It all started when Professor Muhammad Yunus looked out the window of the Economics Class that he was teaching at Chittagong University and saw people dying of starvation from the famine. He wondered what good all of his great economic theories were when there were people dying right outside his classroom. He decided to close down his class, and, with his students, go out to Jobra, a poor village near Chittagong University to learn from the poor. Yunus told The Associated Press in a 2004 interview that his "eureka moment" came while chatting to a shy woman weaving bamboo stools with [View Full Entry]

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The following statistics tell you about the Grameen Bank results since its inception in the 1983: Cumulative Amount Dispersed = $6.6 billion Cumulative Amount Repaid = $5.9 billion Rate of Recovery = 98.4% Total Borrowers = 7.34 million Current Balance of Deposits Borrowers = $400.5 million Non-Borrowers = $301.3 million Total = $701.8 million Outstanding Loans = $504.3 million Beggar Borrowers = 85,000 Village Phones = 295,000 Total Borrowers = 7.34 million Current Staff = 28,000 Current Branch Banks = 2,500 Board of Director [View Full Entry]

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Welcome to those who are receiving this blog for the first time. Everyone is welcome to respond with thoughts or questions of general interest that you are comfortable sharing with others reading the blog. I am one third through a three week trip visiting the world's two largest microcredit organizations, Grameen Bank and BRAC. Most of the time is being spent in villages seeing microcredit first hand - attending Center Meetings (a center consists of 8 - 12 groups of 5 - 7 individuals in each group for a total of 50+ or so in each Center - which meets in [View Full Entry]

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Meeting Muhammad Yunus was every possible positive word and more. The only thing close to it in my experience was being in the prescence of the Dalai Lama. I was able to share what I am doing in portraying with him and he seemed very interested and supportive. When he autographed his book - Banker for the Poor he wrote: "For Marty Jenkins, I never thought anybody would try to present himself to play the role of 'Muhammad Yunus.' But you have done it! I hope you enjoy it. Signed Muhammad Yunus - 25 Nov, 2007" I will spend the next [View Full Entry]

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Can't believe it's been over a month since I've written...mostly cos not much has happened and I've been so busy at school. It's that time of the term when reports are due, parent-teacher conferences are happening as well as exams which I have to make up...when's the next holiday again?! Anyway thought I'd add a few more photos to enhance people's idea of Bangladesh which seems to be woefully inaccurate...by the way, yes we did suffer a cyclone as you may have seen on the news, about 5000 dead so far but Dhaka itself hardly suffered so I was fine. We [View Full Entry]

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Here are some views from around a lake nearby my hotel. This was yesterday at 6:45 AM. People were excercising all around the lake. The men's exercise group meets daily and the men were very friendly, spoke english and had been working out hard. The guard was very friendly and spoke good english. Many of the outfits that the women wear are very beautiful. I am surviving the food. Breakfast was at hotel with egg, fruit. toast - lunch was buffet at Grameen Bank - chicken, potoes, etc - most way too spicy, some OK - for dinner four of us [View Full Entry]

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We are being divided into six groups of three each and will be traveling into the villages to observe microcredit first hand. We will be gone four nights. My group and another group will be taking a five or six hour bus trip to Chittagong where we will break up and go into two different villages. We will be hosted and led by a experienced bank official. My group includes Simon from Hong Kong, China and Alexandra from Austria. In the village we will be interviewing and creating reports/diary/case study of a borrower, a branch managerand a Center manager, etc. We [View Full Entry]

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November 24, 2007 - 9:30 AM PST and 11:30 PM Bangladesh Time Hello From Bangladesh: I am pooped and need to crash - but wanted to get this blog going. I have a Internet hardwired connection to my room. Muhammad Yunus will speak to us in the morning - VERY exciting. They passed out schedule and tons or reading materials. I saw the third world first hand coming from airport - what an experience - horns blowing, cars and pedestrians totally intermingled with rickshaws, animals, etc. The Great Adventurer [View Full Entry]

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Hi all, Everything is fine in old Dhaka town. We were warned to batten down the hatches Thursday night as the cyclone mad land fall down south classed as a category 4. It arrived at around midnight to Dhaka with 100km/h winds. Mates have told stories of seeing trees horizontal and the sky full of debris. YOu know me though. I slept write through it! [View Full Entry]

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And the answer is to stare! Yes Bangladesh is certainly a country of starers... But it is friendly and curious stares and when you flash the gazers a smile, you will see a sea of smiles returning... Give them the Muslim greeting of Salaam Alaikum and you will have made a thousand friends! Not many tourists go to Bangladesh, which is unfortunate, because it has a lot to offer... Friendly locals, historic sights, beaches, beautiful and serene countryside’s, and an interesting culture... On top of this the country is a lot cheaper than India... Bangladesh is also a country of cycle [View Full Entry]

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