Bangladesh in Photos!

Men fishing at Grameen Fisheries. 

Sunset at the Fisheries. 

Fishes! 

CNG ride!

Grameen Veolia

Grameen Veolia is a small-scale water treatment facility and the first of its kind in Bangladesh. The entire operation is housed within 2 small buildings and can produce enough clean water for several surrounding villages. The clean water is dispersed throughout the area through underground pipes and pump stations. The water is sold at a very low price (a couple of cents for 5 liters) in order to maintain the station but no profit is made from the project. Grameen Veolia is only one of Grameen’s social business initiatives that I will be visiting in the coming weeks.  

Life as a Tourist - Old Dhaka and the National Museum

 Weekends are Friday and Saturday in Bangladesh and Friday is the holy day so almost everything is closed. Naturally, we tried to go to the National Museum only to find out that the museum was only open in the afternoon. Instead we spent the morning in Old Dhaka checking out the historic part of town. At one place where we stopped they were preparing to open a historic mosque for Friday prayer and we weren’t allowed in. Because Friday is the holy day, many people come to open mosques to pray with others instead of praying alone. 

Next we went to Shamima’s (a friend from Bangladesh who now lives in the states) house for a delicious home cooked lunch. The food was very spicy and oh so delicious! I got to meet several of Shamima’s family members and was even invited to a family party in honor of a young nephew’s circumcision… Traditionally boys aren’t circumcised until they are around 7 years old and it is a big deal for the whole family. I am pretty sure the kid wasn’t too psyched though!

When we finally made it to the National Museum, I was less than impressed. This place wasn’t a Bangladeshi museum, it was a life on earth museum.  For example, in the “Music” room there was a set of bagpipes and an accordion on display among the other musical instruments from around the world. I’m pretty sure that neither the bagpipes nor the accordion originated in Bangladesh… There was also a “Furniture” room which has a beautiful display of “Chairs.” It was an awesome display – a line of chairs from various times and places in history all marked “Chair” in case we didn’t know.

That night as we were getting ready for bed we saw several cockroaches and decided to take care of them once and for all. Thus began that great cockroach genocide of 2010…. Once we started spraying poison into the cracks in the walls and between the door frame, they all came streaming out but we were prepared with the shoe of death. 15 minutes later… about 30 cockroach bodies covered the floor!

Khakran Village

            This morning we took our first trip to Khakran, a small village outside of Dhaka. The trip took us about an hour by van and then another 30 minutes by boat. From the second we arrived until we climbed back into the boat several hours later, a large group of children followed our every move. Our first destination was the small bamboo shack that was used for Grameen center activities. Villagers gathered around the open windows to watch the meeting and a group of teenage girls giggled as I turned around to say “Hello.” This is where the borrowers meet each week to pay back their monthly installments and make deposits to their savings and pension accounts. I got to observe the basic weekly meeting and ask the borrowers questions about their businesses. For example, one woman named Shuchitra borrowed money from the Grameen Bank to buy a truck for her husband to drive. Her husband had been driving a truck for a company before the bank came to her village and was only allowed to keep a small percentage of his daily earnings. The rest he had to pay to the owner of the truck. Shuchitra’s loan from Grameen allowed her to purchase a truck so her husband could keep all of his daily earnings. Shuchitra now owns 2 trucks and deposits 100 taka per week into her savings account. 

            After the meeting, we walked around to visit individual borrowers to see their businesses. Most of the people of Khakran made pottery but we visited one home that specialized in making cow dung bricks to use as coal. They asked us if we wanted to see the place where they made the bricks and of course we said yes…. 5 minutes later I am standing inside an open area of someone’s home with a large cow tied to the wall waiting for the coal to drop. Eww!

            As I was leaving the village I got separated from the group and the center chief motioned for me to follow her. She took me into her small house, which consisted of one room with dirt floor. She wanted me to sit on her bed and admire the beautiful things she had collected. You could tell from the way she pointed out the embroidery on her bed sheet and the baskets she had collected that she had been working and saving for a long time. 

First Day at Grameen!

            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. 

Grand Prince Hotel

            I am staying at the Grand Prince Hotel on a busy street in the shopping district of Dhaka. From the street, the hotel blends in with the surroundings perfectly – a bland dirt color with a vertical sign marking its presence. Once inside however, the hotel takes on a whole new attitude. The lobby is clean, well lit and fully equipped with wireless internet that is always being used by guests from all over the world. There are 2 restaurants with enormous menus boasting Chinese, Indian and Bangladeshi cuisine.

            Our room is small with two twin beds and a small bathroom attached. The room has an air conditioner that works periodically and is comfortable except for the 20+ cockroaches we have killed so far.  We considered switching rooms but quickly realized that if our room has bugs, so does everyone else’s. Instead we  went downstairs to the local bazar and bought some bug spray. We used the whole can on the room so hopefully they will stay out for awhile!

            There is a mosque right outside the window of our room and we can hear the call to prayer several times a day. Today  I walked into the hall to find a hotel employee on his prayer mat in the hallway. I spoke with someone about visiting a mosque and she said that they would most likely let me in if I found a mosque that allowed women to enter. I hope to find one in the coming days and check it out. 

Heading to Bangladesh!

Hey Followers! This summer I will be spending a month in Bangladesh and completing an internship with the Grameen Bank - a microfinance institution that provides small loans to women in rural villages through the country. Here is their website if you wanna check out what they do. http://www.grameenfoundation.org/