It's Nice to Be Home

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I arrived home late Friday night - December 14, after twenty two glorious and life changing days in Bangladesh - a country that is emerging from being the poorest major country in the world and headed to be the first country that will totally overcome the bonds of poverty. Bangladesh is a country that is constantly being ravaged by weather disasters - with typically 40% of the country being flooded each year, hurricanes - like Sidr that killed over 5,000 people (much less than a hurricane in the 1990's that killed over 100,000 people) and famines. The country has experienced deep corruption at the highest levels of government - with their two previous leaders now being in jail. They may be on a positive path with currently an excellent caretaker government a non-corrupt and strong/influential army, a legal system that is by and large not corrupt and a set of pretty good laws.

Within all of this has emerged three great companies that are demonstrating to Bangladesh and the world that poverty can be overcome - these are Grameen Bank (the largest micofinance institution in the world and with the leader - Muhammad Yunus - reciipient of the Nobel Peace Prize), BRAC (the largest NGO in the world with a tremendously comprehensive program that includes not only microfinance but health care, education, legal assistance and much more) and ASA (the second largest microcredit organization in Bangladesh and the fastest growing - being 10 years younger than BRAC and Grameen.) Relative to microcredit these three companies are now pretty close to being the same size. The three have cumulative a total of around 100,000 employees. BRAC's education program has another 50,000 employees. Together the microcredit portion of these organizations are serving over 21 million families - which impacts over 100 million Bangladeshi's. These three organizations represesent around 80% of all microcredit in the world. Any one of them is larger than the cumulative microcredit in all other countries in the world combed. The next largest microcreding country is Indonesia, then the Phillipines and then India. In Bangladesh 85% of the people are Muslim and 10% Hindu.

When I went to Bangladesh I had accumulated a great deal of knowledge about microcredit on an intellectual level. Seeing the microcredit programs in action and spending time with the poor and hearing of their miraculous stories of having nothing and now having been in microcredit programs for many years and seeing first hand how they have truly become entrepreneurs and seeing how that has impacted their families has now moved me into a deep emotional and heart connection to these people and what these programs have done.

My sense is that so far I have only documented less than half of the story and pictures that I have to share with you. I am determined to continue to document and hopefully help bring to life what I have learned and experienced. This becomes my electronic scrapbook. I am going back and adding additional pictures and perspectives to some of my previous blogs. I will start editing my videos and hope to make some of those available online.

I now know that one must go to Bangladesh or possibly another third world country such as Haiti to truly understand microcredit beyond an intellectual level. I hope that any of you that are interested in becoming involved with microcredit will make their own pilgrimage to Bangladesh. Realizing that most will not be able to do that - it is my hope that I will be able to share the videos and pictures that I have taken and the stories that I now have experienced and can tell and the passion that has emerged from all of this- in ways that may able to help others connect with the heart and emotions of what this program in doing to make a giant difference in the world.

I have created a second blog for those of us who attended Grameen Dialogue to keep in touch, continue the dialogue and help each other. Only those who attended that dialogue are able to contribute to that blog - but in case you would like to look in on what is being shared - you can do so at http://grameendialogue2007.blogspot.com/ I will be sharing some of the deeper things that I have learned about microcredit and the companies involved on that blog and try not to bore those of you on this blog that have no interest in that level of detail from having to sort through it here.

I would very much like to hear from you and get any thoughts/feedback/questions you may have.

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Comments

[Kathy Wertheim]

Check out Witness for Peace
Have you ever heard of Witness for Peace? They send delegations of people to poor countries so they can see the work for themselves. As part of their agreement, each person must do a presentation at their church or congregation when they return on what they have viewed. You might want to check out their website: www.witnessforpeace.org, and then you should consider creating a presentation for local congregations and service groups like Rotary and Kiwanis.

[Martha]

Glad you're back
Hi Marty, We are glad you arrived home safe and sound, and have experienced much on your illuminating journey outside of our USA. Of course it seems like so much was an inner journey too which reached into your heart and the hearts of many others. I'm sure you will never be the same.... God has so many amazing ways to touch and change us all in just the ways we need! See you Jan. 15. Martha Ghan

[Nancy Martin]

Hi Marty- It really is a small world and we're all in it together or not.
I haven't been keeping track of what you're up to, but I'm very interested in microcredit and improving and meeting people's basic needs. I'm in a different world, but I'm all ears and eyes and learning a lot. I'm teaching in Singapore and working with people from China, Myanmar, Korea, India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Taiwan, New Zealand, Canada, Malaysia, Australia, England, Uganda, Singapore and the U. S. Everyone has his own ideas of how things work. The children and their parents are more diverse. Yet, I see people really want to help each other and want to care for the earth, even when they blame other cultures or governments for handling things wrong. In Singapore they are interested in solar energy and recycling. The news of Southeast Asia is reported quite openly and precisely. It's easy to see there are lots of problems. Some governments cut off the internet and broacasting companies, but it's becoming more difficult for governments to keep things secret or quiet. Everyone carries a mobile (cell) phone with a camera or video camera. I'm going to Cambodia this week. I do want to learn more. I'm still interested in a little light everywhere and not too much anywhere, and lately I'm more concerned about water..too much and too little. I'm also concerned with the fighting and repression. I guess we have to start with concerns and then figure out what we can do.

[Agris]

Glad to have you back
Dear Marty, It's great to have you back safe and sound with renewed spiritual desire to help the less fortunate in our world. Hopefully, you will be able to share your experiences with us on a personal bases. Merry Christmas and Blessing for a Happy New Year.

[MartyJ]

Hi Nancy
Hi Nancy - it is good to hear from you and to know that you are living in Singapore and working with such a diverse group of kids. I went to Singapore 30 or so years ago and remember how very clean it was and that - at that time it was a benevolent dictatorship. When I recently added you to my blog distribution I thought you would be probably interested in what I had been doing and I was thinking it would be fun to return to your class and share with your kids. I have fond memories of sharing about Light Up the World with your kids. I have subsequently become involved with another light - which you can find at http://www.bogolight.com/.