This morning we walked to the bank from our hotel. The bank is pretty close and the walk only took us around 15 minutes. Even though the walk was short, it felt like I was worlds away from the comfort and security of the hotel. The streets of Dhaka are always busy and filled with people setting up tiny booths selling fruit and small trinkets. The traffic is always heavy and the honking of horns is a constant buzz like a bee that is follows near your ear all day.
Its easy to see why Muhammad Yunus felt called to reach out to the poor through microcredit. Poverty is commonplace in the streets right outside my hotel. Beggars line the sidewalks and its difficult to not open my purse and give them everything I have. I gave some money to a small disabled girl today and walked away praying that she wasn’t going home to a pimp tonight who would take the small amount she had collected throughout the day.
Once we got to the bank, we were greeted by several Grameen employees and ushered into a conference room. We spent the next several hours watching power point presentations about how the bank works and various new programs. Even though I had already read everything that was discussed today, it was a great chance to hear about the bank from people who had put so much work into alleviating the pain of poverty. These people have devoted their lives to Grameen and have sacrificed a great deal to make sure that the program works for the individual needs of the borrowers.
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