they can understand and operate and can find socio-political and economic strength through mutual support.
5. To reverse the age-old vicious cycleof “low-income, low savings, low investment,” into an expanding system of “low income, credit, investment, more income, more credit, more investment, more income.”
Grameen’s approach is family-focused. The primary reason they lend to women is not to decrease the amount of housewives, but because women tend to put more money directly into the family. Even though it is disappointing that we don’t see women boasting their woven goods in the market, their children are able to attend school and come home to a more stable home environment. They can receive scholarships, attend university, and even get training for different Grameen sister organizations, such as Shakti and the Grameen Cataract Hospital (nurses are trained for 2 years in India, for free, for a minimum of 5 years work at the hospital).
Our perceptions of microcredit were very different coming into this internship, but I am excited to see where strong consideration for the next generation will carry these communities and individuals in the future. For example, the families of educated girls almost never pay dowry.
We got back from the village on Wednesday night, after a 6 hour long bus ride, with no AC, and a driver with a serious death wish for himself, his Bengali passengers, and the poor 15 or so foreigners who tried to get interpreters to ask him to slow down. Somehow, he misinterpreted these instructions as “speed up, please, and have no regard for heavy traffic, or any of the serious accidents that we have witnessed.” Drivers take no heed of medians in Bangladesh, and there are no speed limits. I will never ride a bus here again.
On Thursday, the last day of the Bengali work week, Dr. Muhammad Yunus visited with the interns! We took pictures and he spoke briefly to us about our experiences in Bangladesh; he asked about the geckos, which he referred to as the “teekee teekees”and was impressed by how many UNC Chapel Hill interns there were! He was really warm and we appreciated him taking the time to see us when his schedule was outrageously busy. He was down-to-earth and made jokes consistently to break the awkward silences during the pictures, where every intern wants to say so much, but can say absolutely nothing; we just laughed, mostly.
We have had a relaxing weekend after a long week following our village visits and meeting a 2006 Nobel Peace Prize Winner. Yesterday, we went to an art exhibit and then a play, where I spent most of the time listening to snippets of Nawsheen’s translations and daydreaming about things totally unrelated to thefather-son-beautiful neighborhood girl love triangle that was going on onstage. I would watch a scene for 20 minutes, only to have another intern Sheila whisper in my ear, “The dad thinks the son stole his money.” Gotcha. “Did he steal it?”I asked. Hm. “I don’t know,” she replied. Right, and the daydreaming recommences.
Tomorrow we will begin analyzing all of our notes from the village trip (Tim and Ryan, the two other interns in our UNC group went to different villages and so had totally different experiences). We will be writing a report to give to Grameen and the Carolina Microfinance Initiative (CMI), so we will be moving forward with our research soon, hopefully enough to have a specific research question by the end of this week.
Our group of five interns is really great; we all get along well and are becoming more and more comfortable with one another each day. Our driver’s name is Pasha or Pasha Pi (Mr Pasha) and he drives us around each day in our air conditioned van and tolerates us insisting to practice random Bangla with him, “Pasha Pi, can you turn on music?” “Where do you live?” “You are a good person”. Ryan is the main culprit; my Bengali phrases are still limited, though somehow I have retained words like red (laal), beautiful (shundor), and ear (kaan). I still haven’t managed to work ear into any conversation regarding “Thankyou” or “Good Night”.
We make fun of Sana for being sick a lot, and Tim for having more mosquito bites than most Bengalis probably get in an entire life time. We all have designated cups (mine has bunnies on it, with a colorful cap, and says “Dingdongtu”) and we argue about whose is the cutest. Basically, it’s like what Nawsheen’s kala (aunt) told Sana and I this evening, that we seem like family. It’s helpful to be in an atmosphere like this, in a place that is so foreign to us all, and where we want to be able to learn and experience as much as possible. Also, sometimes we all just need people to complain to about (mostly) heat and crazy drivers and to bring us pasta with marinara sauce from wonderful Bengali institutions like Spaghetti Jazz 
Salaam Alaykum. Peace be upon you.
-The nightlife in Panahachel was awesome! We went out to bars every other night and met locals, had hilarious Spanglish conversations over tequila shots, and hit the discoteca, which was a blast! It was such a vacation from our serious work days and homestay nights!
