Blogs from Dhaka, Bangladesh, Asia - page 14

The faces of the borrowers provide the most impactful reflection of why we are here and are drawn to serve. The Pastor in our group had shot a particularly impactful set of photos. They were close up with of the faces of the women. My shots had not been closeups until then. The attached photos (from last week) started to capture that view - but I hope to do a much better job as I go to the field with BRAC. There is much to show and share about relative to the village experience. Because I did not have access to Internet and because I would also have been too tired to blog after returning to the Branch office where we stayed - I have not yet been able to share this aspect with you. It ... read more

Last night I went out to dinner with Dr. B.N Kulkani who heads up Grameen Trusts operation in India and Niranjan Sheelavant who has a new microcredit operation in India. Both have been very supportive of me and would like me to come to India to learn from and help them. Dr. Kulkani made an hour presentation on microcredit in India. He plans to introduce me today to Grameen people who are in charge of their social business section. There are beggars of every type here, shriveled up old women, deformed young men, and lots and lots of children everywhere. Last night the children were very aggressive and hanging all over me. My friends from India worked very hard to keep them off of me to no avail. They were only interested in me - not ... read more

Muhammad Yunus office is large, well organized and appealing - but certainly does not have as nice chairs, desk, etc. as the office that most of us have. His office wall has six large photos - four of which are of him with the Clintons who have been strong supporters of microcredit since Bill Clinton was Governor and got Yunus to oversee and implementation of microcredit in Arkansas. Yunus's total compensation is $450 per month and includes salary, health care, etc. His transportation is paid by the company. Since receiving the Nobel Peace Prize he has had to have security - imposed by the Nobel Prize organization - which does not thrill him. He donated the $100,000 he won for the Nobel Peace Prize to the Grameen Social Entreprenuer program which focuses on creating businesses that ... read more

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 calloused fingers. Sufia Begum was a 21-year-old villager and a mother of three when the economics professor met her in 1974 and asked her how much she earned. She replied that she borrowed about five ... read more

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 will be attending center meetings, visiting small businesses and observing all of the elements of microcrocredit first hand. Chittagong was where Yunus first started microcredit. It is where Yunus had become Head of the Economics ... read more